7. The New Realities
• Facebook has 1.1 BILLION active users
worldwide as of May, 2013
• 250 million pictures uploaded daily to
Facebook
• 100 hours of video are uploaded to
YouTube EVERY MINUTE
• Twitter has 500 million active users
worldwide
8. Impact
• Explosive Growth
• Changing work habits
• Expectation of constant connection
• Ability to instantly record and
disseminate to the world
• People walk into things
9. When something bad
happens…
• People turn to trusted sources to;
• Share what they are experiencing
• Validate their observations/feelings
• Gather information
• Seek help
• And, they DO IT FAST!
12. Craig Fugate, FEMA
Director @craigatFEMA
"I got better situational
awareness [from Twitter]
before we got official
word," he said. "Four or
five years ago I wouldn't
have gotten that quality
of information."
Photo: Max Whittaker, Getty Images
28. You Need To
Understand…
• Traditional news reporting has changed
• People now get breaking news from the
crowd
• You won’t be faster than the crowd
• You can use the crowd to get valuable
information
• If you don’t engage, you’ll lose valuable
opportunities
29. “Old School” Crisis
Comms
• Chain of Command
• Message approval process
• Reliance on media releases/briefings
• Arrogance (“It’s MY incident”)
• Underestimating public interest
33. What is
happening?
(facts)
What are we doing
about it?
(messages)
“Here’s what’s
happening”
What is
happening?
(facts)
Delegate to lowest
who can assure
accuracy
Leader(s)
PIO-Spokespersons
Here’s what we are
feeling, committing
to, planning, etc.”
Event activity
Approvals Today
34. Today’s Instant News
Dilemmas
• Immediate demand for information
• Time inertia in mobilizing the team
• Initial “facts” may be wrong
• Raising alarm vs. minimizing situation
35. What It Takes
• An Open Mind
• An Investment
• Practice
• People
• Pre-existing
presence
• Fast Action
36. Today’s Crisis
Comms
• Use Social Media platforms to:
• Size Up/Situational Awareness
• Instruct and Inform
• Identify those needing Help
• Correct Rumors
• Reputation/Credibility Preservation
• Assess message effectiveness
37. Some Practical Tips
• Get help!
• Post early and often
• Be smart with hashtags
• Respect “The Big Two”
• Play with 3rd party platforms
• Request your archive
• Don’t speak for someone else
Who has a Personal Facebook Account? Who manages a Facebook Fan Page? Who has a Twitter Account? Anyone Blog? Who does NONE of the above? For those of you who do none of the above, have you ever watched a YouTube video? Who does Facebook, Blogging or Twitter for their Company?
It’s Not My Emergency http://chiefb2.com
0g 1947
1g 1978
2g 1990-2000
3g 2001
4g 2009 Biggest leaps have come with 3 and 4 g as it relates to smartphone use and apps
The convergence of mobile technology, wireless infrastructure and applications has rapidly changed our culture and expectations, especially with the new generation.
Along with the explosion of technology, software and applications have exploded as well. Social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and blogs fundamentally have changed how we communicate.
“Smartphonatic” Someone who changes their shopping, banking and payment behaviors after switching to a smartphone
20% of US smartphone users are smartphoantics. 43% of mobile users use smartphones
Blurring of the lines between work and personal life due to the connection (email forwarding for example)
So, it should be no surprise when cell networks become overloaded during high visibility events.
Skagit I-5 bridge collapse brought local cell carriers to their knees.
Twitter is the fastest of them all.
No way, as crisis managers and communicators we will never be as fast as a witness with a smartphone.
Time stamp on tweet was 30 seconds after the crash! Now that’s fast!
6% dip in stock in 1 day
Their PR response roundly criticized and used as an example of what not to do, both here and abroad.
A spokesperson stated “It’s not the proper time to manage the company’s image.”
Nov 1,
Lone gunman
Targeted TSA agents
1 agent killed – several (7) wounded
Airport shut down for several hours – affecting worldwide air travel
Airport response on Twitter Note; very cryptic, fluid situation “fog of war”
They also used Facebook, but very sparingly. Almost all information and hyperlinks were posted on Twitter. Much more nimble and faster.
Bill February 15th 2011, an employee of the Red Cross tweeted from the @RedCross account:
Bill
First, understand the following:
Accept the fact that social media is how many people are getting their news, especially breaking news on Twitter
Take a hard look at your internal media statement approval process (more on that in a minute
Address the legal/institutional barriers
Educate key staff
Engage before the event – Use the platforms! (if you don’t use it regularly, you won’t use it during crisis)
Conflicting mixed messaging – especially in high profile/”policitical” type incidents (Unified Command) Deep Water Horizon example (ask Gerald to comment) Thad Allen had a tough time!
Can a JIS/JIC help this? YES! If key agencies are committed to working together.
Transition to how integration of social media can – and should – support the emergency response coordination and credibility.
Bill - Mention Reuters and other Cable news channels who passed along false information about subject being captured during Boston Marathon bombing - Reddit used to identify WRONG people as suspects, etc…
So, what does it take as a person in charge of incident response/agency response to effectively communicate during an incident?
The next question is; Where should social media monitoring reside within the incident command system?
When it comes to using Twitter during emergencies, ICs and PIOs should consider the following:
Post early and post often. Even if the situation is unclear and rapidly evolving, simply saying crews are on scene working on the problem can buy you time in the initial stages. This message will be rapidly shared, and likely will generate comments that can lead to early engagement.
Insert a geographical and/or agency hashtag with every post. Your town or location name (or abbreviation if the name is really long) can help others follow your tweets, and may end up being the default hashtag for the incident if your posts are retweeted enough. Prolific hashtags used during an incident often combine location and incident type (for example, #joplintornado, #sanbrunoexplosion, #chirstchurcheq, #I5bridgecollapse). However, the proliferation of a specific hashtag during an emergency incident is a crowd-sourced organic process.
Make sure you have the “big two”: reliable Internet access and power. Phone chargers, spare batteries and robust Internet connectivity are critical to sustaining a strong SM presence during long-duration incidents.
Try out some of the third-party Twitter platforms. TweetDeck, Hootsuite, GeoFeedia and Twitterfall, just to name a few, make it extremely easy to monitor multiple SM platforms, hashtags and posts from specific locations.