Power of Social Media in a Crisis
FP Wellman, a former Army public affairs officer, has an older post about the power of social media and new technology in a crisis. He explains how social tools can be very helpful to existing crisis response plans, specifically talking about a shooting and a blizzard:
Mr. Don Carr, Director of Public Affairs, tells me that “most of what we did is part of the PA (public affairs) annex to the installation’s adverse weather response plan. The SM sites are not specifically part of the annex; we just did it. Our update to the annex will roll ‘em in.”
Mr. Carr goes on to note what made the social media outlets especially powerful “was the ‘instant’ feedback we got on FB and Twitter. As residents or employees would post a comment about how things were, I was able to cut-n-paste them into emails to the IOC (Installation Operations Center), DPW (Department of Public Works) or the Housing folks, so that priorities for plows and other work could be adjusted accordingly.”
I think if you are a PIO or anyway involved in crisis response, this is a very valuable article.
Building a Social Media Guide
Orange County, California, details how it created a social media guide. And the best part?
During several panels and workshops, I’ve shared our draft social media guide and asked for feedback from social media users. I also posted the guide on my blog. After all, isn’t that what public engagement is all about? You can download the guidelines here.
Added New Social Media Resources
We recently added a new social media resource section to FollowYourGov.
Be sure to check out Introduction to Social Media for some very instructional videos. We will be adding more resources as we see them (or as you request them).
If you think of anything else we need, let us know in the comments or contact us. Thanks!
Tips for Your Community Managers
Mashable just posted a great primer, 10 Fresh Tips for Community Managers. This is aimed at startup and business community managers, but everything is extremely applicable to community managers and PIO’s in government.
Must Read: Using foursquare to Increase Tourism
This is a must read for any local government or business leader. The topic is using location-based social networks (specifically, foursquare) to increase tourism.
Some of the tips:
If you have a Visitor Center, or a number of them, you might offer a special token or freebie for Foursquare users visiting your city or attending a convention. For instance put a little tweet out (Foursquare users are very likely already active on Twitter) about how the next check-in at your kiosk will receive a couple of passes to something or other you have laying around from one of your members. A little piece of swag goes a long way in the service industry. After all, your Visitor Center benefits from traffic, and wants to be helpful, not to mention hip.
We’ve previously talked about foursquare on FollowYourGov. For more on using foursquare to increase your business, look at their website.
Report on Gov Social Media from UPenn
The Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania has released a report titled Making the Most of Social Media: 7 Lessons from Successful Cities. An overview of this good read:
[This] is written for local governments—cities, counties, townships and their affiliates—that are beginning to experiment with social media and would like to get more out of them. More than two dozen early adopters were interviewed for this report, and their experiences offer some lessons to local governments about what sorts of tools social media offer, how to integrate them into a busy office, and how to use them creatively to be more effective.
Code for America and Local Gov Web 2.0
A new group called Code for America (which is backed by Tim O’Reilly) is trying to help local governments “leverage the power of the web.” GovTech has a great article on this new group.
They are on Twitter at @codeforamerica.
A Little Too Worried about Young Employees?
Another of the Governing magazine articles on social media in government: New Hires and the Facebook Effect. I’m not particularly fond on this article, because while young hires do need to understand a computer/network use policy, saying they’ll take bribes to “steal or manipulate information” is across the line. People want to be connected, not commit crimes.