Characterising Behavior and Emotions on Social Media for Safety: Exploring Online Communication between Police and Citizens

Abstract: Increased use of social media by police to connect with citizens has encouraged researchers to study different aspects of information exchange (e.g. type of information, credibility and propagation) during emergency and crisis situation. Research studies lack understanding of human behavior such as engagement, emotions and social interaction between citizen and police department on social media. Several social media studies explore and show technological implications of human behavioral aspects in various contexts such as workplace interaction and depression in young mothers. In this paper, we study online interactions between citizens and Indian police in context of day-to-day policing, including safety concerns, advisories, etc. Indian police departments use Facebook to issue advisories, send alerts and receive citizen complaints and suggestions regarding safety issues and day-to-day policing. We explore how citizens express their emotions and social support on Facebook. Our work discusses technological implications of behavioral aspects on social well being of citizens.