I am a firm believer in reading and absorbing research and surveys done nationally for how old and new media interact. There are lessons to be learned from this national research on how we should interact in our own communities.
Archives for twitter
In the first responder world there are two types of press releases, those that must be published and those that need a compelling reason to get print.
In our business if we operate at a significant fire or MVA we stand a 99.9% chance that our information will be picked up by the press. We are talking about hard news .
If we are pitching fire prevention day, our installation dinner or other similar story the chances of getting placement are greatly diminished.
I have discussed on the pages of this blog many times the use of social media, specifically Twitter, to keep residents informed of emergencies. It appears more and more municipalities are turning to Twitter to keep citizens informed.
Once again proving its utility for just about any situation, Twitter came to the rescue of Northeasterners plowed under by snow last week.
I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!
What would the holiday be without a good old PIO, PR, social media take on what if the first Christmas happened in the era of Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Wikipedia, Farmville and Google?
It seems as PIO’s that we are beginning to look at the dawning of an era where one persons negative observation of our departments can be magnified a thousand fold through the use of social media. The power of the pen has become the power of the keyboard and we have to be prepared.
I lucked out a few weeks ago. I was in a hotel in DC setting up for an evening event when I heard a session starting in the adjoining room from a daylong conference. The topic was managing your time to perform social media duties. I heard the whole session through the wall and was actually able to glom the handout from the session afterwards when a kind participant gave me an extra copy.
As a PR and marketing guy I have over the year been confronted, when a consumer or customer thinks that an injustice has been done to them, spew the old line “I’m going to the papers with this.”
I used to love to hear this sentence spoken when I knew someone with no case, truth or validation to their complaint assumed the “papers” would hold the presses so the masses could hear that we were out of blue logo tees or a donation receipt was not mailed to a donor within moments of the envelope being opened. The chance a journalist or reporter had in receiving a Pulitzer Prize for the irate information usually tended to have them pass on the story.
Over the last year or so I have been closely watching how various corporations, emergency service arms and organizations utilize social media to report on a serious incident or crisis. I am not totally convienced that reporting details rapidly on Twitter or Facebook is the most advantageous way to let the public know about an emergency. With things moving so quickly and so much at stake in giving details, social media can trap you into churning out information before we can actually put the unfolding events into perspective. A case in point took place in Singapore last week.
When we sit down as PIO’s to write at work we are confronted by a million distractions. Cell phones ringing and sending out a variety of tones to indicate emails, text messages etc., computers whistling out their own tones when Twitter posts are received, someone is IMing us or email has arrived. A lot to absorb simultaneously. No wonder many old starchy grammar police types bemoan the disappearance of sound standard writing styles and a good grasp of the gramatic. With all these distractions we can no longer pay as close attention to the importance of the standard rules of English and writing. Or should we throw away style books and concentrate on the present? With all the complaints that no one can “write” anymore, we might actually be living in an age of need for the greatest writing skills of all time.
My long road trip continues. While waiting for a flight in Baltimore I did a little business people watching and made an observation about something that has gradually transpired over the last year or so.
Airport seating areas used to be filled with business types fighting for the nearest electric outlet to plug in their laptops and do a little work while waiting for a flight. In a crowded waiting area where I would have a while back seen a sea of laptops, I only observed two. The vast majority were thumbing around on their smartphones.
Just when you think you are getting a good handle on social media and how to apply it to your PIO or PAO protocols some new toy comes along to potentially add to the mix.
If Twitters 140 characters aren’t enough room for all the insightful things you have to say, then maybe you’re ready for Tumblr.
One of the problems we face as disseminators of public information in the social media realm is the question of when is too much information actually detrimental.
A University of Denver study has found that the biggest reason behind Facebook unfriending is a very obvious one: too many unimportant posts or excessive posting. Although the survey related to personal Facebook pages it is still reflective of what the average social media user would also think of us cluttering up their walls.
There is a certain group of trend arbiters around whom I envision being skinny, wearing all black, with black framed glasses who think that when they speak the entire work of public relations will turn on a dime to do their bidding.
Over the last several years I am becoming progressively irritated when PR pundits keep saying that the standard press release is dead. Maybe the body is cold from where they sit, but in our line of work the old tried and true, boring and predictable press release is our lifeline to the media.
There’s been a lot of talk recently at conferences I have attended about whether websites have outlived their usefulness and are merely dinosaurs left over from 1990s.
I think in our line of work where fact and not hype are the foundations of our websites, a no frills approach is warranted and the website model fits quite well thank you. Whereas a consumer product or service might look to gain interest through blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube first, most folks who want fire and EMS information will visit our websites as the main source of information. With that said though our websites should still serve as portals to assist in integrating our traditional website and social media marketing efforts.
Recently I was asked at a public relations seminar what my take was on the most “Tweetable phrases and how does one from their blog or posting garner the most re-Tweets?
Although I use Twitter, my main headache is how to keep content limited to 144 characters. I never really delved into the great beyond of Twitterdom. From the amount of re Tweets I get for Twitter messages about this blog, I could use a quick class in 101.
I use Twitter for my Department in a limited form due mainly to the fact that I still cannot get a total handle on its overall effectiveness in getting our message and information across to our neighbors. Every time I think of nixing Twitter when reporting on an incident something new pops up to make me realize how important it is.
When I departed Long Island for Las Vegas a few days ago I noticed that the TSA was profiling blue hair. Oh I understand everyone is on edge with recent breeches, put this was the definitive example of perhaps spending too much time on the wrong person.
I had the opportunity last August at the American Legion Convention in Louisville to hear Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff speak. During his talk one thing kept on ringing clear to me, Mullen wanted the public to have as much knowledge of the current conflicts as possible so they could make an informed decision on where they personally stood. This was refreshing in that Mullen wanted the public to have access to all the information at hand, both good and bad.
Now Mullen has blueprinted a new social media strategy for himself that is stunning in its scope and outreach. I can think of no other military or public official that has such a keen understanding of the value of social media and citizen outreach. It is a lesson in openness and transparency that we as PIO’s should take note of.
I had this brilliant idea last year of doing a public service campaign to promote the fact that my Department had an active Twitter presence that provided relevant information about fire scenes and MVA’s in real time so residents could know what roads where being closed and how traffic was being diverted. This I thought was a great way to utilize Twitter for the public good.
For the Fire Pio blog as well as for my own department’s dissemination of information via social media I always cross post. This means I use the same facsimile of information I am sending out to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Some recent articles I have read make me think now that this might not be the best strategy.
I thank Doug Walton for reminding me to let you know about the SMILE Conference (Social Media in Law Enforcement) taking place this week on April 7-9 in Washington DC. I had planned to attend this conference when I first learned about it a few months ago but could not fit it into my schedule. I’m happy that I can attend the Los Angeles version tentatively scheduled to be held in October.
Although the conference is specifically geared towards law enforcement, there are so many parallels, that Fire Department PIO’s can benefit equally as much from the topics and sessions.
I just read an article in the Public Relations Strategist about how social media is reshaping PR. The story reviewed the incident a few months back between Southwest Airlines and portly film director Kevin Smith who was bounced off a flight because of his weight. Some say the Smith problem was sincere others say he instigated the scene to draw media attention to a new film. Nevertheless Southwest was confronted with Smith’s powerful Twitter presence where he was able to inform his 1.5 million followers about his grip with the airline.
I want to thank Doug Walton for passing along this piece which originally came from the definitive social media website Mashable. Many of the tips in the piece can be directly correlated to the types of social media we use as fire department PIO’s.
From felons on Facebook to tips through Twitter, social media is being used more and more by law enforcement agencies, and not just to fight Internet-related crimes. We’re talking about solving crimes that are happening on the street and in your community.
When I teach Probies in my departments internal fire school, I always tell them that they already know more than many veteran members. Because of the most up to date tactics that they are learning, they already have one up on the older guys who become complacent and are hesitant to constantly upgrade their skills to be on the cusp of today’s standards.
The same is true for PIO’s. If we do not constantly stay up to day on the latest trends and tools we are always taking a step backward.
A few months ago a fire took place in Smithtown, NY where I serve as the fire departments PIO. It was as routine as a small working fire could be. A heavy rainstorm caused a neon sign in the window of a nail salon to catch fire after water leaked through the plate glass seal. The fire was quickly knocked down and we headed for home.
