Social Media and Emergency Response

I’m sitting in my favorite easy chair at home, sippin’ a beer, surfin’ my tablet and swayin’ to the music of my favorite Pandora music channel.  A balloon pops up in the upper right corner of the screen showing a ...

I must admit, I love a good train wreck. It must be my first responder background. Watching a crisis evolve-virtually or literally-gets me cranked up. Watching the Paula Deen PR train wreck has been equally sad and fascinating. For those ...

Yesterday Patrick Meier posted a great article about the use of social media (SM) “Big Data” in disaster response.  Specifically, he challenges growing assumptions and presumptions that SM big data analysis improves decision making during a disaster.  He discounts the ...

I must say, this past week was unprecedented as social media news is concerned.  The terrorist bombings in Boston, the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion and the subsequent gun battle and manhunt of the marathon terrorists made for a target ...

OK Public Servants, when are you going to learn?  Dave Statter posted the most recent case of social media rectal cranial inversion on his blog – Statter911 ; an appalling and sad story about an FDNY EMS lieutenant publicly revealed ...

I don’t know how I dodged the bullet as long as I did, but as a high visibility public servant I escaped public attacks on my character and professional reputation….until New Year’s Eve, when I learned someone had publicly attacked ...

Sung to the tune of Here Comes Santa Claus. Yes, I know it is Halloween season, but I can’t get the tune out of my head. The only thing “Frankenstorm” Sandy will likely be delivering are huge lumps of soggy ...

Over the past couple of weeks the #SMEM Twitter world has been noodling with the question of the changing role of the Public Information Officer (PIO) in crisis.  Some even wondered aloud if this function is now obsolete with the ...

Ever since I was a kid I religiously read National Geographic Magazine.  My grandparents kept issues dating back to the mid 30’s, and I looked forward to reading these mini-time capsules.  As I got older I added encyclopedias to my ...

Wow, how time flies.  I realized it has been almost a month since I last posted.  My apologies to those who follow along.  Things have been kinda nuts at work. Let me  explain. At “O-dark-thirty” on March 30, we responded ...