From the 15-17 July 2014, some of the most inspiring and knowledgeable people in the social media in emergencies field assembled at Mt Macedon for the Australian Emergency Management Institute’s Connection Week 2014.
I enjoyed every presentation and spent the week meeting many fantastic people. Here are 50 thoughts, concepts and quotes from the event.
- Col Joey Booth from Louisiana University said Australia and the USA have much in common: both among heaviest users of social media.
- He also spoke about the importance of refuting myths and false information as soon as possible during an emergency to prevent it gaining credibility.
- Craig Lapsley, Victoria’s first Emergency Management Commissioner, gave us this gem: don’t come in and ‘do’ the response to the community – do it with them.
- He added “in emergency situations it’s important to connect to communities that already exist” such as community groups.
- Craig Thomler: Australia is a social nation and very much a Facebook nation.
- Craig Thomler: People in Asia spend more time than us on social media, it’s inevitable we’ll use social more and more in Australia.
- Get staff talking more on social media as people trust them says Craig Thomler. (We did this during the Straddie bushfires using Bambuser live streamed videos)
- Craig Thomler: You can’t establish a relationship with the community the moment an emergency strikes.
- Kym Charlton, former Executive Director of Communications with the Queensland Police Service, said QPS already had a relationship with the public on Facebook before disasters hit in early 2011.
- Kym also spoke about the importance of setting information free: making it available online to whoever wanted it, not just the mainstream media. One by-product of this during the 2011 Queensland floods was QPS information being translated into many different languages and reposted on the internet.
- “We place trust in 000 emergency calls (US 911 / UK 999) – why don’t we place trust in social media posts?” asked Kym.
- Kym Charlton: using social media in disasters actually reduces number of enquiries, being proactive versus reactive reduces the workload.
- Facebook Australia’s Mia Garlick gave a good presentation urging us to “Take advantage of the power of word of mouth at scale“.
- Doing social media in emergencies is NOT like doing it for brands. You don’t need to keep it short or post a photo.
- Mia suggested we consider the following Facebook tools in emergencies: notifications, interest lists, page insights and geo-targeting.
- Jet from Hootsuite: empowerment or containment – which social media strategy will your organisation choose?
- Jet also used the #mythbuster hashtag on the theory that Facebook penalises posts from 3rd party apps.
- John Sheridan: Getting involved in a slanging match as a government agency on social media will never have a good outcome.
- He also spoke about social media being just one tool and about social media strategies: “a carpenter doesn’t have a hammer strategy”.
- After lunch on day 1, Craig Thomler led us through a fantastic practical exercise using Crisis90 simulation software. Working in groups, we workshopped how we would respond to a social media post about a fictional bomb threat to a well known Australian sports stadium.
- Twitter is live. Twitter is public. Twitter is conversational. Twitter Australia’s Danny Keens gave two presentations.
- Even if you’re not on Twitter, you’re exposed to Twitter via tweets on TV and other media.
- Twitter is the second screen to major events as they unfold in real time.
- You can also change the channel you’re watching straight from Twitter with the new “see it” buttons.
- Twitter is now in 35 languages and has instant translation.
- Have you tried adding four photos to a tweet? It’s a great new feature on Twitter. Here’s 4 photos in a tweet I did earlier. You can also tag people in the tweet and this doesn’t chew up precious characters.
- I don’t know where Caz Milligan gets her tights from, but I want some.
- Caz Milligan did a fantastic exercise with us, showing a series of words and then asking us to recall as many as possible. Many people in the audience had written down words that didn’t appear – proving the concept of false memory under stressful circumstances.
- Caz Milligan: Social media can be vital in augmenting existing information already in the hands of decision makers.
- Caz Milligan: In times of crisis people turn to social media where they can find information by the people and organisations they trust.
- Caz did a fantastic presentation on VOST: Virtual Operations Support Teams. It’s a way of making use of new technologies, allowing trusted agents help those at the scene who may be overwhelmed by the volume of data. Find out more about VOST
- It was a real pleasure listening to Darren Whitelaw, one of the many concepts he spoke about was JBDI: just bloody do it. This is something we can still mostly get away with in local government.
- Social Local Mobile: this is where the next 5 years will take us says Darren Whitelaw. He posted up a cool GimpShopped photo of what a Melbourne street could look like through Google Glass.
- Move fast or get left behind: when government fails to act, citizens will step in and do it themselves: Darren Whitelaw
- This concept was proven by Melanie Iron’s Tassie Fires we can help Facebook page which played a major role in the 2013 Tasmania bushfires, both in the initial crisis, as well as in the immediate and ongoing recovery.
- A post-event survey from this page suggested the public don’t find traditional media (except the ABC) helpful in rapidly changing situations.
- Jason Pemberton gave an inspiring talk about the Christchurch Volunteer Army Foundation. He spoke about allowing people to self-mobilise for a common purpose. This happened seven times in Christchurch by the largely student Volunteer Army and nothing went wrong.
- Jason said simple instructions are best: If you want to help, turn up at 8am.
- Jason quoted this great talk by Ernesto Sirolli “Want to help someone, shut up and listen“. A great quote not only for disaster management but also for life.
- How would your organisation deal with a community-led recovery site on Facebook? Help them? Work with them? Try to shut them down?
- Recovers.org is an out of the box solution that helps communities recover after a disaster – it looks pretty good.
- Don’t treat social media as a vertical in your organisation (one department), treat it as a horizontal (across many departments): Craig Thomler.
- The AEMI staff were fantastic, friendly and did a brilliant job. Thanks so much for the emergency chocolate rations!
- Australia needs AEMI: it’s an important facility not only in the Australian emergency management field, but internationally.
- Most Aussies cannot tell the difference between sleet and snow.
- Craig Thomler’s troll handling strategy #1: Sometimes a phone call from someone in government scares the crap out of them
- Craig Thomler’s troll handling strategy #2: If they are a particularly abusive troll, let their employer know about their behaviour. Is it line with their social media policy?
- Martin Anderson gave a great talk, here are his top 5 social media tips:
- promote social media as a tool, not a specialist skill.
- Treat social media as a given.
- Regular down-to-earth reporting with analysis.
- Devolve responsibility / accountability / access.
- Ongoing funding and resourcing.
- Make sure information is very easy to understand during emergencies: people are under stress and need simple advice and instructions.
- Think big. Start small. Fail fast. Fail cheap. Then learn from it and go from there.
Here’s a few bonus links
- On barrier vaulting: opening up social media in your organisation: Best by West Midlands
- Setting up social media: 10 questions for your organisation
- Social media in emergencies: how we communicated during the Straddie bushfires
Photo credit: Heron Lagoon by Redland City Fire Management Team
New blog: Social media in emergencies: 50 thoughts, concepts and quotes from #aemicx14 http://t.co/a7HGYGxvuD by @mattbrisvegas #smem #em2au
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and key take-ways from your experience of the event, what would be your top 10 that you will be actioning now that you are back at work?
New blog: #SocialMedia in emergencies: 50 thoughts, concepts and quotes from #aemicx14 http://t.co/AJj9HlohsD by @mattbrisvegas #smem #em2au
#SocialMedia in emergencies: 50 thoughts, concepts and quotes from #aemicx14 conference http://t.co/FHjEXynWZT #smem #lesm
Social media in emergencies: 50 thoughts, concepts and quotes from #aemicx14 – commsgodigital http://t.co/TJgM8DBo2K
.@danslee: Brilliant. 50 belting tips on social in an emergency by @mattbrisvegas http://t.co/ZqMPTMJ1gP
“Even if you’re not on Twitter, you’re exposed to Twitter via tweets on TV & other media” via @mattbrisvegas http://t.co/SPvU9wvVpB
#SocialMedia in emergencies: 50 thoughts, concepts and quotes from #aemicx14 http://t.co/a7HGYGxvuD by @mattbrisvegas #smem #lesm
Brilliant. 50 belting tips on social in an emergency by @mattbrisvegas http://t.co/cx8CsntgcY #smem #localgov #digital
Some nice links there>> RT @comms2point0: Brilliant. tips on social in an emergency by @mattbrisvegas http://t.co/NRhIYaxmGq
#SocialMedia in emergencies: 50 thoughts, concepts and quotes from #aemicx14 http://t.co/AJj9HlohsD by @mattbrisvegas #smem
Brilliant. 50 belting tips on social in an emergency by @mattbrisvegas on @commsgodigital: http://t.co/cx8CsntgcY #smem #localgov #digital
Cracking read. 50 tips on social in an emergency by @mattbrisvegas on @commsgodigital: http://t.co/cx8CsntgcY #smem #localgov #digital
50 thoughts, concepts and quotes from #aemicx14 on Social media in emergencies from @mattbrisvegas http://t.co/cdtZMAkemx #gov2au #smem
‘Want to help someone, shut up & listen’ Social media in emergencies #aemicx14 http://t.co/cw4JhjgfT5 via @commsgodigital by @mattbrisvegas
Excellent tips on how social media can be used in an emergency to communicate with citizens. http://t.co/unqzcChyGc #localgov #socialmedia
#SocialMedia in emergencies: 50 thoughts, concepts & quotes from #aemicx14 http://t.co/AJj9HlohsD by @mattbrisvegas #smem #lesm
Social media in emergencies: 50 thoughts, concepts and quotes from #aemicx14 by @mattbrisvegas http://t.co/CkHJzo8olc
#SocialMedia in emergencies: 50 thoughts, concepts & quotes from #aemicx14 http://t.co/AJj9HlohsD by @mattbrisvegas #smem
#SocialMedia in emergencies: 50 thoughts, concepts + quotes from #aemicx14 http://t.co/AJj9HlohsD by @mattbrisvegas
#SocialMedia in emergencies: 50 thoughts, concepts & quotes from #aemicx14 http://t.co/AJj9HlohsD #smem
Social media in emergencies: 50 thoughts, concepts and quotes from #aemicx14 – commsgodigital http://t.co/oiRKzf64Bh
Twitter is now in 35 languages and has instant translation & 49 more #smem tips: AEMI Connection Week 2014 #aemicx14 http://t.co/UTtaf4MBNB