Archive for December, 2009

The Social Media Responder 2009 nominations closed last week on December 10. Over the course of 10 days we received over 200 nominations for 33 different responders/agencies. There were 2 nominations that were disqualified because they were featuring cruise line information, 1 nomination disqualified because they were featuring domestic tips, and 1 nomination disqualified because of their involvement with PIOSocialMediaTraining.com (sorry Greg).

Here is a list of the 29 nominated Social Media Responders in alphabetical order now being evaluated by the Judges:

• Alonis
• Angeles National Forest
• Apollosfyre
• Bellevue Police
• Big White Fire Dog
• California Fire News
• Charlotte Fire Department
• Chronicles of EMS
• City of Keller
• CJamz
• Colorado Department of Emergency Management
• Craig Fugate
• East Long Meadow Police
• Eric Neitzel
• Fireground.com
• Justin Schorr
• Kristiana Kocis
• Los Angeles Fire Department
• Mark Glencorse
• Mesa Fire Department
• Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service
• MsParamedic
• National Fallen Firefighters Foundation
• Salt Lake City Police Department
• Thadeus Setla
• The EMS Garage
• Toronto Crime Stoppers
• Toronto Police
• White Mountain Joint Information System

We’d like to offer our congratulations to all of our nominees! Finalists will be named this Wednesday, December 16. Voting will be taking place here on PIOSocialMediaTraining.com.

The final free webinar presentation of 2009 will be held at 2:00pm EST on December 16. Click here to learn more and register for the webinar

Google Maps provide options to view streets, terrain, and satellite for the same location. Many streets have also been captured for a street view. Adding a map of an incident location could be important for describing the location of an ongoing incident, determining accessibility to a location, and planning evacuation routes.

I spent a few minutes figuring out to find the street view of any location, copy that html code, and embed in a blog. Watch this screencast (made with Screenr.com) to see the process. Below is the Google embed code for the location I discuss in the screencast.

View Larger Map

If you ask anyone what the top 5 requirements of a successful Agency are, you’re pretty much guaranteed that one of the requirements they list is effective communication. We constantly hear that a clear understanding of Social Media is lacking in First Responder and Public Safety Agencies. We hear this both regarding the Agency itself as well as what an Agency’s expectations are for its Responders.

An effective method of communicating what an Agency will do in Social Media as well as what it expects from its Responders in their usage of Social Networks and in creating Social Media is to create a Social Media Policy. The problem that most Agencies and their management run into is that they don’t understand how to create an effective Social Media Policy. Too often we hear of Agencies doing nothing or issuing draconian blanket statements forbidding Responders to so much as mention what Agency they work for or face disciplinary action. Those efforts, or lack thereof, do nothing to protect either the Agency or the Responder from getting in trouble when using Social Media.

To help Agencies tackle this daunting task, we are pleased to announce the release of our first e-guide Social Media Policy Guide For First Responder Agencies.

Over the course of the 26 pages we explain:

• Why Social Media Matters
• The 5 Vital Components of a Social Media Policy
• The challenges of maintaining privacy in the near instantaneous Social Media environment
• Blogger Specific Policies
• E-mail Specific Policies

Additionally, we also included three sample policies to help guide you in the creation of your own document. To learn more about the guide and get your own copy, visit the Social Media Guide For First Reponder Agencies product page.

Are you still under the misguided notion that your Agency doesn’t need a policy or a guideline for your Responders? Consider that providing social media advice was viewed by the state of Utah as important enough that they issued their own guidelines to all state government employees. You can find a copy of their guidelines as a free download below, and you still have time to get your own policy guide here.

Download: State of Utah Social Media Guidelines

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• Internal Social Media: Building A Case (altitudebranding.com)

We are happy to announce that Depiction has joined us as a sponsor for the Social Media Responder 2009 contest.

Depiction software merges images, data, maps, and real-time events into a dynamic view of your local communities not only in crisis, but more importantly before the actual crisis in simulations so that your Agencies can effectively prepare for the crisis. The combination of the data points and simulation capabilities of the software are incredible, and makes it a powerful tool in both pre-crisis presentations as well as collecting and disseminating live event information.

The winner of #SMR2009 will receive a full copy of the Depiction software and their two plugins (a $200 value) thanks to Tim Goddard and courtesy of Depiction.

Nominations for #SMR2009 are still open, and while your nominating why don’t you through a tweet of thanks to @Depiction for their sponsorship!

The Social Media Responder 2009 (#SMR2009) contest continues to chug along. Here are a few updates to the contest:

• Nominations continue to pour in and are still open until December 10.
• Two of the five Judges have been announced! The final three Judges will be announced over the course of next week.
• We are also pleased to announce that the five Finalists will each receive a copy of Julien Smith and Chris Brogan‘s book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust!

Be sure to subscribe to our blog or our Twitter account to stay updated on all the #SMR2009 news!

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor for this contest, please contact us:

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• Book Review: Trust Agents (ericbrown.com)
• Just Go Out And Buy Trust Agents (regulargeek.com)

As a Social Media Public Information Officer one of the questions I receive frequently is “In 20-60 words can you describe what XYZ social media tool is so I can put it in our next newsletter, article, or blog post.” Have you been asked that question?

Podcast
A podcast is an audio or video program that is optimized for delivery and listening on a smart phone, mp3 player, or computer. Audio content can be easily captured and edited with free software An RSS feed delivers the content to a service like iTunes. The MedicCast.com, EMSEduCast.com, and EMSGarage.com are three popular podcasts. In 2010 PIOSocialMediaTraining.com will be launching a podcast.

Blog
Blog is shorthand for web log. A blog is meant to be a dynamic portion of a website or a stand-alone website. Using a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor a blogger can quickly add a new page or new posts to the blog. EverydayEMSTips.com and PIOSocialMediaTraining.com are two blogs powered by WordPress blogging software. Blogger is another popular blogging tool.

Microblogging
Twitter is a common and widely known microblogging tool that allows users to post messages that are 140 characters or less. Twitter features allow users to follow and read the posts (called Tweets) of other users, reply to Tweets, and forward Tweets to other Twitter users. Follow @PIOSMTraining, @DavidKonig, and @gfriese after you create a Twitter account.

Social Networking Sites
Social Networking sites, like Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace, are used to build and maintain relationships. Every emergency response agency should have a Facebook fan page as either its “hub” or as a “spoke.” Use your Facebook fan page to post events, share videos and photos, and link people to blog posts and content on other spokes. Make sure you become a fan of the PIOSocialMediaTraining.com Facebook fan page.

Media Sharing Sites
Upload training and injury prevention videos to your agency’s own YouTube channel. Viewers can subscribe for notification of future videos. Allow viewers to embed your videos in their blogs to increase the reach. Flickr is a photo sharing website. Post and tag training photos to your Flickr account, another spoke. You can also embed Flickr photos or slideshows into your blog posts.

Screencasting
Screenr is a screencasting tool that captures your on-screen actions and audio from a microphone. Use Screenr to create a quick narrated slide show, demonstrate a software process, or instruct viewers on how to receive your blog feed in an RSS reader. I use Screenr to showcase PIO websites. Check out our showcase page.

One of the missions here at PIOSocialMediaTraining.com is to highlight those already effectively using Social Media to reach their goals and provide information for you to get your Agency started and running in Social Media to connect with your communities using the best practices possible. With that in mind, we are now accepting nominations for who you would consider to be the Social Media Responder of 2009 using the e-mail form further down in this post or via Twitter (follow using the Twitter hashtag #SMR2009).

The #SMR2009 Nomination Period:

Begins at 12:01 am EST on Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Concludes at 11:59 pm EST on Thursday, December 10, 2009

Nominations Are Closed

The #SMR2009 Finalists and Open Voting Period

Five Finalists will be selected by our Esteemed Judges from the list of eligible Nominees, based on the following criteria:

• Complete Social Media Presence
• Use of Social Media to connect to their communities
• The Caliber of Nominees Tweets
• The Caliber of Online Postings and Social Media Conversations
• The Usability Caliber of Design Elements

Finalists will receive a copy of Julien Smith and Chris Brogan‘s book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust

Voting Period:

Begins at 12:01 am EST on Wednesday December 16, 2009

Concludes at 11:59 pm EST on Tuesday December 29, 2009

Winner Announcement

The winner will be announced on Thursday December 31, 2009

The winner will receive a free copy of Depiction mapping and simulation software and their two plugins

Quick Rules:

• To Nominate using the Twitter Service please follow this format:
  1. Place hashtag #SMR2009 at the beginning of your nomination
  2. Explain in 131 characters or less the REASON this user should be The Social Media Responder of 2009
• To Nominate using E-mail use the form below
• There is a one nomination per day limitation
• Everyone can nominate
• Nominees must be First Response or Public Safety providers
• Voting will be conducted at a page designated by PIOSocialMediaTraining.com via poll
• There is a one vote per day limitation
• Everyone is eligible to vote

Antagonistic campaigning is not allowed