Facebook was used by citizens to report a fire in Edgewater, MD in April 2012. Mr. Peterson's home appeared to be one reported to be on fire via social media. He learned 30 minutes in to social monitoring that in fact, it was not his home, but for those 30 minutes it was terrifying to him. This presentation looks at how social media, from a victim's perspective has both positive and negative influences.

1. Lessons Learned:
Social Media Usage during Holiday Point
Marina Fire
May 10, 2012
Steve Peterson
stevepeterson2@yahoo.com

2. Purpose
• Assessment of communications
– Proponent Perspective (Benefits)
– Victim Perspective (Challenges)
• General observations
• Suggestions

3. Holiday Point Marina Fire
Edgewater, MD - April 15, 2012
• Weather conditions: “Red Flag Warning”
• Four alarm fire
• Started at approximately 2 p.m. on Sunday April 15th
• 94 firefighters responded
• Fire contained by 4 p.m.
• Fire extinguished by 5 p.m.
• Destroyed storage shed
• Damaged three sailboats

4. Statistics
• 69 posts (84% of social • 13 tweets (16% of social
media communications that media communications that
day) day)
• 14 shares (day of fire) • 7 retweets
• 39 shares (between day of • 3 links to articles
fire and April 19th) • 1 map
Main Contributor of Information: Edgewater-Davidsonville Patch
18 total posts (7 main posts/11 replies)
10 images or web article links (some redundant)
1 link to video
10 updates to main posts

5. Proponent Perspective
• Real-time information sharing/updates
• Links to web pages
• Situational awareness
– Posts and tweets
– Photos and videos
• Eyewitness reports & participation
• Official word quoted
– Credibility established

6. Proponent Perspective (cont’d)
• Linkage between Facebook & Twitter
• Interfacing with end users
• Damage assessment
• Updates during recovery phase
• Multiple channels of communication
• Followed up on promises

7. It could be my house!
Rapidly-moving??!!
Victim Perspective
It’s spreading!
Involves houses…This 2nd Ave? I’m confused!
could be my house!!
It’s a big fire!! Official word. Relieved!
Is my
house
on fire?

8. General Observations
• Simultaneous reporting caused by many primary posts
• Non-validated information retweeted 5 hours after
fire (Twitterfeed)
• 5 dozen+ messages communicated between the first
PIO tweet and the second tweet
• Information sharing increased post-incident
• Inaccurate timeline shows time of posts changed

9. Suggestions
Opportunities exist for effective social media usage
during emergencies if information providers…
…know who provides credible information
…quote sources of information in posts/tweets
Establishes credibility
…are selective in word choice and placement of information
within Facebook
…do not take on more social media tools than they can
handle
…understand social media communication dynamics
…are trained in crisis communications
…establish relationships with PIOs in advance