Archive for August, 2009

Twitter and other social media is being used for mass notification of residents during the current wildfire incidents in the Los Angeles National Forest. There are several important components in this message:
1) Name of incident: Station Fire

2) Call to action: call 211

3) Request for help: Please RT! (retweet) and media please promote

4) Hashtag to add this to Twitter search stream: #Station

Follow @AngeleseNF for more Twitter updates about the developing wild fire related evacuations.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Twitter. It’s a service you constantly hear about… but how do you get started?

The National Campus Fire Safety Month campaign is using social media to promote fire safety and prevention to college students. The social media effort and accompanying contest are explained at Campus-Firewatch.com.

The campaign is based on using Twitter and the hashtag – #tellastudent to post and share fire safety and prevention tips. Watch this short screencast to see how I posted a tip using the hashtag and my Twitter account management software HootSuite.com.

Visit the July/August issue of Government Technology’s Emergency Management magazine on use of social media tools like Twitter and Facebook to inform the public before, during, and after a major crisis. The article by Hilton Collins is titled “Crisis Media Revolution.”

I found the research on how Facebook was used to share information about the VTU shooting victims and survivors especially interesting. The identities of victims were disclosed and widely know through social networking sites well before the official release of information.

How can you use social media tools to engage your audience before, during, and after a major crisis?

Social media tools enable anyone at any incident to be a Public Information Officer (PIO). A patient, a bystander, a firefighter, an EMT, or anyone that has a smart phone, Twitter account, and internet connection can quickly snap a photo, shoot a video, or write a blog post and upload that piece of content to their friends and fans.

Since anyone can be a PIO how does that change the role and function of the assigned and trained public information officer for your emergency response organization before, during, and after the incident?

This blog will be an ongoing discussion and exploration of social media tools, social networking sites and concepts, best practices and policies, new technologies, and roles and responsibilities of an officially authorized PIO as well as all the other PIOs that are now present at every incident.

Thanks for joining us for this discussion and please share your ideas, comments, and suggestions.