Just like any other service, social media platforms are bound to go down. And when that happens, a small amount of the population does NOT know how to react appropriately. Some residents of California decided that calling 9-1-1 was their only resort to getting logged back into Facebook.

Ahem. Clearly, this is NOT an emergency. Sgt Brink is right in making it very clear to his audience (on Twitter) that Facebook’s non-service is not a Law Enforcement issue. Common sense right?

Most agencies should have an easy contingency plan when this type of situation happens. Social Media postings and engagement will help decrease calls to various public safety agencies…including during non-emergency times. So having this type of canned responses ready to push out when a major social media platform has the hiccups, might help your constituents navigate their (loss of) digital life. Additional use of a trending hashtag will bring more visibility to your post by informing others of actions, or in this case, non-actions.

A more effective tweet could have read:

By phrasing it this way:

1. You sternly address that this social media platform is NOT a law enforcement matter (duh).
2. You use a hashtags that is trending (#Facebookdown) that will help increase visibility in your tweets.
3. You highlight the importance of being current and active on recent news/events.
4. You stress the importance of engaging with your social media users on various social media platforms.

Time is valuable, so tweet good stuff.

@rusnivek

***To download this as a single-page printable format, click this file:

WeGotAFacebookDown-Safety-PIO-SM-14-009