Author: Jim

A few days ago, there was a great bit of a dust up in NYC about firefighters and EMS folks being profiled by the NY Post for a terrible reason: taking and posting images and descriptions of people involved in scenes online. The wonderful Dave Statter wisely noted that this situation had the potential to blow up into the national media. I agree, this is exactly the type of situation that will cause agencies, organizations and companies to get very, very scared.

I didn’t think I could add anything to what’s already out there on the subject, until I looked at what’s going to happen next. And as terrible as what those folks did was, it’s the reaction is what could be really bad.

What could be possibly be worse than posting gruesome and demeaning photos? How about overreacting and banning social media.

Let me be crystal clear about this, the men that posted those images should be disciplined. But this is not a problem with social media, it is a problem with those men. And brass and politicians, in an effort to “do something ” about the problem, may very likely confuse the two and set their agency back by years.

It may be too late for this case, but in your case, hopefully it’s not too late. (And yes, this or something very similar can happen in your agency, organization or company; and if you can’t think of something, you give your staff too much credit.) So, what should you be doing right now, before the Post comes calling?

First, you need to review your social media policy (and if you don’t have one, check out http://www.socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php) and get creative. What dumb thing can put your agency on the front page? Make sure that’s reflected in the policy.

Next, and this is the most important step, is to train people on the new policy. And not in the sense of, “don’t be a moron on social media,” but instead teach them how to use social media correctly, positively. How they can act as an ambassador for your agency to the world. Because that’s what they are, your very best spokespeople, and they are completely underutilized.

The final step is supremely important, and can only happen once the first two steps are taken care of completely. You stand behind your staff. If your policy is good enough, and the training was positive and adequate, your people should be among the best in the world, and deserving of your protection from the brass and politicians when they come looking for scalps. And if you can’t honestly defend them knowing they’ve gotten the very best training, is that their fault?

Thanks so much for watching me this week! I hope that you found these videos interesting and that they got better as the week went along. I really enjoyed doing this little project, so I think I’ll keep it up. Keep an eye on this space in the future for more videos from me!

Resources:

Twilert
Icerocket
Topsy
Bottlenose
Socialmention
Tweetgrid
TwitterFall
GeoFeedia

Now, I don’t get angry very often. Most people who know me know that it takes a LOT to get me upset. (Read: me = pretty chill) So when I do get upset, it’s probably something pretty egregious.

Today, the World Health Organization’s Twitter account is what brought me to this point. Spittin’ mad, as they say out west.

As you may or may not have heard, there’s a new strain of flu kicking around in China. So far, it’s characterized by some pretty bad outcomes and lots of people who follow the flu are a bit concerned by it. The WHO is one of those organizations that’s thinking about it, and putting out information on what’s known about the disease. They’ve got a Frequently Asked Questions page on their website and everything. Even their Twitter account is pumping out quick hits from the FAQ and updates on the situation. Props to them, honestly. Five days ago I would’ve laughed if you would have tried to get me to believe WHO would be ahead of some disease outbreak. Then on the train ride home from work yesterday, I saw this:

Now, if that doesn’t seem like something to get too upset about (because, honestly, most of it is good advice), here’s what I said back:

https://twitter.com/jgarrow/status/319562660138065920

You see, no one in the world right now knows what transmits H7N9 influenza. No one. Being that it’s an influenza virus, it’s a safe bet that it’s transmitted through oral secretions (e.g., coughs, sneezes, etc.), but we know next to nothing about this disease. Reading the WHO (remember, that’s World Health Organization, and lots of doctors work there) tweet, it makes it seem that so long as you don’t eat bloody food, you’ve got nothing to fear from the H7N9 influenza.

I got no answer. But I figured out why. Because they kept tweeting confusing messages about how food safety was a–no THE–way to prevent H7N9 influenza!

I continued to complain:

https://twitter.com/jgarrow/status/319570976767614976

And fifteen minutes later, this tweet was posted, the last of the night from them:

What a horribly irresponsible thing to do. The sum total of the impressions of their “nevermind” tweet pales in comparison to the number of impressions from their INCORRECT food safety tweets.

And I stand by what I said, because it is me that will have to unravel the confusion in 1.5 million people who’ve now got to decipher if bloody food is the cause of a possible pandemic.

Shame on you, WHO, you should know better. Have you ever tried to unring a bell?