12 Tips for Using Social Media in Emergency Management

Take a look at the list below and see if you agree with it. I could add my own commentary, but I'll let you be the judge on this one. It is just nice to see someone else talking about and writing on the subject.

12 Tips for Using Social Media in Emergency Management

More public and private sector leaders are looking to Twitter, Facebook, and other social media to get their message out. Because this area is relatively new, people are questioning the best way to effectively use social media. Here are 12 tips that were synthesized from various sources.

In keeping with the format of Twitter, each tip consists of less than 140 characters (excluding the paragraph heading):
1. Accessibility: Use social media to make emergency management messages accessible to a diverse, mobile and interconnected audience quickly.
2. Tone: Use active voice and stick to facts to communicate authority, accuracy, and applicability.
3. Reliability: Do not rely on social media to transmit urgent warnings or as the sole means of disseminating important messages.
4. Redundancy: Use social media to reinforce messages transmitted using other media and channels.
5. Repetition: Avoid repeating the same message too often, albeit in modified form, as a means of reinforcing key ideas.
6. Relevance: Make sure messages are pertinent and coherent, avoid excessive use of links to external sites, and keep content fresh and crisp.
7. Receiving: Recognize that social media is a form of two-way communication, not just another outbound channel.
8. Reciprocity: Share timely and relevant information from trusted sources by reposting or retransmitting it.
9. Frequency: Respect followers and friends by posting regularly but not too often; at least twice but no more than six times a day except in emergencies.
10. Timeliness: Get messages out as soon as practical, but do not let social media interfere with essential functions.
11. Sensitivity: Exercise reasonable care and discretion when disseminating information that could affect personal or proprietary interests.
12. Security: Always select and use a secure password and restrict account access to authorized agency representatives.

Thanks to Mark Chubb, Principal Consultant, Public Safety and Emergency Management at Manitou, Inc., Portland, Oregon who shared this.

Mike Ryan shared this information with me.