Category: Uncategorized

I love what I do. And I love to talk about it. Well, as
you’re reading this, that’s pretty easy to see. I mean, why else would
I spend hours per day curating my Twitter feed, managing more than 100
RSS feeds, researching topics for blog posts, writing blog posts. (And
admittedly, the tech has made it easier. I no longer write blog posts
out long-hand on the bus and transcribe it late at night once my
family had gone to bed.) I’ve told people before (and probably will
again soon) that if they find me two people interested in social media
and emergencies, I’ll go and talk to them. Like I said, I love what I
do.

And I, and many others who do what I do, will happily tell you how
easy it is to get started in social media. Just start listening, we’ll
say. Just create an account and talk with your communities. Be you.
Follow this super-easy flow chart for responding to
comments.
True, we aren’t as bad as the social-media-guru-snake-oil-salesmen who
tell you that you can get thousands of followers in just fifteen
minutes a day, but that’s really just a matter of degrees. The best
amongst us are sure to qualify the end of our presentations with a
note about the burden of incorporating social media into one’s public
information campaigns. (I once told a conference presentation audience
that because they heard what social media can do, I just made their
jobs twice as hard to be successful at. No one bought me any drinks
that night.)

The other day, I came across this great article that talked about the
dedication it takes to truly embrace social
media
and tagged it with this great line:

[Y]es, you too can be a 25-year overnight success by riding your collective 140 into the sunset.

The author’s point came about because someone didn’t believe that
Twitter could be a useful tool, because you can’t really say anything
in 140 characters. He responded that he agreed and proceeded to list
all of the avenues he’s utilized to build his brand. Newsletters,
email listservs, ebooks, tweets, seminars, speeches.

Social media is a full-time job, and for many, most, all (?) PIOs,
it’s impossible to add another full-time job on top of what they
already do. So it should be done intelligently, with both eyes open.
There should be a plan for success and resources devoted to ensuring
that success. Anything less will fail. And not like your newsletter
that failed and nobody noticed it, but a public failure that repeats
itself every time someone looks up your now abandoned social media
accounts and considers your agency a dinosaur.

So, I encourage all of you to seriously consider making social media a
part of your public information portfolio. (And truthfully, the
pressure to do so will only continue to grow, so start thinking about
it now.) Identify and devote the resources to ensure success (however
you define that). Just come up with a plan to do it first.

Yesterday, Mashable reported that Facebook had made
available to Page Administrators the ability to move their Pages to
the new Timeline
format.
Many users will, of course, complain about the changes. (I think
that’s written into our agreement with Facebook, that we must whine
about UI changes.) But I think it’s awesome and it has the potential
to do some REALLY cool things that government agencies (even public
health departments) should seriously consider implementing.

See these examples from Mashable:

The timeline of Livestrong’s Page that Mashable was shown began with photos of Lance Armstrong bed-ridden with cancer—powerful stuff. Manchester United’s timeline points to its rich history, with the first entry dating back to 1878. Brands can also call out specific milestones—a first sale, major acquisition or debut of a hit product, for example—by starring them so they appear double-wide.

Think about highlighting awards that your agency has won, or
Administration changes, but also big deals that consumed your agency.
I’m already considering how I’m going to put the H1N1 influenza
timeline (links to news stories from when it hit the news, links to
local articles about the first cases here, highlight when the vaccine
was available in Philadelphia, add pictures of clinics that were
running) so it actually tells the story of the pandemic on our Flu
Facebook page. Imagine updating the Joplin Missouri Facebook page with
pictures from the day and those initial storm reports. You know, all
of those things that we’re too busy to do because we’re, y’know,
responding.

Those of you who are paying close attention to my examples above will
notice what I’m proposing. I want to write the story of what we have
done. Consider that from a crisis communications standpoint. Right
now, someone who finds out about a crisis that affected your
organization weeks, months or years after it’s happened will scan news
articles that probably paint the situation as dire or your
organization in a poor light. They will ultimately come away thinking
poorly of your organization. Now imagine if they find your Facebook
timeline and see all of the steps we took during the crisis and the
reasons why you took them; I’m willing to bet if they see your side of
the story, maybe they come away thinking a bit better about what
you’ve done.

I imagine this process will become standard for corporations with
sour bits of history. Governments will take a bit longer. And many
will complain that it’s akin to whitewashing, but I believe that
unless your organization actually acted with reckless disregard, what
I’m recommending is actually transparency. The second side of a
one-sided story.

I, for one, can’t wait to take advantage of this amazing new tool. You can learn more about the changes from Techcrunch

Too many parents today are reeling from the events of Monday morning,
when a young man opened fire in a crowded high
school,
killing at least three students and wounding others. I know I hugged
my kids extra hard that night.

Like all horrific situations, though, if we refuse to learn from it,
we should expect to repeat it. The lesson I took from Chardon applies
not only to my professional life, and as such, fits into the purview
of this blog, but also my personal life. And it has to do with social
media.

Social media, for all of the positives and negatives bandied about it
is ultimately a tool, another way to communicate. And we know that
when stressful or upsetting situations occur, we reach out and
communicate. The students at Chardon High that morning did exactly
that. In fact, some of the first reports of the shooting can be found
on Twitter,
posted by students as the shootings were occurring! This was before
the school was locked down. Before the school’s emergency alert system
was activated. Before the police showed up.

So my lesson is two-fold. First, monitoring of social media, even just
trending topics, can alert one to events that are still in progress.
And who among us doesn’t want to know something is happening sooner?
Second, monitoring of social media, even just local trending topics,
can make me aware of what’s happening in my child’s world. Is his
school locked down? Has her day care been evacuated? Are they safe?
And what parent among us doesn’t want that reassurance?