I was able to get a quick demo of the application this morning. I like it and the concept that it can help organizations get to the point where they can practice using social media -- before an event. Key aspects of the tool are: 1) It is safe -- no worries about exercise information and simulation "There has been a tornado" getting out into the public domain. 2) It is customization friendly -- You can make the practice session as big or small as you want. 3) It is affordable -- there are other big tools out there that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to incorporate into a major exercise. For as little as $5K-10K, you can have a solution that works for your agency or jurisdiction. You can lower the cost by developing your own social media injects, but I think using their's will give you the quantity and quality that will make the experience more meaningful.
One thing they still need to incorporate is the use of #Hashtags, but that is supposed to be coming soon.
Hagerty has already supported statewide exercises and they told me they can handle up to 1,000 players, multiple agencies, etc.
I know some of you are saying, "I don't have the funding to support this type of activity." I think you can't afford not to incorporate social media into your exercises and make the mistakes there instead of in the public eye during an event.
Since including social media into exercises is new, you need to get your public information staff and operational/planning staff accustomed to using social media in a fail-safe environment.
When I write about how every aspect of emergency management will have technology associated with it in the future -- EM Social Simulation is a great example of what I'm talking about. You can use it for training "drills" and for exercises.
Then, don't forget you need to figure out how you are incorporating social media into your Emergency Operations Center (EOC) procedures and functions. For instance, if you don't have a Joint Information Center (JIC) established, the facts and tone of your social media information will most likely conflict with what others are saying and responding to on social media outlets.
Some might say, "That is another reason not to use social media." I say -- figure out how to play nice with others so that you are not dooming your citizens to a substandard disaster response that leaves them in the dark, out of the loop and excluded from the response and recovery team.
