When do you use Social Media?

As readers will know, I have been a huge fan of social media when it is used as part of a plan in part of the toolbox.


As a stand-alone tool, it has shown value and failure.

This study, from Germany, traces messages as they "propagate" around the Internet.  The title, A Measurement-driven Analysis of Information Propagation in the Flickr Social Network, provided at least one disturbing finding:

We also find that 

information spreads slowly in the network; even the most popular photos exhibit a slow, steady growth in popularity over a long 

period of time (1-2 years).

This is not comforting, if one is relying on social media for timely, accurate accounting of what is happening where.  Preppers say "When seconds count, response is minutes away".  This is an example of when a delay in the warning process may cause a problem during extreme events.

For example, during a recent tornado warning, one National Weather Service office tweeted:

This is a serious situation for Snyder OK. Large tornado! If you know someone there, tell them to take cover NOW!! 

The result was a number of retweets, some as late at two hours after the fact.

As has already been discussed, Social Media is a good tool.  Please have three ways to get information from trusted sources.

Do you have MORE than one way to get alerts?

What will one do to keep up with watches and warnings when technology
is slow to respond?

The Graphic, at the right, shows a Twitter account showing the lag between one weather product retweeted by a number of Twitter accounts. At the bottom of the picture, one will observe the Weather Bot sending an
advisory at 12:45 p.m.

Following that, the WX5EM Twitter account transmitted the information
to its stream at 12:19 p.m., a delay of four minutes.

Following that, two media accounts and one emergency management
accounts transmitted the same information to their streams at 12:23
p.m.

An eight minute delay occurred depending on which stream one was
following. "Back in the Day", eight minutes was the best one could
expect for a tornado warning. Today, that time has increased
significantly due to better technology, the Skywarn program, and
social media. However, 15 to 20 minutes is reduced to seven to 12 minutes when there are delays in the Twitter stream. One could build a case that there is little progress, using social media alone for warning transmission.

However, emergency managers have, for years, advised in having more
than ONE stream of information. Apart from a siren, one emergency
management program identified over 7 ways to get information,
including conventional television, radio, internet, NOAA All-hazards
radio, email, text message, and amateur radio.

Do you have three ways to get your warning? What are they? When the
power goes out, do you have three ways to get your warning? Have you
tested them recently?

In a Tweet, Social Media mentor Brian Humphrey said "The greatest danger to American society (& #SMEM) is not terrorism or global warming, but rather mediocrity and complacency."

In an online forum, one individual suggested that through the years, the Citizen had not gotten enough education.

Social Media is going to automatically face those two issues and solve them ... NOT.

We have streaming video and audio, All-Hazards radio, TV, AM and FM radio, shortwave broadcasting, IPODs, Android phones and tablets, Blackberries, SMS alerts, email alerts ... and folks on TV saying the sirens did not go off.

On the Kindle, one can get the book, "In Time of Emergency A Citizen's Handbook on Nuclear Attack, Natural Disasters". This book was originally published in 1968 and cost a whopping $0.00 (Kindle not included) on Amazon.

 This material came about 11 years before the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  The information in the book is dated but still applicable. Make a plan, build a kit that supports the plan, practice the plan ... it's
all there.

FEMA has engaged Social Media sites with a blog, YouTube, Twitter ... with both Agency and personal accounts cranking out disaster information. The National Weather Service, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Hurricane Center have been cranking out information for years as well as recently engaging the Citizen in electronic form.

The ARE YOU READY books and videos were and still are available. Did you get yours? They are free from FEMA or you can buy a copy of the book from Amazon.

I am NOT saying that we should do less in engaging the Citizen.  I am a CHEERLEADER for Social Media, if, for no other reason, than the economy of local government is not supportive of doing more with less unless less is free.  I am saying it's time for the Citizen to wake up and smell the coffee.  Years of material, much of it free, is available in a variety of forms.  Expertise of the original Civil Defense folks is leaving fast.

The Citizen is already mediocre and complacent. The evidence of that was the phone call to the Emergency Operations Center to inquire about the Watch versus the Warning because the caller was too lazy to walk across the room to turn on their AM RADIO.

Following the #Joplin tornado, @DirectTV took a hit in @Twitter and @Facebook regarding their policy of requiring a box or a $500 fee.

http://twitter.com/#!/search/Joplin%20DirectTV is the Twitter search and the language in that search result is disturbing.

A phone call to DirectTV at 8887772454 resulted in Nick saying the fee can be forgiven.

However, @DIRECTV on Twitter is "Lost in Space". With ONE Tweet, DirectTV attempts to deflect the Social Media onslaught. "DIRECTV is helping customers affected by natural disasters, read more at http://on.fb.me/m1Hohc"

The @Facebook document reveals:

Options available include:

Account cancellation - If service cannot be restored at the customer's

home due to the damage from the storm, DIRECTV will cancel the

account, and waive any fee associated with the inability to return

equipment, along with any remaining agreement on the account.

Account suspension - For customers who are without power for an

extended period, we offer to suspend their account until power and

services can be restored.

No-cost service calls - If/once service can be restored at the

customer's home, we will send a technician at no-cost to ensure the

dish is properly aligned and to fix any technical issues.

Equipment - For customers whose equipment was damaged in the storm, we

offer to waive equipment replacement costs if they continue services

with DIRECTV.

If you are a customer that has been affected, please contact

1.800.531.5000 so we can remedy your situation immediately.

Only a few of the comments on the Facebook wall were appropriate.

This is standard across the industry. In other words, Dish Network would be asking the same thing and offering what they could.

I would like to brag on the ONE Twitter user who asked for verification of the truth of this issue.  The user profile states:   Freelance writer & fledgling goddess. I am an editor for Etopia Press, actively seeking submissions. 

This is an example of Social Media users who #FAIL in doing their homework AND DirectTV being less than eager to address the issue with more than ONE Tweet and ONE Facebook entry.  We all know emergency managers who are more engaged with their customers than this.

Wondering now, how many Twitter accounts will DirectTV sue for defamation of character or libel, though. 

In what may be the Government's most aggressive attempt to engage the Global Citizen, Social Media for Emergency Management initiative has really taken off.

This effort came into play through the leadership of Jeffrey Phillips @LosRanchosEM and a host of others who have and continue to develop tools of the trade, guidance, and education for the growing number of emergency managers using social media.

Tweeting #NSWW, the group helped with breakout sessions at the National Severe Weather Workshop in Norman.

The group is also presenting at the National Emergency Management Association conference this month.

Weekly online training followed by real time drills and exercises, including the efforts of Oklahoma Ice Map shows the utility of the project.

Follow the group, if you want to learn about Social Media in Emergency Management, want to gain new tools, or want to share how you are engaging your residents.

In a Tweet, Gov 2.0 pathfinder Brian Humphrey opined: "The 4 Mileposts to #SocialMedia Success: Desirable, Beneficial, Justifiable and Sustainable."

What makes social media justifiable?

We all know that Twitter is desirable.  After all, everyone's doing Social Media.

We have all heard stories about the benefits of social media.

Have we heard about justifiable social media?  It seems we've heard more people not allowed to use social media because ... well ... sometimes it really IS just because.

When social media grows up to present itself as a case to decision makers, social media will become sustainable.

Some tools that can help build that case are:

1.  SocialOomph ... this tool has some very useful tracking tools related to followers, URL shortening. When management wants to know how many followers you have, there's a graph for that. Being asked how many Direct Messages have been sent? There's a graph for that? Why is the Friend/Follower ratio at 38.2%? There's a graph for that will produce the question.  What's the answer?
2.  HootSuite is another tool that has some really superior twitter tracking tools.  How many clicks on your tweets happened this week or this month?  Which of the tweets were the most popular?  This tool will help you adjust your social media strategy by showing you successful tweets versus the less than stellar ones.
3.  At Twitter Counter, users will find a graph of users along with projections of followers and tweets.  Again, the user would be able to show management a viable Tweeting effort, if, indeed, there is one.
4.  Looking at TwitDiff, users can easily set up an account to track the followers who unfollow.  Using this tool, the Tweet user can determine the name and location of the unfollowing soul.  Thus, adjustments may be necessary to overcome a mass exodus, if, again, indeed, there is one.

OH, and by the way, management can use these tools since they are free, for the most part.  Therefore, the social media guru in your department might get ahead of that curve.

After all, it's part of the justification process for social media in Government.

The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success