Many New Zealand companies and organisations have rushed onto Twitter in the scramble to communicate through the Christchurch earthquake.
Thankfully, the large enterprise angst around social media policy and usage was outweighed by a genuine need to help people that were (and still are) in real trouble.
The lack of experience is obvious on some accounts but that really doesn’t matter. Real-time communication is critical during an emergency response and I’m pleased to see that corporate hand wringing hasn’t stopped people keeping the flow of information going.
I hope this has proven the case that social media tools aren’t for kids and early adopters. I hope that people can see that including social channels in emergency response planning is not just a gimmick and that it is as important as press conferences and media alerts. I’ve written a few emergency management communication plans in my time and not yet have I been able to include a line for social media response. Empowering people to connect and help each other at a hyperlocal level is critical and saves lives.
Use the tools that are there and make sure that it's tabled at your next EOC meetings.
Hang in there Christchurch; we’re thinking of you.
No comments:
Post a Comment