The 2013 Boston marathon bombing: Publics' emotions, coping, and organizational engagement

Guided by the Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) model and coping literature, this study qualitatively examined online publics' crisis emotions, especially positive ones, coping methods, and a focal organization's (Boston Athletic Association, or BAA) engagement as discursively enacted on the Boston Marathon Facebook (BMF) page during one month following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Results from qualitative content analysis showed that positive public emotions did exist, and stemmed from online publics' identity, coping, and BAA's engagement. Publics engaged in cognitive, emotional, action-based, and discursive coping; they formed a rhetorical digital community where a renewal discourse fostered positive public emotions, aided coping, and guided BAA's engagement. By detailing the connections among publics' positive emotions, coping, BAA's engagement, and community discourse, this study offers suggestions to (1) refine and expand the ICM model, and (2) develop a community-based, organization-decentered renewal discourse, which reflects the social media landscape.