This is a presentation I prepared for a program at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. I pulled together social media best practices and tried to map them to the phases of the emergency management cycle. The presentation ends with a "To do" list for government agencies and recommendations on how to design a social media strategy that fits into each of the phases to create community and interaction when it is needed

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Social media
in times of
crisis
Professor Dr. Ines Mergel
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
Syracuse University
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AoXVKFw1Uci5dFNpRGdWd2pXZTN4a3Fza0Vh
VTRVaGc&output=html&utm_source=buffer&buffer_share=25647
FEMA 2013 National Preparedness Report: http://www.fema.gov/national-preparedness-report

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Agenda
 Reasons for the use of social
media in the public sector
 Social media use as part of the
Crisis Management Cycle
 Preparedness
 Response
 Recovery
 Learning for the future
 Government’s To-do list
Assess
the Risk
Mitigate the
threat
Prepare
EVENT
Respond
Recover
Learn
Crisis
Management
Cycle
Low confidence of citizens that their
government can get the job done:

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http://www.pewinternet.org/Commentary/2012/March/Pew-Internet-Social-Networking-less-detail.aspx
Two-way communication with
the public
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/about/state_of_fema/state_of_fema.pdf
“There is a lot of buzz about social
media. I’m not so much looking at the
different tools, like YouTube, Twitter, or
blogging, as thinking that it’s really opened
up something that government never had
before—two way conversations with the
public.”
FEMA’s “Whole Community” approach:
“… recognizes that individuals, families
and communities are our greatest assets
and key to our success. […] Social media
provides the tools needed to minimize
the communication gap and participate
effectively in an active, ongoing dialogue.
Social media is an important part of the
“Whole Community” approach because it
helps to facilitate the vital two-way
communication between emergency
management agencies and the public.”
Craig Fugate
FEMA administrator

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Traditional information paradigm
Changing the government information
paradigm…

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Citizens use social media in crisis
situations in different ways
 Turned to blogs for emotional
release and support
 Logged onto Twitter to find and
distribute breaking news
 Watched and posted YouTube
videos specifically to view and
share shocking disaster
visuals.
http://cci.edu.au/floodsreport.pdf
@mentions of authorities vs.
mainstream media

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Reasons for the use of social media
• Convenience
• Social norms
(1) Their friends and family frequently use it and/or
(2) They trust and ascribe a high level of credibility to social media
• Personal recommendations
• For humor and levity
• Information seeking
Access to information:
Pew: The State of News Media 2012: http://stateofthemedia.org/2012/mobile-devices-
and-news-consumption-some-good-signs-for-journalism/what-facebook-and-twitter-
mean-for-news/

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http://socialtimes.com/why-social-media-is-the-new-face-of-disaster-response-
infographic_b126845
Online search
Type of information
• Timely information
 real-time disaster information,
which no other media can
 Unique information
 Unfiltered information
Reasons for search
 To determine disaster
magnitude
 To check in with family and
friends, maintain a sense of
community and for social,
emotional and healing support
 To self-mobilize: Create
hashtags, ad hoc development
of community structures
Source: National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (2012): Social media use
during disasters. www.start.umd.edu

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Neighbor-to-neighbor initiatives
SeeClickFix.com organized shoveling teams during snow
storm February 8-111, 2013
Neighbors provide power during Hurricane #Sandy
http://beedesign.org/wp-
content/plugins/RSSPoster_PRO/cache/b9c7f_hurricane_s
andy_tech.jpg
Impact on emergencies and crises:
 “Milling”: interact with others to
confirm information
 People seek social confirmation of
warnings before taking protective
action
 Develop a view about the risks
they face at the moment and their
possible responses
 Result:
 Lag between the time a
warning is received and the
time protective action is taken
Social media provide a new way to reduce lag time interactions
among individuals:
• Informal dissemination of warning messages
• Monitoring the public response
• Listen to incorrect information
• Rewarning based on observations

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Reasons the public does not use social
media
 Privacy & security fears
 Accuracy concerns
 Access issues
 Knowledge deficiencies
Fear mongering, fake information,
rumors, … http://www.fusioninformativa.com/noticias-locales/huracan-sandyal-mal-tiempo-
buena-cara/attachment/fake-hurricane-sandy-photo-shark-jpg/

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Why social media in times of crisis?
 Develop and maintain a
trusted voice
 Government has the unique
ability to keep calm in times of
crisis
 Trusted feeds
 Developing influence
 Causal relationship
 Social media use rises during
disasters as people seek
immediate and in-depth
information
 Respond immediately to
official posts
 Want immediate feedback
The role of social media in a crisis
 Team building: laying the
groundwork by establishing a
trusted, familiar social media EM
presence well before disaster
strikes
 Intelligence
gathering/situational
awareness: both the public and
the authorities use social media to
find out what’s happening before
and during an event, especially on
the “hyper-local” scale
 Information distribution: SM
channels are essential, new-
normal conduits for getting the
word out on every type of issue
• Build positive
citizen
experience
• Unity =
Government
organizations are
on the same side

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Preparedness
Social media recognized as official
emergency management tool:
http://www.dhs.gov/news/2011/05/04/written-statement-craig-fugate-administrator-federal-emergency-management-agency

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Ready.gov
CDC – Preparedness Blog
http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/zombies.htm

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http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/documents/11_225700_
A_Zombie_Final.pdf
During the
event

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Crowdsourcing citizen data
 Real-time information sources
to strengthen validity and
reliability of information =
collective intelligence
 Situational “first-hand”
intelligence combined with
traditional situational awareness
& social intelligence
 FEMA’s “Whole Community”
approach: Citizens = “first”
first responders
USGS Community Internet Intensity
Maps

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Geo-location of developing incidences
and impacted populations
Wireless Emergency Alert
message sent by MEMA
 Massachusetts Emergency
Management Agency
disseminated alerts via
“ping4alerts” app
Sutton, J., Johnson, B., Spiro, E., and Butts, C. (2013). “Tweeting What Matters: Information, Advisories, and
Alerts Following the Boston Marathon Events.” Online Research Highlight. http://heroicproject.org

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Emergency
Response
Preventing a panic, one tweet at a time :
”We hear you!”
 @ConEdison Public Affairs
Twitter account during Hurricane
Sandy:
“We really aren’t taking breaks.
We're getting so many questions
so quickly and we’re really just
trying to put everyone at ease
and trying to bring some
information to them,” Frasca
said. “Everyone is so scared and
they just want to know what’s
going on.”
@conEdison
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/03/conedison-twitter_n_2069744.html

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RedCross
Social Media Command Center
http://www.redcross.org/news/press-release/The-American-Red-Cross-and-Dell-Launch-First-
Of-Its-Kind-Social-Media-Digital-Operations-Center-for-Humanitarian-Relief
Moore, OK:
City Facebook page to inform citizens how to help
https://www.facebook.com/cityofmoore

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Problem:
”YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and
others were not created for the
purpose of preparing for, responding
to, or recovering from emergencies
and disasters.”
Craig Fugate (FEMA) testifying in Congress, May 2011
Measured Voice – editing tool

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Editorial history
Find a trusted, measured
voice on social media….
 Centralize communication around a few reliable channels.
 Decentralize information gathering
 Choose mobile optimized channels.
 Just because people socialize and crack jokes on Twitter doesn’t mean
you have to. Don’t confuse the genre for the medium.
 Focus on mission.
 Make sure your channels won't go down.
 Be calm and carry on! Seriously, be calm and straightforward. Tell
people what they can do, even if it's just to "carry on."

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The FBI is aware of published reports alleging that an FBI
laptop was compromised and private data regarding Apple
UDIDs was exposed. At this time there is no evidence
indicating that an FBI laptop was compromised or that the
FBI either sought or obtained this data.
Example:
FBI diffusing rumors on social media
Social
media
Press
release
http://socialtimes.com/why-social-media-is-the-new-face-of-disaster-response-
infographic_b126845

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Recovery
Using big data… or simply government data

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Utah fire info – government
website with live updates &
mapping
http://www.utahfireinfo.gov/
Mobile apps needed for
instant feedback and help
http://www.redcross.org/mobile-apps/earthquake-app
Example: Red Cross mobile apps

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Government’s
To Dos
Lessons Learned from previous social
media use in disaster situations
Governance
Processes
Technology
Data/Analytics

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Do your social media “homework”
 Measure how many constituents pay
attention to social media (outputs)
 # of comments on posts => # of
resulting discussions started
 # of links from other sites => Cross-
postings & reuse of information
 Understand who the social media &
knowledge hubs are in online social
media networks (see NodeXL #nemo)
 Outtakes
 Endorsements by traditional media
 “Believeability” of information
 # of shares
 # of likes
 # positive comments
 Measure social media outcomes:
 How does social media affect the
public’s behavior?
 Pre- & post-event trust
 Level of engagement
 Attitude changes as a consequence
of social media exposure
NodeXL network visualization of Twitter exchanges during #nemo
blizzard (February 2013)

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Learn from the public
Challenge.gov
Designing a
social media
strategy

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Mission-driven…
Crafting your social media policy

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Designing a social media strategy
Why? Who? What? How? For whom? Where? Did it work?
Organizational
mission
• Responsibi
lities
• Roles
• Broadcasting
• Information
sharing
• Fact checking
• Community
management
and
engagement
• Transparency
• Push
• Pull
• Networking
• Transactions
• All citizens
• Specific
clients
• Professional
organizations
• Specific
geographic
regions
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Podcasts
• FourSquare
• Pinterest
• Tumblr
• Open
Innovation
platform
Measures
and metrics
• Quantitative
• Qualitative
Be tool
agnostic!
Thank you!
@inesmergel
http://inesmergel.wordpress.com