Speaker:  Marybeth O’Leary, External Affairs Specialist, FEMA Region 10 What if you could collect real-time, first-person information about a disaster that included pictures and video? Learning to use social networking sites to augment situational awareness and information collection could improve disaster response by your agency. Find out how the use of #hashtags, aggregators and targeted searches can give you a wider picture than what is available through traditional media monitoring. In addition, online surveys show that respondents have voiced their expectation that agencies will respond directly to social media requests for assistance. Response and redirection of these requests can avert a public relations nightmare. Will the use of social media help or hinder your response to those affected by a disaster. In some cases a tweet for help has resulted in an avalanche of calls to 911 by Twitter followers.

1. Developing Situational Awareness
Through Social Media
Marybeth O’Leary
FEMA Region X
External Affairs
Today’s preparations will determine tomorrow’s outcomes

2. What this talk is about
• Why social media (SM) matters
• SM tools that offer situational awareness
• Using these t l
U i th tools
• Vetting information
• What to do with the information you
g
gather
• How to respond to and redirect requests
for help sent through SM

3. What this talk is not about…
about
• Setting up your SM accounts
• Using SM to promote your agency or
brand
• The pros and cons of agencies using
SM
• Should I let my kid have a Facebook
account of their own?

4. Disclaimer
• I do not endorse any of the sites in this
presentation. This is merely an overview
of some sites that are available.
• I (and no one at FEMA) downloads,
copies, or saves any of the information
p y
we do not generate on social media
sites.
• Check with your legal section on the
rules for your organization.

5. Terms
• Social Media – user generated content
content,
blending of technology and social
interaction

6. Terms
• Situational Awareness – being cognizant
of how information, events and actions
effect the present and the near future in
complex, rapidly changing environments.

7. Terms
• Hashtags – pound sign followed by
searchable phrase (#fema, #greenflood,
#earl)
• Geotagging (photos, tweets)
• A
Aggregators (Hootsuite, tweetgrid etc)
t (H t it t t id t )
• Monitoring Dashboard (Twazzup, Google
Realtime, etc)

8. Why use social media
The public posts what they see and what
they are doing:
• There are 400 000 000 Facebook users
400,000,000
• There are 175,000,000 Twitter users

9. Why SM is important
Red Cross survey* of 1,058 respondents
survey 1 058
representative of the US population aged
18 and older
older.
Respondents for this survey were selected
from among those who have volunteered
to participate in online surveys and polls.
*Conducted on July 22 23 2010
Conducted 23,

12. Situational Awareness
• What survivors experience
• News agencies accounts
• G
Government agency accounts
t t

13. Tools
• An ever changing list.
These are just a few
few..

14. Crowd Sourcing
C dS i

15. Ushahidi

16. Project EPIC

17. Youtube.com
Youtube com

18. Aggregators

19. Hootsuite.com
Hootsuite com

20. Tweetgrid

21. Trendsmap.com

22. Monitoring D hb d
M i i Dashboards

23. Google – Real Time

24. Google.com/crisisresponse
Google com/crisisresponse

25. Twazzup

26. Social Mention

27. Techniques
• Use your imagination
• Check in periodically
• M it d i event
Monitor during t

28. Key Word Search
• Type of event
(earthquake, tsunami, snowmageddon)
• Name of the event
• #name of event
• Event location

29. Pre scripted
Pre-scripted Searches
• #hashtags
• Geotags
• Name of city/area
N f it /
• Name of agency

30. Monitor your
agency name
• “Agency/business name” in quotes
• #agency name

31. Monitoring other
“feeds”
•News agencies
•Government agencies
Government
•Subject matter experts

32. Two way
Two-way Conversations
• Ask for assistance in areas where you
lack information. (remind them of safety)
This can include narrative photos and
narrative,
video
• Thank them in with an @screenname
comment at the end of post
• T ll th
Tell them where you would lik th
h ld like the
information posted

33. Direct requests for help
• Put out a general informational
announcement with correct process
• Send an @screenname comment to the
person who made the initial request

34. Challenges
•“Noise”
Noise
•Information moves fast
Inaccuracies
•Inaccuracies
•Learning curve
•Quantifying results
Quantifying
•Fraud

35. What to do with the info
•Develop future messaging
Develop
•Pass it along to Operations
•Other options?
Other

36. The Future?
•Yahoo Pipes
Yahoo
•Glympse
Other?
•Other?

37. Resources
• Web Users Increasingly Rely on Social Media to Seek Help in a
Disaster
Di t
• In Brief: Social media network helps prevent disaster
• County Experiments With Monitoring Social Media in Emergencies
• NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN EMERGENCIES AND CONFLICTS
• Boulder Fire Stokes Community Through Social Media
• Social media during crisis response: Five general lessons for
emergency managers
• Backchannels on the Front Lines: Emergent Uses of Social Media
in the 2007 Southern California Wildfires
• In Search of the Bigger Picture: The Emergent Role of On-Line
Photo Sharing in Times of Disaster

38. Lastly
•This is more art than science
This
•The more time you put into it the more
you will glean
•Remember to thank content generators
•Questions to marybeth oleary@dhs gov
Questions marybeth.oleary@dhs.gov

39. FEMA Platforms
•Region10@twitter
•FEMA@twitter
•Blog.fema.gov
•Facebook
•YouTube
Today’s preparations will determine tomorrow’s outcomes