Engagement, communication and responding in social media

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Tim Burrows

Engagement.  The magic word that has led the vast majority of us turning to using social media.  We will often state first and foremost that the reason we are using so media is so that we can engage with our communities.  We want to open the lines of communication with the public.  Engaging with our communities, each other and the people beyond the borders of our jurisdiction is a real benefit of social media.  But how do we engage?  What does that actually mean?

Engage – to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons): He engaged her in conversation. (dictionary.com)

So how do we do all those very wonderful things?  How do we actually engage?  Simple, we communicate.  We talk, listen, listen, talk, clarify.  Communicate.

True communication requires both the sending and receiving of and understanding of that information.  This is the purpose of this post…responding to comments.  (Hid that pretty well didn’t I?)

Responding to comments can be time-consuming, frustrating and in the end get you no where at all.  On the other hand responding can also be quick, fulfilling and create new support, friendships, allies and respect from your community.

Do you have to respond to all comments and or mentions of your ID / brand?

NO, absolutely not.  Not a chance.  Can you imagine being the digital brand manager for Ford, Pepsi, Apple or Nike?  How many comments do they get per day on each of their social media accounts?  2, 3, 5 thousand?  They could not possibly respond to every comment.

How do you respond to accusations that are full of inflammatory comments, profanity and accusations that can’t be responded to without a bringing attention to something that truly doesn’t deserve it?  How do you respond to a comment that states an opinion which is providing you explicit sexual direction? (You might need to think about that for a second).  You can’t.

What about a comment that on its face you know right off is nothing more than a baiting question which is just going to be used to attack you.  Why would you take the bait and respond?  Remember one of the first rules of social media, “Don’t feed the trolls.”

Look again at the example in the definition of engage. “He engaged her in conversation.”  Conversation; not fighting, not getting abused, not getting cornered, tricked or hijacked.  Conversation.  Even negative comments, criticism andcritique can lead to great engaged conversations which can accomplish the first part of the above definition; to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons).

So what do you respond to?  EVERYTHING YOU CAN!  You will have to balance everything you possibly can do decide on what those things are.

  • time
  • personnel
  • priorities
  • voice
  • influence
  • strategy
  • content
  • issues
  • experience
  • support

Those and more, will all have an influence on what you can, should and need to respond to.  There’s no rule book on this.  There is no right or wrong answer.  You’ll have to choose for yourself what you can do, what you’ll respond to, who you’ll respond to and when.

Crisis?  Emergency? Disaster? Think you’ll be able to reply to everyone and everything?  Not likely.  Not a chance.

Lynn Hightower of the Boise Police Department wrote a great post for the International Association of Chiefs of Police with one great tactic on how to deal with a crisis situation. Read it here.

If someone tells you that you have to respond to every comment, ask them when the last time they actually used social media was.

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Lost in the social space

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Tim Burrows

I’ll let you in on a couple of things that are my escape.  Music and movies.  They show through in my most of my social feeds at one time or another.  I love getting lost in a great movie and I turn to music to relax, get jacked up, clear my head, focus or just zone out.  Tonight, it was music that inspired this post.

“A generation lost in space”

I’ve heard the song that provides that line a few hundred times, but last night when I heard it, I thought how that line from 1971* is so fitting for today’s social media landscape.

You can literally get lost in the social space.

You are here

Why

I’ve said this before…why.  This absolutely has to be part of any social media program.  Why are we going to use this platform?  Why are we going to use this tool?  Why are we going to post this information?  Not to mention, why are we using social media?  Once you have your why, the rest will come much easier.

Focus

You need to have a clear idea of where you are going with your organization’s social media presence.  If not, you have no idea whether your efforts (outputs) are having an effective impact (outcomes).  If you don’t know where you’re going, how can you possible have any idea if you get there?  Setting your goals will guide you in maximizing the outcomes for your efforts.

Knowledge

Knowing how to use the tools within social media will save you a great deal of agony that will come with mistakes, improper etiquette and simply fumbling around.  Take the time to learn how to use the tools.  Videos, blogs, tutorials are all available to make it easy and at your own speed and in your time frame.

Time

This is the killer.  This is where we can really lose ourselves.  There is an abundance of information that is available to us with just a few clicks and keystrokes.  Just look at the stream of Twitter.  Estimates right now put it at over 340,000,000[1] tweets per day! You can find yourself watching, clicking, posting for hours and accomplish nothing.  Facebook can be just as time sucking.  You need to dedicate time to your social presence.  Even if it is just as simple as setting 10 minutes aside for monitoring, research or reading and 10 minutes for engagement.  If you do that three times a day, you are dedicating one hour to your presence.  Whatever time you set, stick to it so you don’t get lost.  An effective user can accomplish a great deal in one hour.

Don’t be part of the generation that gets lost in the social space.  Be part of the generation that defines the social space for police and law enforcement.  Chart the course and leave a great path for others to follow!

  • *If you know the name of the song without using a search engine – 5points
  • If you know the history of the song without a search engine – 10 points
  • If you don’t know the song – You lose your “I’m a Classic Rock Fan Card”

[1] http://blog.twitter.com/2012/03/twitter-turns-six.html

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Causes for Content

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Tim Burrows

I am often asked by new users of social media questions along the lines of,  “What should I say? What’s ok to share from non-police organizations?  Should we be sharing information from other police agencies?” and others similarly based questions.

Those types of questions all point to one thing; CONTENT.

It has been said many times that “Content is King” in social media.  But, let’s face it, not all content is worth sharing or in some cases, has no business being populated to the social space or anywhere else for that matter.  So it’s not just content that is king, it’s great content or content of value to the end-user (your followers, subscribers, friends, etc).

The hardest part of content is without a doubt the creation of it.  It’s time consuming, demands resources and creativity.  So, curate content which simply put is, finding content that is of high value to your users, which will also be great content.

Content that is great for policing can come in many forms from many places.  Traffic safety information, crime prevention information, crime awareness dissemination, are a few really easy things to find and or create.

But, one of my favourite things to use, which is great content and can have a huge impact and incredible value to your end-user (remember, that is who you are doing social media for), are positive social causes.  Those are causes that are moving towards a better community by standing up for the things that are just right to do that have either been ignored, forgotten, over-shadowed or simply their need is getting bigger and bigger.

Agree or disagree with it, “KONY2012” is one of those causes.  Election reform is one of those causes. Awareness for Autism is one of those causes.  The list goes on and on.  Some causes might not be right for police to support publicly while others have a win-win effect for our communities and us.

Bullying

Anti-Bullying is one of those causes that is a win-win for us to get behind and support.  Think about it; bullying, whether it is in the digital realm or real life on its face is not a policing issue.  Name calling, picking on someone, pestering can all be considered a “part of life”.  They are parental, school, individual and societal issues that through the years have been with us.  But when those bullying events turn into harassment, libel, slander, threats or violence, they become a very serious police issue.  So supporting the cause of anti-bullying is a great thing for us to get behind.

The social media space has an incredible capacity for us to use for gathering content that has been created, creating our own content and to convey the anti-bullying message.  Here are a few examples that you can search to find great content:  (Use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Blog search tools for any of these topics)

  • The Bully Movie
  • #NoMoreBullies
  • #Bullying
  • Pink Shirt Day

It’s very easy to share the information you find on any of those terms and the content that you will find is incredible.  Real life stories, flash dance mobs, research papers, experts and experience will all be there.

Here are examples of what a couple of police agencies / officers have done.

Guelph Police Service Facebook

Guelph Police – Anti Bullying Strategy

Toronto Police – Pink Shirt Day Album

 

Theses are a couple of examples and I have seen many, many more from services, officers, celebrities and the community that are taking a stand against bullying.

This is just one topic though.  Just think of all the content that is available already created that you can use in your efforts.

Social media makes it so easy to share the originality of others, the concepts and the messages of so many.  Share, like, comment, ReTweet, Quote, +1 buttons are all there for a reason…to spread the content.

Sometimes you may have to reach out and ask permission when there are copyright issues or the provider did not intend for mass distribution of their content, so you might have to take an extra step or two, but that only adds to your credibility and may protect you from infringement of others rights.

Do you have a great cause you want to share?  Here is a tip…do it!!  Ask for others to share it, tag people (not in a spammy way), reach out, connect.  Ask if anyone has any information or has run a program on a specific cause or topic.

“Just do it”~Courtesy of Nike. (see that’s a share with credit going to the original content creator 😉

 

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You Can’t do Social Media From Behind a Desk…WRONG!

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Tim Burrows

I have a laundry list of blog topics that I have been meaning to write about here but just haven’t been dedicating the time I need to do it.  So for my first post in over a month, here goes.  Will this ruffle some feathers? Probably.

“You can’t do social media from behind a desk.”

This is a quote that resonated recently from a conference that I was attending in the virtual world.  I’ve always had a problem with Tweet-a-Thons from conferences as you often miss the context.  (Note 1…if you are in a conference and Tweeting from the seats, try to make sure your tweets are always the type that don’t require context.)

I adamantly disagree with the quote above.  I will however, give the benefit of the doubt to the fact that I may have missed the context of the tweet.  (Note 2… hang on, I’ll get back to that.)

You most certainly can do social media from behind a desk.  Social media by its design allows for you to engage in the digital space from where you are, when you want to do it and with whom you choose.  You can develop meaningful, deep and real relationships with other people on-line.  You can have great friends, supporters, mentors and champions without ever having the pleasure of meeting in real life.  You can form partnerships for sharing, caring and daring from the keyboard of a computer.  Relationships are one of the keys to developing an effective social media presence.

The quote above refers to just that.  Developing relationships.

You most certainly can do that from behind a desk.  I have very real, very sincere and very effective relationships with people who I have never had the pleasure of meeting in real life, that every bit as valuable to me as my friends that I have no online social relationship with.

When you do get the opportunity to get out from behind the desk and meet your audience, friends and partners in real life without a screen and computer keyboard between you, then a deeper level to the relationship can occur.  You can put flesh to the avatar and greet people with the confidence of long-lost friends re-uniting.

To say you can’t do social media from behind a desk is like saying the lost art of being pen pals had no real relationship value to those writing across the ocean with each other. 

I can’t count how many people who I have forged great bonds with through nothing but tweets, posts, shares, likes, comments and subscriptions.  I’ve met people who I didn’t agree with or didn’t agree with what I had to say.  Through conversation, educating each other, sharing different views and listening to and holding what the other had to say with high-value, great relationships have been formed.

I’ve been able to disagree with what friends have said and have been disagreed with by friends, without fear of offending or hurting each other because we have a relationship that is real.

OK, back to Note 2… “You can’t do social media from behind a desk”.

So you’re a brand new user to social media and you have just been told that this statement is gospel, what are you thinking of social media now?

  • Thinking that you don’t know how you’re going to tackle this monster?
  • Thinking that you can’t do it because your job function doesn’t allow you to get out and about?
  • Thinking that you’ve just been road-blocked before you got going?

Yeah, that’s the problem with blind statements.  They just don’t work…there’s always more to the story, which hopefully I’ve opened up here a little and shed some light on the issue.

Yes, getting out pressing the flesh, shaking hands and meeting people in real-life can add a new level to your on-line relationships, but not doing doesn’t mean the end of the world.  Remember too, what’s great about meeting people in real life can also be a disappointment when you realize the meeting doesn’t live up to the hype.

However you decide to , or are able to engage in the social space, be great at it.

 

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A 42+1 Social Business Screencast on Social Media with Tim Burrows of the Toronto Police

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Tim Burrows

A 42+1 Social Business Screencast on Social Media with Tim Burrows of the Toronto Police.

Big thanks to Robert Lavigne for having me on his inaugural broadcast for 42+1 Social Business Screencast.

We used a Google+ Hangout to facilitate this.

 

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Foursquare, don’t believe everything you see.

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Tim Burrows

Foursquare can be an effective resource to place in your social media tool box.  It has some great functionality for our needs.  Yes, you can become a mayor or get deals based on ‘checking-in’ at a location, but there really is a lot more to it than just getting a virtual crown.

There are a few really good examples of what some police and law enforcement agencies are doing with the geo-based location service.  But there are also some things you need to be aware of from both investigative, communication and officer safety views.

Overt Use

Richmond, VA Police

Setting up your agencies location(s) can allow you to leave tips regarding things like contact information, Crime Stoppers info and awareness messaging.

You can leave tips on other locations as well.  Homicide scene? Drop in a link to the press conference or contact information for the investigators.  Busy tourist area? Again, contact information for police, crime prevention tips for shoppers.  Try this one…have an area that sees many vehicle crashes?  Create the location, or search to see if it’s already created and post that your agency routinely does speed, red light, or DUI enforcement in the area.

A police officer checking into a location can have the beneficial effect of letting people in the area know that the police are ‘in the house’.  This is not what a criminal or someone with less than pure motives wants to see.  But this can also have a negative side to it as well.  From an officer safety aspect, you could be pinpointing your location for anyone who wants to set you up or worse, take you on.  That holds true anywhere, anytime, but why give them the extra leg up on you.   Fix…maybe try checking out of a location.  You still leave your footprint, but you’re not standing there.  (Also a very good idea for women, especially those who use their real picture with their profile.)

Investigative

So, you think that you’ve got a real good lead on someone based on the location they checked in at, because you used Foursquare to see who was in the area when something went down.  Or, you’ve got an eye on someone for a crime but they claim they couldn’t have done it because they used a geo-location service which shows they were nowhere near where the crime happened.  A cyber alibi if you will.

Let’s take a look at this and see if this is a problem.

In the two images below you can see that I am ‘Checking-In”.  First pic is based on, “What’s nearby”  I’ve highlighted “Downtown Oakville”

What's nearby...Downtown Oakville, 662 Metres Away

In this pic , I’ve checked in, earned my points and moved up the leader board.

I'm checked in, Downtown Oakville

No big deal right?  Well if you look at the right side of both pictures, you can see a brown marble building with blue lettering.  Kind of looks like this place…

Downtown Toronto, Police HQ

That’s right.  Even though my phone thought I was in Downtown Oakville, I was standing across the street from 40 College Street, Toronto, Ontario.

I enabled my ‘Check-In” at Downtown Oakville to go to Twitter which elicited a response from a friend of mine, @BigDaddyKreativ wondering what I was doing in his stomping grounds.

40 College St, Toronto, Ontario. Toronto Police Headquarters

The reply was simple…another “Check-In” that showed where I actually was.

I assure you that I didn’t use any tricks or manipulate the geo functions at all.  It’s a slip up within FourSquare when it can’t determine where you actually are.

And on a side note, but completely related, I also checked in at the Starbucks in downtown Washington DC with.  No points for that one, but it showed up on FourSquare showing I was there.

So, use FourSquare, experiment and find great ways to reach out and connect with your community! You’ll be glad you did and so will your city!  Who knows, you could become the mayor of your police service and your city hall! (Without the pay cheque to match)

Here are some other great reads on Law Enforcement using FourSquare

Boca Police, IACP blog

Richmond Police, IACP Blog

Scott Mills, Foursquare blog post

So, let me know what you think? Agree, disagree?? How about things you’ve found that work, don’t work.

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Emergency Management without Social Media…fail

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Tim Burrows

In the world of Twitter, Facebook , YouTube and everything else that demands instantaneous information sharing it is horrible to see an event occur and the only information that comes out is rumour, guesses and innuendo.

Today, I watched virtually as a passenger train derailment occurred in the region that I live in.  In fact, I was out with my family today and we weren’t to far from the location where the event occurred.

Photo via @CTVToronto

Like so many others, I learned about the event on Twitter and I stayed with the information all afternoon and into the evening.

I re-tweeted, shared, read and analyzed the information that was flying across the cyber stream.  I shared a tweet about the number of fatalities that had been reported.  Then I retweeted another number, I quoted another number then I realized, no one knew what they were talking about.

Kind of sums it up

I wasn’t seeing what I would consider “qualified expertise” speaking in the space.  I saw reporters, camera operators, news agencies.  They were attributing the valid information to the police, EMS, the Mayor, the police, fire, the Mayor…

Oh my.  This incredible amount of information was flying around and there was no “voice of authority” speaking.  Incredibly sensitive facts being shared with the public and not one involved agency confirming, denying or reassuring.

Maybe I’m being a bit too critical.  Maybe it’s a little too much to expect that in an emergency incident, there should be someone official speaking to the virtual scene.  It could be very possible that there were other priorities that needed to be attended to which precluded the authorities from updating the Twitter.

We were left to receive our information literally from, all over the place.  Yes, you can say that the media was well entrenched in the Twitter scene and they were passing along the info they were receiving. 1 dead, 3 dead, 1 dead, 2 dead, none dead, 3 dead…where was the media getting their information?  I saw one media outlet, quote an emergency agency from another jurisdiction.  Really?

Looking at the streams, there was no IMS discussed.  No directions for the public.  No information for people with loved ones on the train to know where to call / go.

A while back I wrote an article about police getting caught up in the “breaking news” phenomena.  This was a case that was just the opposite.  There was no breaking news for the police, fire or EMS.

Is this a problem? 

Well on one hand, it has become expected that people will turn to the social media space for their information and if you are there, you’ll be expected to provide it.

On the other hand…what if you’re not in the space?  You can’t really provide information in a medium that you don’t engage in.

The reality

The job got done! The injured were identified, triaged, evacuated and transported.  The deceased were identified and their families notified.  The investigation was commenced.  The scene was identified and made safe.  Updates were given, information posted and reported.

In cases where there is no social media presence available, or there is no time to get to the streams, the show must go on.  Traditional systems of information must be present…and for goodness sakes.  Make a freakin’ decision that someone in a position of authority is going to speak.

Decide between all your responding agencies, who will be taking the lead, share your information with each other so that the people who need it, get it..the PUBLIC!

Social media would have been a nice addition, but the job still got done without it.  But, having said that…if you are instituting the IMS system or are dealing in an emergency management situation, you are failing your communication strategy if you have not included or instituted social media into that system.

Was anything done right?

On a high note for this event…I take my hat off and give a huge nod to the Twitter Account, @VIA_Rail ^NK and ^RM did an amazing job.

They were working under terrible conditions, having learned that 3 members of their working family had lost their lives.  They were being ‘yelled’ at on Twitter because the system suffered delays.  They were asked questions that no one had the answers to yet and on and on…and through it all.  They answered everyone professionally and systematically.

What do you think?  Let me know.

 

 

 

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The 7 Deadly Sins of Social

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Tim Burrows

Photo from http://pinterest.com/newhamburger/

What do the 7 deadly sins have to do with social media? PLENTY!  The difference is you commit these sins in social media you risk going to reputation purgatory…in real life, you go to, well…let’s not talk about religious beliefs here.

Wrath

Unless you are using video, there aren’t too many ways (maybe using all CAPS) to show that you’re angry.  Perhaps your tone might come through, but really we’re looking at text only.  The one way to show anger for sure is to use language that is foul or insulting.  Never do it…rise above.

Greed

We usually think of greed having to do with wanting more ‘stuff’; the physical things that we can touch or hold.  Not so easy in the social space.  Followers, likes, subscribers might fit…in fact being greedy and asking for more of those works, but it does look kind of well, desperate.  (OK, on the verge of a big number or milestone, you’ll be forgiven, but not too much.) The real greed comes from trying to look, seem or sound to great.  Leave it to others to give you the status, wealth, being.  Don’t tell people how great you are…if you are, they’ll know

Sloth

This can take many forms in social media.  Carelessness, lack of use, ignorance.

Any or all are certainly ignoring what you have been given. You have a great opportunity to use this tool. Use it well. Use it with pure intent and always be careful to be professional.

Pride

Don’t get too big for yourself.  Be proud of your accomplishment but with a sense of humility.  Remember, you’re using social media…not running into a burning building or staring down the wrong end of a weapon.  You’re using social media.  The men and women you are representing are the workers. You’re using a tool behind the scenes to make them (and your Service) look as best you can.  Do so with pride but don’t let it go to your head.

Lust

We just keep this one to exactly what you’re thinking.  Feelings of the flesh…keep them to yourself at all times! Don’t share racy photos or videos…especially if you’re a star in them.  Think a person on-line is attractive and worth a second glance? Good, but keep it to that…don’t say it, don’t show it.  Think it’s ok in a private or direct message? Don’t even think about it!

Envy

Don’t look at someone else’s account or presence and wish for what they have.  Different communities, different situations. Specific agendas, needs of the community, time to invest can all have a bearing on one account to another…not to mention pure time on-line.  Just try to keep up with what you are doing and everything else will work out all on its own.

Gluttony

There are two thousand seven hundred and forty-five different social media platforms. (No I can’t verify that…just thought I’d say it.)  Don’t try to do them all. Pick a few and concentrate on doing the best you can there.  Even if you don’t want to name platforms try thinking about what they do. Video, micro-blogging, blogging, picture, combination.  Consider what each does and use them specifically for their purpose.  Go where you get the most bang for your buck.

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Broadcasting…it’s the beginning

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Tim Burrows

Can you hear me now?

I’m a huge proponent of using social media as a tool for outreach, connecting and engagement.  Yes, social media is used best when its purpose is for two-way communication.  But what about broadcasting?  Pushing information?  Take a look around (computer talk for Google) and you can easily see that there are many people who say that broadcasting is a bad thing to so in social media.

The broadcasting in social media that I’m talking about isn’t the television / radio definition…it’s the sending of information. Simply put for our purpose, tweets, posts, shares.

Think about that for a moment.  Imagine what social media would be like if no one broadcasted.  Silence…pure silence.  Actually that’s not just a social media thing…its an ‘everything’.

So what’s wrong with broadcasting? NOTHING.  In fact it has to be done.  It needs to be done.  Two-communication can’t exist without it.  Someone has to start two-way communication with a broadcast.

Try to start a conversation without saying anything.  Doesn’t work very well does it?  So why has broadcasting information received a bad rap?

It’s not the broadcast that should be receiving the negative connotation.  Its more of what, how often and when the broadcast occurs that needs to be assessed.

What

Are you broadcasting information that is of value to the end receiver or of value to you?  If it is for your own value, then you can understand why people aren’t receiving it very well.  Always make sure that what your broadcast has greater value for the recipient than it does for you.

How often

If all you do is repetitive rapid fire broadcasting then you could be creating a couple of problems.  First you fill the stream with nothing but me, me, me.  Even if there is high value, people will see your ID in rapid succession and not have time to ingest it all.  Second, it appears scrambled.  There’s no focus and a lack of apparent strategy to what you are pushing out.

When

This is a tricky one.  Should you post information at times when there are lots of eyes on the streams or when there aren’t as many?  Arguments can be made for both sides.  So how about find what works well for you and your audience and consider re-broadcasting the same information every few hours.

The problem that has the most impact on the negative tone of broadcasting is simple…it’s all you do!  If all you do is broadcast then you are missing the point of social media.  Social!  No one wants to hear about you, you, you.  They won’t mind you if you temper it with them.

When you broadcast, you better then be able to listen to the next broadcast.  The broadcast coming in return of your outgoing.  That is when the communication occurs. Here is the secret for a good broadcast agenda…

Respond

Thank You

Answer questions, say thank you, expand your points for clarification; in short, communicate!

In our business, we absolutely have to broadcast information and everyone can accept that.  It’s a given.  But, not listening and returning the engagement can seriously hurt the return on your broadcast immensely…and that’s when broadcasting is a bad thing.

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Sarcasm and Social Media…case study video

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Tim Burrows

I’ve been told that I’m a pretty sarcastic person.  In fact, I will readily admit that those who have said it are right on, I am.  (I have a couple of shirts that even warn people I’m sarcastic and my love for it.) That’s part of my personality.  I embrace it, I love it and I have no feeling of shame in my view of it.

I’ve been criticized for my use of sarcasm in my on-line presence both professionally and personally and I’ve been praised for it.  I leave it to individuals to determine their opinion of it and hold no ill-will of anyone’s thoughts on the matter.

There are times to use sarcasm effectively and there are definitely times not to.  There are times that sarcasm is a great tactic and times it is nothing more than destructive and can cause problems.

I will never tell anyone how to use it, because I do believe there is a real art form to the use of sarcasm. Even when it is used in an excellent time / situation you will always risk offending someone.

  • If you want to use it…go ahead.
  • If you don’t, don’t.
  • If you don’t get sarcasm….never use it, although that can be very comical. (But not always the effect you want.)

So why am I talking about this?  I came across what I think is an excellent example of the great use of sarcasm when dealing with a situation.

Boston Police Department was recently hacked by “Anonymous”.

I’ve always been a huge fan of BPDNews.com which is even branded for exactly what it is, “The Boston Police Department Virtual Community”.  In my opinion, it is one of the best examples of a police departments use of a website, information portal there is.

How did they respond to the Anonymous hack?  Well, first they dealt with the real situation at hand…professionally, with purpose and confidence. They took steps to mitigate damage, reassured their community they were on top of it, asked for assistance and got on top of a bad situation very well.

Second, the showed a sense of humour about the incident and offered this up as a response which carried some excellent key messaging which makes it through an obvious sarcastic response.

Congratulations to Boston Police for their response.  Want to know more about the BPD? Click on their website link above or find them on the following platforms:

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