Social media and emergencies
The Red Cross released results from an online survey about social media use in emergencies and disasters (PDF report from August 5, 2010). In addition to social media as a top source for emergency information, 74% expected that if they posted a call for help to Twitter or Facebook emergency responders would arrive within an hour.
Social media as a news source is a natural progression from getting relevant news from family and friends, word of mouth. It comes in behind tv, radio and online news—which are actually still sources for the links to news stories shared via social media. In addition, participants were likely to post first-hand information on disasters such as floods, crimes, accidents, and people in need of help. Another area is the ability to directly connect with organizations and sign up for specific alerts from news services, getting their updates integrated with other posts. One of the most useful features I’ve found is weather alerts. When I’m not tuned in to a broadcast medium I am still alerted to things like tornado warnings through text messages. Very useful.
But will help come if you post to social media? If Red Cross is studying the medium and sharing these results, it may be a growing area. With over $5,000,000 raised for Haiti through text messages, it only makes sense to use the connection for mutual benefit. An Emergency Social Data Summit this month brought together relevant groups to explore how to respond to digital requests for help.
If Comcast can monitor social media and provide better service to those who tweet about outages, why wouldn’t emergency services? If Foursquare can use GPS locations in mobile devices to show friends where you are, why not use that to direct emergency responses or track disaster updates? If power is down and phone lines are bombarded following a disaster, why not tap SMS to send out information about resources, shelter,medical services, evacuation routes, road closures, and where gas is available? Half of the survey respondents said they would sign up for these alerts.
But the big question right now is: How often do agencies check their Facebook pages or their email for updates? 69% of survey participants said response agencies should regularly monitor their websites and social media and respond promptly. (That expectation jumps to 74% for those aged 18-34.) Will Facebook and Twitter need to be constantly scanned by dispatch? With 35% of respondents saying they would post a request for help to an agency’s Facebook page, I’m expecting to start seeing the doctor’s office message in print on many Facebook walls. “If this is a true medical emergency, call 911.”
Will this then transfer to non-emergency services as well? I have long hoped for a way to text message or even email local police with non-emergency information. There are things, like abandoned cars, that I think they might want to know about but that are constantly put off when I think of being put on hold.
The summit has an ongoing blog and a wiki containing all of the information from the summit.
What do you think about this? Would you expect help to arrive if you posted to Facebook or Twitter—direct messages or public posts?
