Is it just me, or does this tornado look like it has 3 hula hoops going?
Always keep an eye out for shelters.
Is it Friday yet?
Tornado or hula hoops?
Reply
Author Archives: rusnivek
Your image on social by monitoring your name Safety-PIO-SM-14-007
| 14-007: Your image on social by monitoring your name | |
| Agency: Lakewood Fire | Topic(s): Monitoring your name/branding |
| Date: Fall 2014 | Platform: Twitter |
Monitoring your namesake has been debated for years. But with decreased staffing and less time to do more with less, many agencies are bypassing this critical piece of community relations and image/branding. A good example is when a citizen commented on Lakewood Fire’s SUV parking.
Everyone has a camera these days. We use them not only to capture memories and precious moments, but also for documentation and shaming. I believe Todd was going for the public safety shaming factor here. I am unsure on the previous relationship between Todd and Lakewood, but there was never a response on Twitter back to Todd. Truth be told, these days, unanswered public questions are sometimes perceived as a government agency cover-ups/issues. Similar to the “No comment” – a non-response might even be worse.
How do you monitor your agency’s name or any derivatives? Try these free services: Google Alerts, search columns in TweetDeck or Hootsuite, or frequent basic vanity searches on any search engine or social media platforms.
While Todd’s use of hashtags is fairly standard social media malarkey, a swift response with a timely and direct reply to Todd’s tweet would help stop the perception that LFD is breaking the law or even setting a bad example. Remember, social media is about digital interaction.
The response could also be a teaching point so share with your audience some insight into your normal operations with a simple message on Fire Prevention activities – like hydrant testing. And using the hashtag #FirePrevention pulls up thousands of tweets about educating the public specifically in fire safety.
An effective @reply response to Todd’s tweet could have read:
| @stwrs1974 During an emergency, it’s tough to find safe parking. FYI-we also check/flush hydrants twice a year too #FirePrevention |
By phrasing it this way:
- You immediately address the issue directly with the citizen citing the issue.
- You provide insight into scene safety during an emergency.
- You call attention to your normal operations (in this case-hydrant flushing).
- You use the hashtag #FirePrevention to call attention to…well…Fire Prevention.
- You show the general public you care about your image and want to get the story right.
Time is valuable, so tweet good stuff.
***To download this as a single-page printable format, click this file:
YourImageOnSocialByMonitoringYourName-Safety-PIO-SM-14-007
Not a funny practical joke #FPW2014
It’s National Fire Prevention Week! #FPW2014
Stop screwing around and get serious!
“Working Smoke Alarms Save Lives: Test Yours Every Month”
In less than 5 seconds…you can be a hero too #FPW2014
Don’t forget, its National Fire Prevention Week!
And in less than 5 seconds…you can be a hero too…
Make sure you test your smoke detectors!
If needed, change your battery too!
Alohas to the new Putnam County (Ohio) PIOs!
Fun day at the 2014 PIO Symposium
Had a great time on Friday at the Ohio PIO Symposium in Columbus.
Special thanks to all the PIOs from various disciplines in attending.
What did I learn? I posted my takeaways on Friday to twitter (@rusnivek). Hope you can pick up a few tips too.
I am confident that the more we work together, we will be able to function as a cohesive team.
2014 Ohio PIO Symposium
Breaking it down today at the 2014 State of Ohio PIO Symposium.
Even Ohio Department of Public Safety Director John Born is here too!
Not here in Columbus? Follow along on Twitter with #OhioPIO
Or are you here? Let me know…let’s meet IRL!
My first week with ello #SocialMedia #SMEM
As promised, here’s my quick initial review of ello.
It’s only been a few days…so I figured since everyone isn’t on it, this might help show some of the difference between this new emerging social media platform compared to others.
Here’s a quick news package story from the founders of ello.co from Vermont.
Hot Social Network Ello Starts in Vermont
(Love the small town local news)
For those that think this is like Facebook? Nope. The company’s mantra of a simple ad-free platform is as plain jane as can be. Not much there. In fact,
Few initial notes I have on ello:
- Comments are a bit weird as they are currently in a separate box which is unattached to the picture you upload.
- The gigantic fat Noise button – I’m still unclear on what that is. I feel like it’s kinda like the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on Google.
- No search feature.
- No geolocation feature
- I think more people are talking about ello on FB, Twitter, Insta, Vine, Snapchat, etc….than people actually ON ello.
- No hashtag or category use
- Stop trying to force me to Say Ello…But I WILL say ello with a horrible British accent
- No trending topics.
- After I post an update (or Say Ello…) Why do I have to move my cursor over to the “Post–>” button?
- No popular happenings.
- Finding friends is hard. Not cool. They are my friends.
- No app.
- Feels awfully like Tumblr.
- It’s difficult to find friends because I have to first find them individually on their own page and then follow them. I can not pick them up from a list.
- Kinda google plus-ie eh?
- ello email notifications are simply notifications. It does not include the comment or response. Cannot be used for “documentation”. No point in Email notifications if you don’t notify me of what the message is.
- Description is about the same, but not as prominent as Twitter.
- Website link is there. Hope that ello will add a “preview” of website there.
- Location? Hometown? Where U AT?
- Trending based topics is not searchable (at this time).
- Not having some sort of “rules” for picture posting, the pictures that are posted are either really wide or vertical. Not much semblance in fitting into screen.
- Links to sites do NOT preview. FB does that.
- No info provided on the analytics of views aka shown by the eyeball. Maybe that will come after beta.
- Archiving for security.
- When is ello projected to be out of beta?
- List of people or things that I could follow too? When I find others similar to me, I want to see what they follow. I am assuming that we have similar interests. Hoping a future column to be added later in ello.
- Posted times are approximate. Public safety demands exacts so I hope they put a more accurate time of post rather than “~11h”
- Filters are absent.
- Multiple picture uploads are not happening. Maybe that’s too cluttered for their “clean” layout.
- x5 invites only to a closed social media platform? C’mon-what is this?!? 2003?!?!!?
- @WTF….I mean policies/information tab. Hilarious, but very techy.
- Formatting of posts using ** or * is kinda programmerish. Tron aficionados will love it, but not everyone programs…so this type of lingo isn’t going to fly for very long.
- In the “Say Ello…” box (aka status box) I find it weird that they tell you to Say Ello….when you really are going to write a comment about something else.
- Reposting isn’t as inviting as FB’s “Share” button – and not easy to find.
- On ello, you do not have to use your real name. but in the WTF rules, ello has their rose colored glasses on and “The Don’t impersonate others. Be yourself, or a version of yourself. Please don’t pretend to be someone else.”
- Mobile ello is way better than desktop ello.
- DYK: ello.com is different than ello.co
- Advise your SM followers to turn off autofill or muscle memory of “co” vs “com”
- Funny fact: Someone created a Mark Zuckerberg profile on ello.com – and it wasn’t Zuck.
- Circle profiler picture is neeto, but I think I like square.
- The ello logo is kinda creepy w/ no eyes right?
Forgot your password? I tested their forgot password send. The emailed reminder is hilarious, but NSFW. This kind of email would (obv) not pass work computer filters.
Testing browsers, I found a few interesting non-compliant issues.
- Desktop CPU / Windows-7 / Internet Explorer: Picture upload and layout/formatting issues
- Desktop CPU / Windows-7 / Chrome: Friends take up too much screen real-estate in widescreen format.
- Desktop CPU / Windows-7 / Safari: Too wide – again with the wide screen look (Maybe I’m too used to the vertical FB?)
- Desktop CPU / Windows-XP / IE: Picture uploading issues
- Desktop / Apple / Safari: Spread out (widescreen awkward formatting)
- iPhone-5 / Safari: MUCH better layouts
- iPad-Air / Safari: Better screen formatting and (my guess) it looks like it was designed for tablet.
- Blackberry browser….who am I kidding. I haven’t seen one in the wild for 2 years now.
Ello’s HQ sent an email last night touting their recent successes. Cool.
I do enjoy the quick simple emails with picture.
But let’s be honest, most of the ello participants that are already on ello, were drawn to the line in the email last night…”
The use of “thingy” has me worried…and of course excited. Thanks Matt.
Well, since this is in beta, I’m sure there will be more good things to come. But at this time, I am doubtful will hold (DWH).
Not even close to ready for use during disasters or emergencies.
Because of the low participation and beta, this platform is not useful for preparedness or response or recovery or intelligence.
Special thanks to @schnick for the invite.
Maybe more good stuff from ello.co on the horizon.
October assignments to R5 and R4
After delivering classes in Region-5 and Region-3 last month, I’ll finally make it back to Region-4…in Kentucky!
The September intel training didn’t happen. Maybe I’ll have to reschedule that for December.
As usual, the bulk of the month will be spent in Region-5.
I’ll be heading down to the State of Ohio PIO Symposium this Friday. Will I see you there?
Special visitors checking on our preparedness! #NatlPrep #Prepared2014
It is Tuesday and the final day of 2014 National Preparedness Month.
“Be Disaster Aware, Take Action to Prepare”
National Preparedness Day!!!!
This week’s theme is consistent with FEMA’s National Preparedness Campaign: Practice for an emergency
#30: Flat Stanley & Flat Stella stopped by the fire station to check out our emergency preparedness kits. #NatlPrep #Prepared2014
In honor of National Preparedness Day, we had two special visitors at our fire station. Flat Stanley and Flat Stella stopped by for a quick visit and tour.
They wanted to see if all Firefighters and Paramedics were participating and prepared as part of September’s 2014 National Preparedness Month which was held all month long.
Both Flat Stanley and Flat Stella checked our Emergency Preparedness Kit in Ladder-11.
Flat Stanley asked if we had enough water ready…
Of course we do!
Flat Stella asked to see our emergency contact list as well as my new smoke detector.
As you can see, our emergency contact information is contained in the Vial of Life Program. And smoke detectors are always free from the fire department.
Flat Stanley made sure these were fresh fire extinguishers and they were ready to go.
Both had an awesome chance to take a ride in BFD Ladder-11.
Special thanks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Ready.Gov program.
Also thanks to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), FEMA’s Ready.Gov, Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS), Ohio Emergency Management Agency (OEMA), and the Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency.
What a month! I’m proud of everyone who participated in National Preparedness Month and extremely happy that everyone is more prepared for any emergency or disaster.
Where is @rusnivek? 