A Real-Time Social Media Monitoring System as an Open Source Intelligence (Osint) Platform for Early Warning in Crisis Situations

In the past years, the number of active users on social networking websites has increased exponentially. The popularity of these websites is due to the fact that users aren't the only content consumers (e.g., news, information, entertainment), they can also generate content and collaborate with other users. In case of the occurrence of unexpected events, such as natural disasters or human atrocities, active users can react in real time by uploading or sharing comments, photos, audio and video recordings, meaning that the amount of data generated and related to the event will be huge. These immediate and dynamic reactions of the users provide insight on the severity of the event and can help identify present or potential factors which could cause the crisis situation to destabilize. The first goal of intelligence is to obtain information on the situation's awareness. In this context, a realtime social media monitoring system can provide a snapshot of the happenings around the unexpected event, therefore it can be an open source intelligence (OSINT) platform for early warning in crisis situations. Furthermore, using intelligent technology, such as data mining, the system can support decision makers to anticipate the evolution of the crisis and take preventive actions to avoid escalating the crisis