From the onset of the flood warnings in Alberta I have had search terms and monitoring in place to follow along from a safe, dry distance. From the beginning, the Calgary Police Service has been nothing short of awesome to watch!
They have been on the ball broadcasting information, sharing information, answering questions providing links to more information and going at it on a full speed setting. At the time of writing, Calgary Police have tweeted 44 times in the last hour.
But, they have paid the price for providing all this information…Twitter Jail. That’s right folks, the police have been sent to jail. But, not to fear, they have more than one account in Calgary and one of their members jumped in and started tweeting on behalf of the big account.
The best definition of Twitter Jail comes from Urban Dictionary,
“Twitter Jail is no tweeting if you’ve reached the limit of 100 tweets per hour/1000 per day.”
They have also had another challenge.
A loss of Internet, albeit short, but talk about challenges!
A headline from Global News about the Twitter Jail problem caught my eye…
Hey, it happens, but the next thing I see is people saying that Social Media is unreliable in emergencies and crisis situations! Get a grip, really? Unreliable…no, the information that some people put out can be considered unreliable and there may be limitations but that’s it. End of story. Social Media is about the best thing that has come along since the printing press for sharing information. Even problems that arise from bad information being shared are generally self correcting by the community!
The Calgary Police had a hiccup in their stream, but they had an alternative and used it…effectively!
Having been in Twitter Jail several times, I know first hand how frustrating it can be for the clock to tick around until you’re paroled.
Here are 5 tips to avoid the virtual lock up.
1.) Choose the information you are going to share wisely. Don’t burn all our tweets with rapid RT’s.
2.) Answer the most critical questions from your public first. Many people will be asking relatively the same question so address them in a blanket statement, not individual replies.
3.) Don’t RT information from other well followed organizations. If they have a big audience, assume that many of your followers are seeing it already from them. But DO direct people to their accounts just in case.
4.) Images. Pictures and videos tell a story. You can cover a lot of words with a few well placed pics and vids.
5.) Have a back-up plan. I don’t know if Calgary planned they secondary account fall back of Officer Shaw or it was done out of necessity, but that was a great move. Be ready and flexible to do the same.
Here is a great conversation I had with an awesome EMS member, @Paramedic_Mike on Twitter about the subject.
Related Articles:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Techsavvy+Calgary+constable+saves+taking+over+Twitter/8557043/story.html
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Reblogged this on emsmike.
I agree entirely Tim. Agencies need to be authoritative not speculative, considered not casual, informative not repetitive. RT only when it adds value for your followers.
Thanks Mike! “…value for your followers.” Words to live by.
“Even problems that arise from bad information being shared are generally self correcting by the community!”, but if the community is enough fast and most of all enough informed!
In case of natural disasters the collective knowledge has not always the right answer or it is not “feeded” by people informed. False prediction of earthquakes, false information on alarm, or on emergency management procedures, false or misleading interpretation of the phenomenon.
I have a doubt on the capacity of “any” community to correct the bad information. The general requirement should be to have a strong and widespread community, and to have a team to monitor the social stream. So it all depends on to what extent this revolutionary change has been understood, absorbed and how much the organisations have reshaped their processes, procedures, skills, and organizational structure to fit this change.
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Great article Tim. You need a backup plan. I have 2 secondary accounts because of the Twitter API issue. I do a lot of social media chats and often have to go to a backup account especially on Tuesday nights.
Social Media is reliable – its just all how you use the tool and what you prepare for.