The hottest social media trend in 2010 appears to be having a policy for social media. Two of the biggest organizations in the world announced social media policies last week.

Department of Defense Official Policy on New/Social Media

California Social Media Standard

In 2009 many emergency response agencies and individuals established a social media presence. Clearly having a policy the defines the purpose of organization social media efforts, do’s and don’ts of social media usage, and assigning responsibility is important. A policy should also be adaptable to changes in technology. Twitter, Blogging, and Facebook are hot now. They may not be hot a year from now.

Does your organization have a social media policy?

What do you believe are essential elements of a social media policy?

It’s your turn. Join the conversation.

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We have a new episode of our bi-monthly podcast for your listening enjoyment! In our fifth lucky audio podcast you can hear us discuss:

• A Paramedic was terminated for creating an online animated video and sharing it on Facebook.
  • Agencies, no matter the size, need to have a policy in place.
  • Policies need to focus upon behaviors and not services. The fact Xtranormal was used for this video is a prime example of why policies need to be written that focus on behaviors.
  • Education on the policy is critical and can easily be intertwined with customer service training.
  • Responders need to create responsibly, “own your own words”, and understand your actions may have unforeseen repercussions.
• Phishing attacks across social networks are a common occurrence that users can help curb.
  • Phishing messages are usually generic and random.
  • Phishing messages include a URL shortened link that when clicked will send you to a malicious site that will steal your user name and passwords for your accounts from your browser cookies.
  • Click responsibly to avoid losing control of your account and potentially damaging your reputation.

Dave will be attending the EMS Today Conference on Friday March 5 in Baltimore, Maryland. If you’re attending the conference you can connect with him in person by sending him a message via Twitter @DavidKonig and you can monitor the activity of other attendees through the hashtag #EMSToday

Want to listen while you’re on the go?

Thanks for listening!

Early Saturday morning I read a story over at Mashable about how a New U.S. Military Policy Opens Up Social Media to the Troops. It’s important to realize that the bans in effect were only applied to access of social networking sites through the military’s internet networks and did NOT restrict personnel from using their personal computers to access these networks or create Social Media. There is in fact a very vibrant Military Blogging Community who have advocated long and hard for this sort of policy on behalf of personnel with no other options for internet access other than the Department of Defense (DoD) networks, such as those deployed overseas.

I found the policy interesting for three specific reasons:

• First, it effectively negates the current Marine Corps ban on Twitter and the longer standing US Army’s ban of Youtube and MySpace, the wording is broad enough to allow local unit commanders to restrict activity on their networks as they see fit
• Secondly, by allowing the use of DoD computers, they are allowing the use of Social Networking sites while technically at work. Now their policies do state that their use for personal reasons must be done without interfering with work duties, but it is still an interesting stance for the military to be taking
• The third and final interesting aspect of the policy is actually in Attachment 2, section 3 parts b and d which promotes and outlines good Social Media behavior through posting relevant and accurate information, and the use of a disclaimer when personal opinions are expressed

Now let’s be honest and remember that the military has been using Social Media effectively for both public relations and recruitment for awhile now. The military understands the power of both positive and negative Social Media, even to the extent that the Air Force had developed a Blog Assessment chart. These policies do not change any of those efforts.

So what does this policy really mean? It shows us that the US Military knows and understands that:

1. With a little guidance your members can be your best ambassadors and most vocal advocates for your agency
2. It is your responsibility to help educate your members as to what is acceptable and what is not acceptable behavior online
3. It is more important to focus on behaviors than on the current state of technology
4. Whether you grant them access or not, people will still connect with each other online in the privacy of their own homes
5. A well written policy today will help mold and shape your Social Media success tomorrow

Social Media is good enough for the US Military and their members… is it good enough for your agency and your members?

Let us know in the comments…

Download 09-026 – Responsible and Effective Use of Internet-based Capabilities (PDF)

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Last week I presented at the Wisconsin Technical College EMS Instructor/Coordinator conference. The focus on my presentation was on how educators can create social media for professional development and/or as a classroom education activity. Below are the slides I presented. I am sharing these slides here for several reasons:

1. Many of the skills that educators should have regarding social media content creation are the same skills that PIOs should have.

2. I was surprised (and not surprised) by the lack of familiarity with social media and even the consumption of social media among the conference attendees. It was an important reminder that a small percentage of emergency responders actively consume and create social media.

3. This is my first Slideshare upload. There are some intriguing capabilities available to Slideshare users that might be of interest to you. Slideshare content could be an additional spoke to add to your agency’s hub.

Measuring success. While the old analytics of monitoring website “hits” is hard to apply to the new concepts of Social Media, they can still provide you with important information regarding your agency hub. It’s important to have a reliable service that will accurately measure these important statistics.

Google Analytics

This full service analytics package from Google relies on an inserted Javascript snippet to be placed somewhere in your code. The service offers e-mailable PDF reports, long term statistics tracking, AdSense integration, and a slew of analytic variables. For WordPress blogs there are a number of plugins that will assist you in the code insertion as well as in dashboard tracking.

Service Cost: Free

Sitemeter

This service analytics package also relies on an inserted Javascript snippet to be placed somewhere in your code. The inserted code also inserts a small graphic that will link back to your analytics account so that your statistics are viewable if you leave them open to the public when you sign up.

Service Cost: Free for the Basic limited service, $6.95 per month for a Premium account

Woopra

This service analytics package relies on a Javascript snippet that makes regular server calls to the Woopra servers to allow for live visitor tracking in the downloadable desktop client. A truly live view of your site is valuable during sentinel events. The service has also been experimenting with a Live Chat feature, allowing instant two way communication with visitors. While the free package does not promote long term research, the value of live monitoring (and the possibility of live communication with visitors) can outweigh that slight inconvenience.

Service Cost: Free for up to 30,000 pageviews within a 30 day period, tiered pricing for higher traffic sites starting at $4.95 a month up to $179.95 a month

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• Web Analytics Showdown: Woopra vs. Google Analytics (businessbloggingtips.com)
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