Preparedness Summit: Effective Use of Social Media During a Disaster
strong advice for both novice and seasoned health department social media users:
- During disasters, retweet important information from credible agencies, such as street closings from the Office of Emergency Management
- Use Twitter message libraries when available. Drexel is creating one that includes messaging for all sorts of public health emergencies such, as an active shooting or a ricin attack. The value of the messages includes faster response in an emergency even if some tweaking is needed, and many of the preset messages are based on feedback to messaging used previously.
- Engage your audience before an emergency so they will turn to your social media platforms if an emergency strikes. Hipper gave the examples of Chicago, which held an immunization Twitter chat last fall and had 180,000 followers, as well as the Boston Police Department, which already had 40,000 followers before the Marathon bombing last year and saw that number rise to 300,000 as the search for the bombers unfolded.
Of course, the social media apps have to be accessible too before you can use them in an emergency:
EasyChirp is an accessible platform for using your existing Twitter account: http://www.easychirp.org/
Facebook's Accessibility Help Page: http://goo.gl/idHETl