Social Media for Emergency Managers Can’t Start When the Emergency Does

There was a nice post about the use of social media by emergency managers last month on the Next Gov site.

One part that caught my eye was the following, and I think all of us who work with social media can relate:

“One of the biggest barriers to leveraging Twitter during disasters, for
instance, is sifting out important information, such as Tweets from
people trapped in collapsed buildings or at ad hoc shelters that are
short of food and water, from the larger universe of Tweets and
re-Tweets, panelists said Thursday.”

Back in August, we highlighted the Charlotte Fire Department’s efforts to manage social media, and I’m really interested in hearing more from smaller city or county communicators, or departments with very limited staffing. How do you keep up?

Original post