Social media best practices in emergency management

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Siskey, MS ◽  
Tanveer Islam, PhD, CFM

Social media platforms have become popular as means of communications in emergency management. Many people use social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter on a daily basis including during disaster events. Emergency management agencies (EMAs) need to recognize the value of not only having a presence on social media but also actively engaging stakeholders and the public on these sites. However, identifying best practices for the use of social media in emergency management is still in its infancy. The objective of this article is to begin to create or further define best practices for emergency managers to use social media sites particularly Facebook and Twitter in four key areas: 1) implementation, 2) education, 3) collaboration, and 4) communication. A list of recommendations of best practices is formulated for each key area and results from a nationwide survey on the use of social media bycounty EMAs are discussed in this article.

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 251 ◽  
Author(s):  
DeeDee M. Bennett, PhD

Social media platforms are increasingly becoming a useful tool for victims, humanitarians, volunteers, and the general public to communicate during disasters. Research has shown that there are multiple advantages to using social media and the applicability of these platforms crosses several different types of disasters (human-caused, natural, and terrorist) here in the United States and abroad. However, some emergency management agencies have been reluctant to use social media as one of their many communications tools. In this study, the usefulness of social media for emergency management was examined over a 30-day period following a series of tornadoes. Using an observational approach, the public posts disseminated from an emergency management agency were analyzed to determine how two social media platforms were used. The findings show how emergency management agencies could leverage the connectedness of social media to reach victims and make unlikely partnerships.


Author(s):  
Max Z. Li ◽  
Megan S. Ryerson

Community outreach and engagement efforts are critical to an airport’s role as an ever-evolving transportation infrastructure and regional economic driver. As online social media platforms continue to grow in both popularity and influence, a new engagement channel between airports and the public is emerging. However, the motivations behind and effectiveness of these social media channels remain unclear. In this work, we address this knowledge gap by better understanding the advantages, impact, and best practices of this newly emerging engagement channel available to airports. Focusing specifically on airport YouTube channels, we first document quantitative viewership metrics, and examine common content characteristics within airport YouTube videos. We then conduct interviews and site visits with relevant airport stakeholders to identify the motivations and workflow behind these videos. Finally, we facilitate sample focus groups designed to survey public perceptions of the effectiveness and value of these videos. From our four project phases, to maximize content effectiveness and community engagement potential, we synthesize the following framework of action items, recommendations, and best practices: (C) Consistency and community; (O) Organizational structure; (M) Momentum; (B) Branding and buy-in; (A) Activity; (T) Two-way engagement; (E) Enthusiasm; and (D) Depth, or as a convenient initialism, our COMBATED framework.


2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-49
Author(s):  
Lu An ◽  
Junyang Hu ◽  
Manting Xu ◽  
Gang Li ◽  
Chuanming Yu

The highly influential users on social media platforms may lead the public opinion about public events and have positive or negative effects on the later evolution of events. Identifying highly influential users on social media is of great significance for the management of public opinion in the context of public events. In this study, the highly influential users of social media are divided into three types (i.e., topic initiator, opinion leader, and opinion reverser). A method of profiling highly influential users is proposed based on topic consistency and emotional support. The event of “Jiankui He Editing the Infants' Genes” was investigated. The three types of users were identified, and their opinion differences and dynamic evolution were revealed. The comprehensive profiles of highly influential users were constructed. The findings can help emergency management departments master the focus of attention and emotional attitudes of the key users and provide the method and data support for opinion management and decision-making of public events.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Ahnaf Rifky Saputra

In this digital era, all activities can be published to the public through social media. Many groups of people actively use social media ranging from students, adults, entrepreneurs and state officials. One of them is the seventh President of the Republic of Indonesia, Ir. H. Joko Widodo. Joko Widodo has a variety of social media platforms, social media with the most followers among other social media is Instagram. With a total of 16.5 million followers making him the leader of the country with the second most followers in the world. The content of uploads on Instagram of Joko Widodo is diverse and very massive, the things Joko Widodo does on Instagram social media is one way to form personal branding. Personal branding is a unique phenomenon because basically all people have their own characteristics, to get the results of long-lasting branding and provide maximum benefits, the branding process must come from authentic, real and original evidence. This study aims to determine how effective the use of social media instagram is for the formation of Joko Widodo's personal Branding to the 2019 First Election Voters who are still confused and need references to make choices in using their voting rights. This study uses a descriptive quantitative method of two variables. The independent variable in this study is the effectiveness of using social media instagram while the dependent variable is Joko Widodo's personal branding. This research was conducted by distributing questionnaires to 100 respondents using the Nonprobality Sampling technique. The results of this study state that the use of Instagram social media in delivering the desired message falls into the effective category with a percentage of 74.9% while the formation of personal branding for the first voters is included in the effective category with a percentage of 81.1%. The conclusion of this study is that the communication carried out by Joko Widodo's Instagram social media account took place effectively and had a positive effect on the formation of Joko Widodo's personal branding for the first voters of the 2019 Election. Keywords: Social Media, Instagram, Personal Branding, First Voters


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Ahnaf Rifky Saputra

In this digital era, all activities can be published to the public through social media. Many groups of people actively use social media ranging from students, adults, entrepreneurs and state officials. One of them is the seventh President of the Republic of Indonesia, Ir. H. Joko Widodo. Joko Widodo has a variety of social media platforms, social media with the most followers among other social media is Instagram. With a total of 16.5 million followers making him the leader of the country with the second most followers in the world. The content of uploads on Instagram of Joko Widodo is diverse and very massive, the things Joko Widodo does on Instagram social media is one way to form personal branding. Personal branding is a unique phenomenon because basically all people have their own characteristics, to get the results of long-lasting branding and provide maximum benefits, the branding process must come from authentic, real and original evidence. This study aims to determine how effective the use of social media instagram is for the formation of Joko Widodo's personal Branding to the 2019 First Election Voters who are still confused and need references to make choices in using their voting rights. This study uses a descriptive quantitative method of two variables. The independent variable in this study is the effectiveness of using social media instagram while the dependent variable is Joko Widodo's personal branding. This research was conducted by distributing questionnaires to 100 respondents using the Nonprobality Sampling technique. The results of this study state that the use of Instagram social media in delivering the desired message falls into the effective category with a percentage of 74.9% while the formation of personal branding for the first voters is included in the effective category with a percentage of 81.1%. The conclusion of this study is that the communication carried out by Joko Widodo's Instagram social media account took place effectively and had a positive effect on the formation of Joko Widodo's personal branding for the first voters of the 2019 Election. Keywords: Social Media, Instagram, Personal Branding, First Voters


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 83-97
Author(s):  
Sean Hildebrand, PhD ◽  
Brandon Waite, PhD

The purpose of this special issue of the Journal of Emergency Management is to assess the state of disaster preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article adds to this discussion by examining the results of a national survey of emergency managers in the United States regarding the social media platforms they use to communicate information related to the COVID-19 pandemic, how proficient they feel using them, and what value they see in these technologies during the times of crisis. The authors’ findings help make sense of government responses to the pandemic, as well as contribute to the body of literature on communication and emergency management more broadly. Furthermore, their findings have important implications for emergency management practitioners and educators. 


Author(s):  
Alessandra Micalizzi ◽  
Alessandra Nieli

In 2009, a new political movement was born in Italy. It is called “Five Star Movement” (M5S) and it was positioned as a new voice of Italian people: alternative, populist, against élites, and against the traditional “way of doing” politic in the First and Second Republic Age. The power of this new political subject is linked with the use of social media platforms to communicate and share information, opinions, and positions with its “base” in a participative democracy perspective. In the last national political campaign, the M5S obtained 32% of the votes with a peak in the South of Italy. The chapter aims at presenting the main results of an empirical research focused on Sicilian voters of the East coast, in order to verify if and how digital communication helped in obtaining this success. Data show evidence about the relevance recognized to social media as first direct sources for collecting political information. The respondents express a large consent for traditional media that maintain in the public opinion a strong reputation in construction and share the public-sphere.


Author(s):  
Ashish Kumar Rathore ◽  
Dayashankar Maurya ◽  
Amit Kumar Srivastava

Social media has been used widely for communicating information, awareness, and promote public policies by government agencies. However, limited attention has been paid to the use of social media in improving the design of public policies. This paper explores to what extent citizens' responses/opinions expressed on social media platforms contribute to policy design.  The paper analyzes discussion about the 'Ayushman Bharat' scheme on Twitter through social media analytics techniques (e.g., content analytics) and then traces the change in policy design over two years.  To validate findings from Twitter data, and assess the evolution in policy design, we conducted in-depth interviews with experts and extensive document analysis. The paper reveals that consistently similar issues were raised by the experts in the past as well as by the citizens in the current scheme. However, over the period, the policy design has not changed significantly. Therefore, despite a strong social media presence, its optimum use to improve policy effectiveness is yet to be achieved. The paper contributes by exploring the role social media can play in the public policy process and policy design in developing countries' contexts and identifies gaps in existing social media strategies of public agencies.


Author(s):  
Kristi Pikiewicz

This chapter explores the ethical considerations that can guide a therapist’s personal and professional use of social media. The incredible pace of change in the social media landscape has led many institutions to delay the development and distribution of specific guidelines or recommendations; however, the literature establishing the boundaries and best practices for the patient–therapist relationship, along with privacy concerns in both directions, and the termination of this relationship, offer a context in which to develop personal competency in the use of social media, both to avoid detrimental entanglements and to enhance progress toward therapeutic goals. While social media platforms and the uses of these platforms change, the basic ethical considerations framing the patient–therapist relationship do not. By using established ethics to guide the use of evolving technologies, a therapist can ensure their use of these technologies remains consistent with long-held best practices.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaochen Hu ◽  
Beidi Dong ◽  
Nicholas Lovrich

PurposePrevious studies consistently indicate that police agencies tend to use social media to assist in criminal investigations, to improve police-community relations and to broadcast both crime- and non-crime-related tips promotive of public safety. To date, little research has examined what content the police tended to post on their social media sites during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachBy selecting the 14 most widely attended police agencies' Facebook accounts, the current study collects and analyzes a sample of 2,477 police Facebook postings between February 1 and May 31, 2020. By using a mix-method approach, the study addresses three research questions: 1) What kinds of messages did the police tend to post on their Facebook pages before and during this pandemic? 2) What types of COVID-related police Facebook postings were made? 3) How did the public react to COVID-19-related police Facebook postings?FindingsThe findings suggest that the police have come to believe that social media can be used as an effective police−public communicative tool in stressful times. The findings also suggest that social media platforms have become a routinized tool of police−public communications which can, to some appreciable extent, substitute for the in-person contacts traditionally relied upon in community policing.Originality/valueThis study of police use of social media explores the question of whether the use of these media can serve as an effective tool to connect the police with the public under circumstances where in-person contacts are greatly constrained. Some public policy implications emerging from the findings reported are discussed, along with implications for further research along these lines.


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