Some weeks have specific themes in the types of questions I receive about social media. And this week was no exception. Question after question that went like this: How do you handle errant tweets? Do you discipline employees who tweet mistakenly from your agency accounts? Did you see [fill in the blank] example? What would [...]
This is going to be a busy week on social media. With the impending Hurricane Sandy (#sandy, #frankenstorm) and the International Association of Emergency Management (#iaem12) Annual Conference, a number of different platforms are buzzing with pictures and information. And, in the midst of these 2 events, there is still an important election coming up [...]
Two events this week which highlight the role of social media in both preparedness and emergency response: First up, a Twitter Town Hall will occur at 10:00a PDT/1:00p EDT on Tuesday, October 2nd. This chat will use the hashtag #NatlPrepChat and is being promoted by @ReadyDotGov on Twitter. Presumably, this conversation will center around how [...]
Have you been watching all of the devastating wildfires in the United States this week on Twitter or other forms of social media? If you have been monitoring the breaking news, you’ve probably also seen a proliferation of hashtags that have not only tracked fires by states, but also by specific names. One practice that [...]
If you are new to exploring the intersection of Social Media in Emergency Management, you may wonder where to find some help. You may feel like you’ve walked into an ocean of information or a busy train station and just aren’t sure where even to begin. Trust me, you don’t have to be new to [...]
Have you ever walked into a conversation mid-stream or seen something without proper context that just makes you scratch your head and wonder why? For a number of folks who jumped online at 12:30 p.m. EST yesterday, seeking the weekly #SMEMChat, the hour had been replaced by #SMEMWater which was our first live social media [...]
To be honest, I had no idea what #SMEMChat would look like today. When someone mentioned conducting an exercise last Friday and I threw my hand in the air, I knew it would take a life of its own. But I had no idea what that life would look like. Would it bomb? Would it [...]
In the coming week, if you are paying attention to the #SMEM tag (which stands for social media in emergency management), you may see some folks using the #UASI hashtag. Known to many emergency managers who work in larger cities, UASI stands for the Urban Area Security Initiative. And this week, from June 20-23rd, the [...]
As Emergency Managers, we preach the importance of exercises and drills to just about anyone that will listen to us. We must train our muscle memory to use what we will need during times of crisis. In fact, we have trained ourselves so well, that we have become culturally comfortable creating wild scenarios and sharing [...]
This past week, if you tuned in to Twitter, you may have seen a funny hashtag floating around the Twittersphere called #140ConfNW. This was a one-day conference in Vancouver, Washington, which sought to bring together the many voices and faces of public safety in a fast-paced, unique type of conference to discuss the many aspects [...]
