BlogHer - Virginia Tech: Social Media in Crisis Planning - Comments

CDC Resources

Erin Edgerton — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 13:23:23 -0500

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shares the publicâ€™s grief over the recent tragedy at VA Tech and would like to take this opportunity to share some important health information on coping with violence. Please share the following with your readers:

Information on school violence and prevention strategies: http://www.cdc.gov/Features/SchoolViolence/
http://www.cdc.gov/InjuryViolenceSafety/

Short video podcast: Coping with Stress after a Traumatic Event such as a School Shooting:
www.cdc.gov/podcasts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTjdzM1MRv8

Thank you for the opportunity to share this information with your blog readers!

Additional information can be found at www.cdc.gov

The CDC thanks you!

Erin Edgerton — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 13:22:01 -0500

Marianne,

Thank you again for your participation in the recent panel discussion on blogging. Using emerging communication channels to deliver CDC's science and health messages will be crucial for reaching target audiences, communicating with stakeholders and responding to public health emergencies. The vast networks that blogs offer are ideal for delivering health information in timely, relevant and accessible ways. Your contributions to this effort are greatly appreciated. Taking the advice of the panelists, CDC has created several multi-media tools for coping with the Virginia Tech tragedy. Please watch for more information on these resources.

Thank you,

Erin Edgerton
E-Health Marketing Division
National Center for Health Marketing
Coordinating Center for Health Information and Service
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
www.cdc.gov

My thoughts exactly

Virginia DeBolt — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 08:41:43 -0500

I know I have a record of dissing Twitter, but this is a case where a previously setup Twitter channel would have been the fastest way to communicate with the most students in an instant.

News about the recent earthquake in Mexico hit first on Twitter. I don't know if it went beyond reporting the event to organizing responses, but it certainly served to alert people to the need for action.

http://www.webteacher.ws/
http://first50.wordpress.com/

Social Media Tools

Toby Bloomberg — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 22:21:03 -0500

Marianne - Excellent idea! We talk of using social media, usually blogs and vlogs, as a defensive tactic for crisis management. Why can't universities set up a Twitter group to communicate with its students in time of disasters?

Virginia Tech: Social Media in Crisis Planning

Marianne Richmond — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:50:02 -0500

One of the topics discussed last week at the CDC panel on public healthcare blogging was the way in a social media world that information is disseminated in the time of a crisis.

As Craig Lefebvre highlighted, if a situation like the Anthrax scare occurred today information would be communicated through blogs, mobile phones, social networks, IMs. It would be important for an organization such as the CDC to be able to actively participate within this environment and for people to be aware that they were providing accurate, timely, and informed news and recommendations. This issue was noted by Susan Promislo on the Pioneering Blog write up of the CDC Event.

Yesterday's incomprehensible tragic events at Virginia Tech also highlight the way the information is disseminated during a crisis and the need for "official" sources to use social media tools as part of their crisis management plan. I think one of the thoughts that became crystallized for me during the CDC panel and the Forrester Marketing Forum is that if social media was viewed in light of this is a tool, what can I use it for to enhance my communications (which is of course dependent upon what the goal is) the very real benefits of social media would be recognized and adoption would be more widespread.

Stephen Crowley NYT

The New York Times documents the "official" university communication:

The school did not notify students by e-mail of the first shootings until 9:26 a.m., said Matt Dixon, who lives in the dorm. Mr. Dixon did not receive the e-mail message until he returned from his 9:05 class. When he left for that class, he said, a resident adviser told him not to use the central stairs, so he left another way.

On dry erase boards, advisers had written, â€œStay in your rooms,â€ Mr. Dixon said.

The Washington Post notes a 2 Hour Time Gap and asks this: A single question stood out yesterday at Virginia Tech: Would more students be alive if the university had stopped them from going to class after a shooting occurred in a campus dorm?

Steve Helber-AP

The campus newspaper, The Collegiate Times began filing blog posts at 9:47AM, 2 minutes after the shooting began at Norris Hall according to Information Week. The very first shooting occured at 7:15AM at West Ambler Johnston Hall.

Students at Virginia Tech used mobile phones, digital cameras, social networks such as Flickr, Facebook and MySpace, blogs and video to communicate with each other and to document the tragedy in real time.

The question is, why weren't the instant tools: Text and voice messages, used by the university to notify students? These students are wired....this is the way to communicate with them. It can save lives and that is not hyperbole. Every organization, business, schools and universities ( and even families) should give serious thought to using these tools as part of their crisis planning.

And one headline notes that in the absence of "official news" that the "Internet Names the Wrong Killer". It is important that official news be available. In the absence, just as was discussed at the CDC panel, information will be provided by anyone with a mobile phone, internet access, blog, social network or Twitter.

So, instead of asking ""Why didn't we?" " a more proactive approach would be to look at social media as an opportunity to enhance communications and developing a social media strategy makes complete sense. Toby Bloomberg notes 10 Benefits of a Social Media Strategy in her write up of the CDC panel.

Tags: media2.0, Virginia Tech, Washington post, New York Times, Craig Lefebrve, Toby Bloomberg, Twitter, social media, mobile, text messages, Facebook, social networks, Flickr, MySpace, public healthcare blogging, Susan Promislo Forrester Marketing Forum