Monitoring Social Networks Formation and Information Velocity for Cases of Airliners' Crashes

Abstract

Airliners' industry corresponds to an extremely sensitive and volatile sector, especially subject to information related to flights safety. Possible negative publicity on such issues may result to sudden and abrupt fluctuations of air travel demand, accompanied with phenomena of panic or feelings of generalized insecurity. The proliferation of social media platforms that offers a two-ways communication channel, contributes to the overall information propagation related to flights security (as exposed in the recent airlines crashes) and can be viewed as a proxy of the social network formation of such paradigms. The current paper aims to offer a framework for quantitatively analyzing social network formation based on comprehensive network metrics, valuable in cases of commercial airliners accidents. The analysis is based on data from two realistic events (airliners' crashes), attracted the international public interest and affected significantly the air travel demand. Finally, the results can contribute to the air demand treatment, especially in terms of optimal communication operational management in cases of crises.