How Government and Public Utilities in the New York City-area used Social Media during “Post-Tropical Cyclone” Sandy

1. Social Media as a Record for Public
Services and Utilities in a Disaster
How Government and Public Utilities used Social
Media during “Post-Tropical Cyclone” Sandy

2. People Like Social Media
Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
• 65% of adult internet users now say they use a social networking site
like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn. (2011)
• 74% of smartphone owners use their phone to get real-time locationbased information. (2012)
• Some 15% of online adults use Twitter. (2012)
Dartmouth Survey: Social Media Use by Fortune 500 Companies
• 73% of Gas and Electric Utilities (16 of 22) used Twitter,
50% used Facebook, and 27% hosted a blog. (2012)
Red Cross Survey (July 2010)
• Social media sites ranked fourth as a resource for emergency
information behind television news, radio and online news sites
• One in five would try to contact responders through a digital means
such as e-mail, websites or social media
• Nearly half believe a response agency is probably already responding
to any urgent request they might see

3. Social Media can be a Record
“Made or received by an organization in pursuance of legal
obligations or in the transaction of business” — ARMA
However
“The scope of discovery of electronically stored information does
not depend on the internal designation or records classification
that may or may not have been assigned to it. Any electronically
stored information, whether or not it is internally viewed as of
business, legal, regulatory, or personal value, is potentially
discoverable.” — The Sedona Conference

4. Social Media Policy
AIIM International
• Integrate social media into an organization’s existing
governance policy.
• Policy should be “channel-neutral”.
Patricia Franks, San Jose State University SLIS
• Guided by the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping
Principles.
• Create a crosswalk between the existing records
retention schedule and records generated through
social media.

5. Sample from Patricia Franks RACO 2011 Presentation:
“How Federal Agencies Can Effectively Manage Records Created Using New Social Media Tools”

6. Social Media and Sandy
Disasters = Unique Communication Environment
Time-Sensitive: Little time for reflection, open debate, rebuttals
Suppression: No longer an option
Counter
• Outdated, inaccurate, or
false information
• Malicious use
Provide
• “Expand the use of newer technologies to communicate with
customers during outages (i.e. email, text messaging, and
social media).” — Utility Performance Report Following Hurricane Irene
and Tropical Storm Lee NYS Public Service Commission, June 2012

7. Social Media and Sandy
Six Categories of Social Media Use in a Disaster
• Public safety and crisis information disseminated
before, during, and after various incidents;
• Notifications for training or mobilizing first responders;
• Sending emergency warnings and alerts;
• Gaining situational awareness and utilizing multi-directional
communications;
• Responding to requests for assistance;
• Aiding in recovery efforts.
Social Media and Disasters: Current Uses, Future Options, and Policy
Considerations, Congressional Research Service, Sept. 2011

8. Social Media and Sandy
Public safety and crisis information disseminated
before, during, and after

9. Social Media and Sandy
Public safety and crisis information disseminated
before, during, and after

10. Social Media and Sandy
Sending emergency warnings and alerts

11. Social Media and Sandy
Responding to requests for assistance

12. Social Media and Sandy
Direct message responses to
requests for assistance
and privacy issues

13. Social Media and Sandy
Gaining situational awareness and
utilizing multi-directional communications

14. Gaining situational awareness
and utilizing multi-directional
communications
+
Responding to requests
for assistance

15. Social Media and Sandy
Gaining situational awareness
and utilizing multi-directional
communications
(in a not good way)

16. Social Media and Sandy
Aiding in recovery efforts

17. Social Media and Sandy
Not Aiding in recovery efforts with incomplete information
3 Days Apart

18. Social Media and Sandy
Notifications for training or mobilizing first responders
(not really this time)

19. Social Media and Sandy
GARP
Accountability and Transparency
• Documented and approved social media policy or that social
media is included in a “channel-neutral” communications
policy or internet policy.
• Tool-specific and sector-specific procedures.
• Have print copies of policy and procedures at backup site.
• Specify who will manage social media accounts during a
disaster and train them
on special case usage.

20. Social Media and Sandy
GARP
Integrity and Protection
• Clearly link identity to the organization and comply with
the social media/communications policy
• Ensure protection of data by updating data maps of the
physical locations of all electronically stored records
• Vet the reliability of any third party vendor
• Alternative channels if platform goes down
• Keep account in the hands of appropriate users and
avoid malicious hijacking

21. Social Media and Sandy
GARP
Compliance
• Maintain records in keeping with company policy, applicable
local, state, or federal laws as well as any industry regulations.
• Evaluate the risks and
benefits of channel silence
on an issue.

22. Social Media and Sandy
GARP
Availability, Retention, and Disposition
• Evaluate services for capture, indexing, and retrieval
(ArchiveSocial, Next Point CloudPreservation, Hanzo Archives)
• Evaluate appropriate posting tools
(Hootsuite, Radian 6)
• Limits of control over third-party software:
What if needed for longer than the terms of service allows?
What if records should not exist as long as services maintain?

23. Resources
• Franks, Patricia “How Federal Agencies Can Effectively
Manage Records Created Using New Social Media Tools” IBM
Center for The Business of Government, 2012
• Lindsay, Bruce “Social Media and Disasters: Current
Uses, Future Options, and Policy Considerations” Library of
Congress, Congressional Research Service, Sept. 6, 2011
• Redgrave, Jonathan “The Sedona Principles (Second Edition)”
The Sedona Conference, June 2007
• “Best Practices Study of Social Media Records Policies” ACTIAC Collaboration & Transformation (C&T) Shared Interest
Group (SIG), March 2011