See FEMA Using Social Media for an article on some of the technology being used today and where it might head in the future. The linkage between maps and social media is highlighted. ESRI gets credit for showing Craig that application.
Short story: Craig Fugate is vising ESRI and getting a briefing. During the briefing he is on his smart phone texting away. Then ESRI pulls up a map of who is using Twitter and what are they saying in the vicinity of their briefing site--BINGO! Up pops Craig's Tweets that he was doing during the briefing showing his location on a map.
I think you can see the applications for your own situational awareness. You have an incident. You pull up a map and go look for what people are saying on Twitter geographically at or near the site, without having to figure out what the possible hash (#) tag names might be being used for the event.
