Social Media & Public Safety:

Practical Applications, Considerations and

Pathways to Success

Brett Hicks, CEM

Author of Social Media Survival

Guide for Public Safety

Agenda

• Why Use Social Media

• Crisis Informatics

• Strategic Communications

• Social Dynamics & Social Convergence

• Who Uses Social Media (By Application)• Twitter

• Facebook

• Blogs and Bloginars

• Social Media Applications for Public Safety

• Search and Reestablish

Why Use Social Media?

Social media is a public safety multiplier because it helps you respond effectively by providing personalized messages through a wide-reaching communication network built on open information exchange:

• 75% of users use one or more social media sites while 25% frequent multiple sites

• The top five sites in order of most popular are; Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, and Tagged

Why Use Social Media?

• Free

• Can reach large amounts of people in a nanosecond

• Provides Two-Way Communication

• Enlists the help of the community and provides voice

• Helps receipt of messages using the THREE P’s

• Personalization

• Presentation

• Participation

Crisis Informatics

Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM)

• According to Liu (2008), “Crisis informatics concerns itself with the extended social arena of disaster response to account for the information space that spans preparation, warning, response and recovery. The informational arena of disaster varies by the spatial, temporal and subsequent social arrangements of the hazard upon a built environment” (p. 1).

Trust of Personal Network

• For example, the 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer found that 60% of informed people aged 25 to 64 years believe a message to be true only after viewing it three to five times. Moreover, the message is reinforced only if people see the messages from both experts and peers (Edelman, 2009).

Strategic Communications

What is Strategic Communication?

• Concept

• Process

• Philosophy

What is your organization’s definition of Strategic Communication

• Two-Way Communication

• Scrutiny

Strategic Communications

Avoid the label of Propaganda• Techniques

• Procedures

• Time Horizons

• Audiences

Careful and candid evaluation of your strategic communication goals.

Social Dynamics

Social dynamics binds us together as a society. A more formal definition of Social Dynamics reads, “The study of social processes, especially social change” (Dictionary.com, 2011).

Sociological, cultural, and anthropological factors contribute to social dynamics and established norms.

• “The way it is”

• Why Do People Do What They Do

The Court of Public Opinion

Social Convergence

During a disaster, the social convergence and pro-social behaviors are strikingly similar to same behaviors demonstrated on social networking sites.

• Helpers

Helpers converge in order to assist victims or responders.

• Anxious

The anxious are people from outside the impacted area who attempt to obtain information about family and friends.

Social Convergence

• Supporters

The convergers are either individuals or groups who gathered to encourage and express gratitude to emergency workers.

• Exploiting

Exploiters are convergers who use the disaster for personal gain or profit.

• Being Curious

Curious convergers come to the impacted site primarily to view the destruction left in the wake of the disaster and the activities surrounding the response.

Who Uses Social Media?

Facebook• Facebook reports that an average Facebook user has

130 friends with whom they easily share information (Facebook, 2010).

Who Uses Facebook? • 55% female

• Highest percentage of users is in the 13-34 age group

• 48% have children 0-17 in the household

• 40% are college graduates. This is important for public safety when we consider the grade reading level for our messages.

Who Uses Social Media?

• Facebook users are generally more affluent (62% have annual incomes over $60K)

• Caucasian users make up 75% percent of users. Important information for developing your message’s intent, and target audience

• African Americans make up 13% of users. Important information for developing your message’s intent, and target audience.

Who Uses Social Media?

TwitterTwitter is the largest and fastest growing micro-blog and is an immediate way to seek and share public safety information. Who Tweets? Well, the American Cancer Society, CDC, Microsoft, CNN, and MTV just to name a few.

Who Uses Twitter? • The largest populations of Twitter users are 18-34 years old (45%)

• The second largest are 35-49 years old (24%)

• Females represent 55% of Twitter users, and 47% have children ages 0-17 in their household

Who Uses Social Media?

Blogs and BloginarsBlogs are an excellent way to engage users in two-way communications by providing ways for them to leave comments, participate in discussions, and ask questions. This is important for public safety because this type of interaction contributes greatly to restoring the voice.

Bloginars are an extremely effective and pinpointed technique to reach bloggers. Public safety organization’s may host blogger webinars or “bloginars” to communicate information about health or safety events, emerging pandemic information, planned shelter locations, companion animal (pet) information, procedures, and planning, etc.

Who Uses Social Media?

Who Uses Blogs? “Overall, bloggers are a highly educated and affluent group. Nearly half of all bloggers we surveyed have earned a graduate degree, and the majority have a household income of $75,000 per year or higher” (Sussman, 2009).

• Two-thirds are male.

• 60% are 18-44.

• 75% have college degrees and 40% have graduate degrees

• Over 50% are married and over 50% are parents

• 50% are employed full time

Social Media Applications

for Public Safety

If you use Social Media you must:

• Know What Your Audience and what you are doing

• Integrate social media with your Strategic Communications Strategy

• Understand the Commitment

• Be a “One Stop Shop”

Social Media Applications

for Public Safety

No one application meets all of your needs!

• Determine Objectives

• Deliver Useful Content

• Provide links to additional information

• Develop Metrics, Evaluate Outcomes, Implement Changes

• Search and Reestablish

Search and Reestablish

• Search and Reestablish is an important aspect of your social media campaign.

• Misinformation is a threat to public safety using social media as part of their communications strategy.

• Each social media user in the public safety domain should become familiar with a site’s search functions FIRST!

Search and Reestablish

• As contradictory or inflammatory messages are found, a revisit to the overall communication plan is needed.

• Below are a few recommendations to assist your efforts:

• Identify Intent

• Respond to the Intent

• Continue Monitoring

Summary

“When properly constructed, (social media) tools can harness the power of social networks towards a singular goal. They have the potential to do this with alarming efficiency and speed.”

“There must be some incentive in place to facilitate involvement and action. The incentive may be monetary or social (e.g., earning respect from cyber peers), or a combination of the two.”

“The most powerful incentives combine social and monetary elements, and are structured so that they self-propagate” (Ford, 2011).