Just Do It

A few days ago I read an advance copy of a paper:  2011 Social Media Emergency Management Camp –Transforming the Response Enterprise, written by Clarence Wardell III and Yee San Su. It summarizes the efforts of a charter group of committed emergency management and social media  experts who gathered in March, 2011 to discuss and plan for the future in using social media in emergency response efforts.  I should have been there…. But, work obligations prevailed.

The paper notes the efforts and challenges in integrating social media into emergency response organizations and efforts.  But, I have to tell ya, it’s a “dry read”, unless you are an academic or a bureaucrat (I’m mostly a bureaucrat if you couldn’t tell). Even so, I consider this an OUTSTANDING summary of our efforts to date, and where we need to focus in the future.  What follows is a free form overview of where I think we are and where we need to go.

As noted, the document is a “heavy read” for most in the emergency response trenches.  With that said, it is an excellent foundation to create simple, easy to understand SM policy direction and guidance. The paper identifies – abstractly – a fundamental conflict in integrating SM into emergency response operations;  Bureaucracy vs. free-form communication.  This conflict rears its ugly head in policy creation, IMS implementation, disseminating information and public engagement.

The three dirty words used by us SM advocates are; “Just Do It!” (Thanks Nike) This is an extremely uncomfortable perspective for most in government and large public sector companies.  Even highly visible public figures struggle with this perspective (just ask Ashton Kutcher’s (@aplusk)  publicist about the current Penn State scandal).

Current guidance on using social media for emergency response is based on limited experience. We need more disasters…. (I’m smiling here)…..before we get it right….wait…who decides if we “get it right”?  Oh yeah, the public decides.  Do you think their expectations will be the same a year from now?  Nah, me neither…

Technologists and sociologists…. We need both to further develop SM platforms and infrastructure and better understand how people behave and interact in virtual groups.  This synergy will shape our future bureaucratic strategy.

Ok, enough of the esoteric stuff.  Time to opine about how SM should be integrated operationally into emergency response.  Hence, my previously blogged “Ten Commandments of SM for Emergency Response”

1.   Thou shalt listen before tweeting.
2. Thou shalt avoid the “retwecho”.
3. Thou shalt not ignore what is being said.
4. Thou shalt not use others words as their own.
5. Thou shalt not post anything that would embarrass you or your mother when printed “above the fold”.
6. Thou shalt understand that SMEM is only one way of communicating (but really effective!).
7. Thou shalt accept that information must be quickly, clearly and frequently distributed.
8. Thou shalt be forgiven for flogging an IC who insists on approving all SM messaging .
9. Thou shalt acknowledge you can’t have enough power dongles and spare batteries.
10. Thou shalt never underestimate the power of the crowd