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Emergency Management, Emergency Services, & Disaster Spox

We got a #FacebookDown-Safety-PIO-SM-14-009

Posted on November 7, 2014 by rusnivek

14-009: We got a FacebookDown
Agency: Los Angeles Sheriff’s Dept.	Topic(s): Non-related current event messages
Date: Fall 2014	Platform: Facebook and Twitter

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:

#Facebook is NOT a law enforcement issue. Pls don’t call us about it being down, we don’t know when FB will be back up #facebookdown

By phrasing it this way:

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

No complaining-offer solutions-Safety-PIO-SM-14-008

Posted on October 24, 2014 by rusnivek

14-008: No complaining – offer solutions
Agency: Long Beach Fire	Topic(s): Public Perception and Solutions
Date: Fall 2014	Platform: Twitter

Complaining or venting on social media is fairly common. However, as an official agency, public displays of affliction does not portray the best image. Long Beach Fire expressed some displeasure on Twitter when discussing the their pilot program.

After reading this tweet, the public’s perception is that if 9-1-1 is called, no ambulances will respond. This is irresponsible and wrong. (Almost all emergency services have mutual aid agreements or memorandum of understandings in place.)

Positioning your agency as a fear mongerer or the Harbinger of Evil will only further distance yourself from people who would be willing to help your cause. Inform them of dangers, but more importantly, engage them publically on social.

If there is internal displeasure with the new staffing models, be proactive and offer transparent solutions in the tweet. Cite websites that provide industry information. Publically share statistical data that supports changes with current programs. These online tactics will help direct and educate the general public on how to be better informed on other program and possible other options yet unexplored.

Additionally you can rally your constituents behind better initiatives by engaging with them publically via social media. It demonstrates that your department’s community involvement is a key part of a better solution.

As an official account, Twitter’s 140-character limit is really no place to moan/groan.

A more effective tweet could have read:

LBFD resources are maxed out. #Firefighters cannot provide adequate #Paramedic service to our communities. Help us find a solution <insert link here>

By phrasing it this way:

You identify that resources are…well…maxed out.
You use hashtags (#Firefighters and #Paramedic) that will help increase visibility in your tweets.
You stress the importance of providing dedicated service to your community.
You provide a traceable/measureable link that informs and helps bring visibility to this critical situation.

Time is valuable, so tweet good stuff.

@rusnivek

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

No complaining-offer solutions-Safety-PIO-SM-14-008

LinkedIn’s flawed new custom background

Posted on October 24, 2014 by rusnivek

If you haven’t checked out your LinkedIn profile in a while, you should.

The new feature JUST added is supposedly this background image (similar to Facebook’s Cover Photo or Twitter’s Header) will make you more appealing business minded individuals.

LinkedIn uses the term, “Make your profile stand out with a custom background”

Ahem.

IMHO: It sucks. If your image you upload is not 1400 x 425 pixels, programming will distort the image. Big time fug.

No one likes fuzzy pictures.

Unless of course you are a bear. Bears like fuzzy pictures.

And we all know, bears do not use LinkedIn regularly.

@rusnivek

Visit to London and their Air #Ambulance @LDNairamb #Helicopter

Posted on October 20, 2014 by rusnivek

Just reminiscing about my visit to the London’s Air Ambulance with an old Flight Nurse I used to work with.

Love London. Great town!

Maybe this type of lettering/identification marking will help onscene delineate between Public Works Road Crews vs Emergency Medicine Physicians.

Special thanks to the flight crews from London’s Air Ambulance.

#MyWinterVacation

@rusnivek

Fun day at the 2014 PIO Symposium

Posted on October 6, 2014 by rusnivek

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.

@rusnivek

My first week with ello #SocialMedia #SMEM

Posted on October 2, 2014 by rusnivek

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.

@rusnivek

Technical jargon and giving actionable information Safety-PIO-SM-14-006

Posted on September 26, 2014 by rusnivek

14-006: Technical jargon and giving actionable information
Agency: Chicago Fire Department	Topic(s): Industry codes / Actionable info
Date: Fall 2014	Platform: Twitter

Industry speak or technical jargon is part of what we do every day. But using technical terms on a social media platform will be confusing to those who are NOT in the fire service. That’s what the Chicago Fire Department did yesterday at their big 3-alarm fire when they tweeted technical jargon.

The use of technical jargon is rampant in emergency services but when speaking to the media or the general public, we need to remember that everyone did not grow up with a VOX alarm or SCU tones. In this case, a “311” or 3-11 alarm means that there are 11 engines, 5 Trucks, 2 Tower Ladders, 6 Battalion Chiefs, 1 Rescue Squad, 2 Ambulances, 2 Paramedic Chiefs, Deputy District Chief, Deputy Fire Commissioner, and the 1^st Deputy Fire Commissioner are onscene. There is no way to include all that information in a tweet, but using more simple terms will help your audience understand the scale of your ongoing incident.

Before you post images, make sure your pictures are rotated correctly. I know accuracy is sometimes overlooked in lieu of speed, but it takes less than 5 seconds to orientate/rotate a picture (In this case, it was going to be a long operation). And note, by just rotating a picture does not equate that you are “doctoring up” photos. But a correctly posted photo will help media repost and format your information quicker to the masses.

During an emergency situation, your constituents need the information pushes to be actionable and specific to your audience. Not only inform them of the danger, but tell them what they can do about it.

A more effective tweet could have read:

Chicago Fire: Large 3-alarm fire at Harrison St x Fifth Ave. Traffic delays-avoid the area. (insert two pictures)

By phrasing it this way:

You cite the authority having jurisdiction and established incident command presence.
You generally described the size/category of the ongoing incident and critical information to media.
You identify the exact location of the incident.
You describe the delays in the area and give actionable information to your constituents.
You still have lots of room to push properly orientated pictures with your informational tweet.

Time is valuable, so tweet good stuff.

@rusnivek

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

TechnicalJargonAndGivingActionableInformation-Safety-PIO-SM-14-006

The wrong hashtag and checking official accounts – Safety-PIO-SM-14-005

Posted on September 15, 2014 by rusnivek

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:

You cite FEMA’s main current preparedness Twitter account (@ReadyGov).
You use the correct national hashtag to increase visibility in your message (#Prepared2014).
You add additional hashtags to help pair your efforts with national campaign themes in your message.
You cite the right agency accounts on Twitter which will help them gain visibility with your audience.
Your agency shows coordinated efforts with national response agencies when you use @mentions on twitter.

Time is valuable, so tweet good stuff.

@rusnivek

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

TheWrongHashtagAndCheckingOfficialAccounts-Safety-PIO-SM-14-005a