INSCT, Moynihan present social media findings to local emergency managers

Ines Mergel, Associate Professor of Public Administration in
the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and a Senior Research
Associate in the Center for Technology and Information Policy, has been leading
a long-term research project on the use of social technologies in government
emergency management. Part of this wider Social Technologies in Emergency
Management (SoTechEM) project is a review of the online practices of Central
New York emergency management organizations. “Social Media Practices in Local
Emergency Management: Results from Central New York” uses a web-coding approach
to track the behavior of these organizations on five social channels (Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube, FourSquare, and Instagram).
Central to the project is the concept of the “whole community
approach” to emergency management, which recognizes the role citizens play
during a crisis. Many times the immediate response to a natural disaster or
human emergency comes not from the fire department, ambulance corps, or police
but from citizens. They are often first at the scene, they call the
authorities, they offer first aid to victims … and increasingly they report
their observations on social media.
Social media is becoming a critical communications tool for
emergency managers. They can use it to get field reports in real time from
“first-first responders” (as the Federal Emergency Management Agency calls
first-on-the-scene citizens), to connect and coordinate with other emergency
organizations, and to answer citizens’ questions and concerns during a crisis.
Sometimes they must counter false rumors and misinformation spread via
Facebook, Twitter, and other social channels.
Mergel—along with Randy Griffin, Adjunct Professor in the
Department of Public Administration, and Keli Perrin, Assistant Director of the
Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism (INSCT)—presented her
findings to an audience of local emergency managers at the SU College of Law on
Nov. 18, 2014. The review and training session was sponsored by the Moynihan
Institute of Global Affairs at the Maxwell School and INSCT (through the Andrew
Berlin Family National Security Research Fund).
The audience for the evening event was drawn from throughout the
five counties analyzed in Mergel’s research—Onondaga, Cayuga, Cortland,
Madison, and Oswego. In attendance were representatives from the New York State
Police, Syracuse Fire Department, Manlius Police Department, Oswego County
Emergency Management Office, WAVES Ambulance, and other local organizations.
“Many emergency management organizations operate with a limited
budget and focus all their skills and resources on responding to emergencies
and saving lives,” says Mergel. “Few local organizations can maintain a 24/7
social media team, and informing the public in real time during a crisis is
often a challenge. Our training session emphasized the importance of
transferring good practices developed in other parts of the emergency
management system and learning across organizations.”
The session—as well as the SoTechEM team’s Executive Report, found
online at http://sotechem.syr.edu—reviewed
local social media tactics and content during the Preparedness, Response, and
Recovery phases of the emergency management cycle; highlighted best social
media practices by other local governments during crises; and illustrated how
local emergency managers can design a social media strategy, measure their
social impact, and efficiently use social technologies in a two-way
conversation with the public. 11/25/14