The stars at night, are big and bright….
The stars at night, are big and bright….
Ever wonder why we call it AMBER Alert?
In January 1996, nine year old Amber Hagerman was riding her bicycle when a neighbor heard the girl scream. The neighbor saw a man pull Amber off her bike, throw her into the front seat of his pickup truck, and drive away at a high speed. The neighbor called police and provided a description of the suspect and his vehicle, but couldn’t recall much else. Arlington, Texas police and the FBI interviewed other neighbors and searched for the suspect and vehicle. Local radio and TV stations covered the story in their regular newscasts. Four days later, Amber’s body was found in a drainage ditch four miles away. Her throat had been cut. Her kidnapping and murder remain unsolved.
A concerned citizen contacted a Dallas, Texas radio station suggesting the idea that Dallas radio stations should repeat news bulletins about abducted children just like they do severe weather warnings. The idea was presented to the general managers of the radio stations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. They agreed that such a program would provide an important public service and might help save the life of a child.
Although the Amber Plan is named after Amber Hagerman, this national program is dedicated to all children nationwide who’ve been abducted. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, nearly 262,100 children are abducted every year. Specifically, 58,200 are non-family abductions and 203,900 are family abductions.
The Amber Alert Plan was launched in Ohio on January 1, 2003.
Ohio?
2013: 8 cases
2012: 10 cases
2011: 11 cases
2010: 8 cases
2009: 11 cases
2008: 12 cases
2007: 10 cases
Eyes up peeps, you could be the one who starts the rescue of a child.
Fears of Ebola have reached a fevered pitch. In fact, I believe there are more fake stories floating around than actual real facts.
I’d suggest you read up on spread/transmission.
Although, I had to LOL at this homemade HAZMAT level-A suit.
Bonus points for the hermetically sealed JCP bag.
| 14-005: The wrong hashtag and checking official accounts | |
| Agency: TEEX | Topic(s): Official accounts and hashtags |
| Date: Fall 2014 | Platform: Twitter |
Citing the original source of information is a solid idea on Twitter. But citing the correct source with the correct Twitter handle is even more important. That’s what Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) did when they tweeted information about a gym bag/emergency preparedness kit.
The use of the wrong hashtag will drive your audience away from national trends. Remember, the general idea behind the hashtag is to help bring together trending posts especially this month because September is National Preparedness Month. My. Favorite. Month.
A quick search of “#Prepared2014” shows tens of thousands of tweets.
A search using “#BePrepared2014” yielded 13 tweets.
Those two letters really do make a difference. A big difference.
Also, when citing sources, make sure they are current agency accounts. The @readydotgov account has tweeted twice in 2014 and has 396 followers.
It also states in the description box “please follow us @Readygov”
The verified @Readygov Twitter account has 3,000 tweets with almost 90,000 followers and has been tweeting since August 2008.
No matter how good your communications plans are, your mechanical no-look cut/paste actions must be double checked every time. It takes five seconds to check. Additionally, you stand the possibility of your readers questioning the validity of your information when they see that you posted old/not used stuff.
A more effective tweet could have read:
If you can pack a gym bag, you can pack an emergency bag: ow.ly/i/4Eui3 #Prepared2014 #NatlPrep @ReadyGov @AnaheimCERT
By phrasing it this way:
Time is valuable, so tweet good stuff.
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TheWrongHashtagAndCheckingOfficialAccounts-Safety-PIO-SM-14-005a