Does compassion go viral? Social media, caring, and the Fort McMurray wildfire

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics for key variables.

	Min and max	Mean	s.d.	Valid N
Age in years	18; 95	52.27	16.39	1194
Female	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.500	n/a	1208
Married	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.673	n/a	1202
Bachelor’s degree or higher	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.387	n/a	1208
Region	–	–	–	–
Calgary	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.333	n/a	1208
Edmonton	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.333	n/a	1208
Rest of Alberta (reference category)	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.333	n/a
Religious identification	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.679	n/a	1163
Employed	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.612	n/a	1202
Total household income	–	–	–	–
$0–$50,000	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.153	n/a	1208
$50,000–$100,000 (ref. category)	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.226	n/a	1208
More than $100,000	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.621	n/a	1208
Home owner	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.801	n/a	1195
In the past six months, have you used social media? (Social media includes Facebook, twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Tumblr, and Google+)	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.702	n/a	1208
Have you been using social media to follow the Fort McMurray wildfire? See text for description of recoding.	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.486	n/a	1208
Thinking about your family, co-workers, and close friends, do you personally know anyone displaced by the Fort McMurray wildfire?	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.401	n/a	1203
I care about others who live in Alberta.	1 = Very Strongly Disagree; 10 = Very Strongly Agree	9.03	1.48	1208
I am concerned for the people of Fort McMurray.	1 = Very Strongly Disagree; 10 = Very Strongly Agree	8.18	1.95	1204
Have you been involved in any effort to help residents or first responders related to the Fort McMurray wildfire?	1 = Yes; 0 = No	.292	n/a	1207

Table 2. Popular tweets related to the Fort McMurray wildfire.

Username, type of user	Tweet	Number of retweets	Number of followers
Redcrosscanada, Nonprofit	#FortMcMurray wildfire: How Canadians can help: https://t.co/JMm0iR7N9e – @globalnews #ABfire	355	129,052
Barbi_Twins, Celebrity	SOS #FortMcMurray #Alberta FIRE #pets @EdmontonHumane @AlbertaSPCA @llbrhs @DisasterAnimals https://t.co/fLwXz6bdSD https: …	374	32,598
Doniveson, Mayor of Edmonton	For those looking for ways to take action and support our friends in #FortMcMurray affected by #YMMfire, donate here https:/ …	412	84,209
FullFrontalSamB, Celebrity	The Canadian Red Cross has a page to help evacuees from the terrible #FortMcMurray wildfire. RT, donate if you can: ht …	515	94,970
BlueJays, Sports Team	Help support those affected by the fires in #FortMcMurray by texting FIRES to 45678 to make a $10 donation or visit redcross. …	638	1,395,664
TheoMoudakis, News Media	‘Superheroes’ is Tuesday's #FortMcMurray cartoon in @TorontoStar https://t.co/Gv2sjObqSY	705	2650
CBCAlerts, News Media	#Alberta gov't will match dollar-for-dollar donations made @redcrosscanada for #FortMcMurray. #ymmfire #FortMacFire	742	800,901
PatriceRoyTJ, News Media	#FortMcMurray – Une vision d’apocalypse. Des images tournées par Michel Chamberland, qui tente de fuir les lieux. https: …	745	60,024
TheTimMcGraw, Celebrity	Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by the wildfires. #AlbertaStrong Stay safe everyone!	778	2,284,617
Juliamacfarlane, News Media	Stunning Reuters image of the red glow of the Canada wild fire underneath the northern lights #FortMcMurray https://t. …	833	34,268
Redcrosscanada, Nonprofit	Thank you for supporting Canadians in #YMM @SelenaGomez!	4528	128,928
Jstuffcocrimlaw, Lawyer	My harrowing drive evacuating #ymm praying for my friends https://t.co/XGFWfavqR2	5429	508

Note: Analysis of tweets as of 26 May 2016. The four hashtags considered are #FortMac, #ymm, #AlbertaStrong, and #FortMcMurray.

Table 3. Ordinary least squares regression models of care and concern.

	(1)	(2)
	Care about others	Concerned about residents
Age	−0.002	0.005
	(0.004)	(0.005)
Female	0.480***	0.356**
	(0.086)	(0.114)
Married	0.142	−0.069
	(0.106)	(0.140)
White	0.112	−0.391*
	(0.117)	(0.155)
Bachelor’s or higher	0.106	0.123
	(0.091)	(0.121)
Religious	0.306***	0.260*
	(0.096)	(0.126)
Income $0 to $50K	−0.195	−0.010
	(0.146)	(0.194)
Income $100K or higher	0.124	−0.202
	(0.106)	(0.140)
Homeowner	0.133	0.007
	(0.121)	(0.160)
Calgary	−0.239*	−0.117
	(0.109)	(0.144)
Edmonton	−0.149	−0.080
	(0.107)	(0.142)
Employed	−0.129	−0.213
	(0.100)	(0.133)
Household size	−0.048	0.004
	(0.037)	(0.049)
Follow fire on social media	0.397***	0.632***
	(0.091)	(0.120)
Constant	8.421***	7.895***
	(0.292)	(0.385)
Observations	1,141	1,137
R^2	0.076	0.056

Note: Unstandardized slopes provided with standard error in parentheses.

***p < .001.

**p < .01.

*p < .05.

Table 4. Logistic regression model of knowing someone affected by the wildfire.

Age	0.998
	(0.005)
Female	1.216
	(0.152)
Married	1.344
	(0.210)
White	1.103
	(0.189)
Bachelor’s or higher	1.260
	(0.167)
Religious	1.098
	(0.153)
Income $0 to $50K	0.832
	(0.181)
Income $100 K or Higher	1.017
	(0.156)
Homeowner	1.238
	(0.223)
Calgary	0.640**
	(0.102)
Edmonton	0.939
	(0.144)
Employed	1.096
	(0.161)
Household size	0.955
	(0.052)
Uses social media	1.516***
	(0.228)
Constant	0.353*
	(0.155)
Observations	1,136
Pseudo R^2	0.0255

Note: Odds ratios (e^b ) provided with standard error in parentheses.

***p < .001.

**p < .01.

*p < .05.

Table 5. Logistic regression model of helping related to Fort McMurray wildfire.

	Help
Age	0.990
	(0.006)
Female	0.850
	(0.120)
Married	1.341
	(0.234)
White	1.320
	(0.255)
Bachelor’s or higher	1.098
	(0.160)
Religious	1.372*
	(0.219)
Income $0 to $50K	1.206
	(0.293)
Income $100K or higher	1.227
	(0.214)
Homeowner	1.077
	(0.216)
Calgary	1.016
	(0.179)
Edmonton	1.134
	(0.196)
Employed	0.962
	(0.158)
Household size	0.909
	(0.056)
Follow fire on social media	1.639***
	(0.244)
Know anyone affected	2.233***
	(0.311)
Concerned about residents	1.091*
	(0.046)
Care about others	1.202**
	(0.074)
Constant	0.019***
	(0.014)
Observations	1,132
McFadden’s pseudo R^2	0.0753

Note: Odds ratios (e^b ) provided with standard error in parentheses.

***p < .001.

**p < .01.

*p < .05.