Visually Framing Disasters: Humanitarian Aid Organizations' Use of Visuals on Social Media.

This study systematically examines how humanitarian aid organizations use visuals in their natural disaster-related Twitter messages and analyzes the effects of these visual framing strategies on social media engagement. Applying Rodriguez and Dimitrova’s four levels of visual framing—denotative, stylistic-semiotic, connotative, and ideological—the content analysis of 810 tweets from 38 organizations found that visuals predominantly emphasized victims and disaster relief efforts, with the most common frames not always generating the highest engagement. Notably, visuals portraying disaster relief efforts and organizational identities were associated with increased likes, while positive or neutral facial expressions of victims and downward-looking or long-shot camera angles also enhanced engagement. The findings offer theoretical insights into visual framing in humanitarian communication and practical guidance for aid organizations to optimize social media strategies to foster public connection, legitimacy, and support.