Facebook

I have to thank Applicant for this post. I found them through a StumbleUpon spree last night while listening absent mindedly to Congressman Scott (D-Ga-13th District) have an emotional implosion during a town hall on healthcare reform when pushed on the issue by one of his constituents that was being replayed on CNN. I thought their post had more relevance. The actual post I landed on had this image:

Now those of you who are observant may point out the use of the word “wanker” and “post” to probably identify it as a UK incident. Chances are that you are indeed correct considering the slang, but that doesn’t change the underlying lesson to be learned.

What you say on a social network is representative of your employer, your family, and most importantly you as a person. Being careless on social networks with your words can lead to problems with any of the above.

“But the First Amendment protects my freedom of speech!“, you may say… to which I will inform you that while it does in fact protect your right to free speech, it does not guarantee you protection of employment for that speech. This goes back to my Responder Do’s and Responder Don’ts when using Social Media… although it really can apply to everybody. Even if you use your social networking for strictly personal reasons, speaking ill of your employer is something not to take lightly.

Historically speaking The Well, a virtual community since 1985, had a policy of You Own Your Own Words (YOYOW). The words you use to update your status, post, or comment are yours.

You need to own (and own up to) them.

Source: Applicant

Yesterday, Twitter experienced a prolonged outage both through their website and their API. While Twitter outages were very commonplace in 2007 and 2008, the service has been quite stable for the majority of 2009 as the Pingdom Report indicates. However, Twitter was not alone with their problems…

Facebook was also having issues. The chances of both these Social Networking behemoths having issues on the same day at the same time… well, let’s just say that there is a better chance of a monkey flying out of my butt.

Yesterday Twitter and Facebook were both the subject of a Denial Of Service (DOS) attack. A DOS attack occurs when nefarious elements inundate a website or service with mundane requests from multiple computers, usually systems enslaved in a botnet, that overloads the servers of the service.

CNet is reporting that the attack actually targeted a single user who had accounts on both systems, along with LiveJournal and Google properties Blogger, YouTube, and Google Sites. The user is a pro-Georgian advocate who has apparently raised the ire of Russian elements. DOS attacks and website defacement have gone on through the cyberspace during the Russian-Georgian hostilities from both sides. Although the attacks targeted him specifically, all users on the networks felt the effects.

While Social Networking and Social Media proliferation have changed the way we live our lives, it is important to remember that it is still vulnerable to nefarious actions and the failings of technology. Because of this inherent weakness, Social Networking and Social Media are not complete replacements for what we have traditionally done in the past.

They are tools that enhance and enrich our lives… when they work.

Source: CNet

Related articles by Zemanta

• Facebook Problems Also the Result of DDoS Attack (mashable.com)
• Twitter Offline Due To DDoS (tech.slashdot.org)
• Denial-of-Service Attacks on Twitter, Facebook & LiveJournal (laughingsquid.com)
• Twitter Tries to Regroup After Attack (nytimes.com)
• Denial of Service Attacks Being Investigated by Google, Twitter, Facebook (mashable.com)
• DDoS attack that downed Twitter also hit Facebook (computerworld.com)
• Hackers hit Twitter and Facebook (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Top three botnets sending 21 billion spam messages a day (deals.venturebeat.com)

One of the very open secrets about being successful in Social Media is trust. If you create content that is not what it seems, then it will eventually be deemed untrustworthy. Once your content is decreed as such, so is your reputation as a reliable source.

Unfortunately, this is not necessarily something that you will do on purpose. Take this NYC OEM update as an example:

The update leads the reader to believe that it links to a Shelter In Place video, when in reality it links to the front page that above the fold is warning against the H1N1 Virus. Scrolling down and even clicking on the news item about Sheltering In Place still does not lead you to the video.

4 Tips To Maintain Trust

• Link to the specific item that you are referring to as opposed to just the front of a site/blog
• Check your links before publishing
• Actually click on your links AFTER publishing to make sure they work
• If you mess up, be honest and confess with a link to the correct material

For those of you who actually want to see the NYC OEM video on Sheltering In Place, I found it after doing a Google Video search:

It can be seen here on YouTube.

Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?

The family of Caroline Wimmer have filed a lawsuit against the Fire Department of New York, FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, and The City of New York over a photo of the deceased in her apartment taken after her murder.

EMT Mark Musarella took the photo with his camera phone and then posted it on Facebook. Musarella was employed by Richmond University Medical Center at the time of the incident. RUMC is a participating hospital in the New York City 911 System that is overseen and dispatched by the FDNY. RUMC terminated his employment when they were made aware of the photograph in May. Musarella was also charged with Official Misconduct.

I knew this would happen.

EMS Agencies that continue to ignore Social Media and do not provide guidance to their Responders will find themselves in these quagmires of bad publicity and open to litigious actions. Do your agency a favor, create a Social Media Policy and communicate it clearly.

Source: SILive.com

New York City, as a whole, is on the cutting edge of technology. Between the home of the 24 hour Apple Store, our own “Silicon Alley”, and the embracement of treating citizens as customers from Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 311 initiative are all indicative of the city’s technological pioneering ways.

This includes the NYC Office of Emergency Management that has an established Hub Site, a YouTube Account, a Facebook Page, and a Twitter Account. Additionally, NYC OEM has also been instrumental in a tax payer funded city program called Notify NYC.

One of their major initiatives is the educational campaign Ready New York. As this video demonstrates staying informed from a trusted source of information is key during times of crisis. The narrator goes so far as to say, “In a disaster, city officials will issue updates on the situation.” and instructs the viewer to carry a portable batter operated radio.

So let’s take a quick look at how NYC OEM disseminated information through their social web presence during a recent crisis.

The Throgs Neck Bridge Fire

On Friday June 10, 2009 there was a serious incident on the Throgs Neck Bridge. At about 5:05am the call came in that there was a fire under the bridge. The FDNY responded to find a hole in the actual decking and a fire beneath the bridge where some construction crews had worked with welding torches earlier. While there is some discrepancy about the exact time, it is believed that both lanes of traffic were closed between 5:45am and 6:15am.

Notify NYC had this to say:

7/10/2009 6:55:00 AM
Throgs Neck Bridge Fire
Notification 1 issued July 10, 2009 at 6:40 AM. Emergency personnel are on scene of a fire underneath the Queens side of the Throgs Neck Bridge. The bridge is closed in both directions. Expect heavy traffic delays.

Okay, so at least 25 minutes and at most 55 minutes after the traffic lanes had been closed was when the alert was sent out. If the length of time from when the action happened to when the alert “supposedly” (why does it say the 1st alert went out at 6:40 when the 1st alert on their page is showing it went out at 6:55?) went out was actually an ambulance responding to a call, then that unit would be considered extremely extended which is why I consider NotifyNYC a FAIL.

Here is something worse:

As you can see from this screen shot of their Facebook Page that was taken a full 24 hours after the event, there is no mention of the fire or the closure anywhere. Sadly, the latest update was actually a link share on 7/09/09 about an article from a 6/25/09 visit by FEMA Administer Craig Furgate. Obviously that whole “In a disaster, city officials will issue updates on the situation,” has fallen through the cracks meaning that the NYC OEM Facebook Page is a FAIL.

Not surprisingly:

As of July 11, 2009 the NYC OEM Twitter Account has made only 4 updates, with its latest offering being a June 6, 2009 Tip of the Week. Four weeks later they are still sharing that same tip. Obviously the NYC OEM Twitter Account is a FAIL.

FAIL + FAIL + FAIL = EPIC FAIL

Keeping Your Social Media Presence Strong

Here are 5 simple ways to prepare your Social Media Presence to perform as it is intended in times of crisis:

• Provide fresh content on a regular basis - It does not necessarily have to be daily, but I would suggest at the very least an article 3 times a week on your blog that gets syndicated out
• Provide prompt and accurate news - You don’t have to give all the details if they aren’t available, and you should NEVER make an assumption about a situation you are not present for. However just a casual, “There’s a fire on the Throgs Neck Bridge, stay tuned for further updates” can go a long way to give you credibility
• Engage in conversations - Chances are there are other bloggers/tweeters/Facebookers in your area that will mention things that are going on. You should engage in their conversation offering your agencies insight to the specific topic they have raised
• Solve a problem - A great example from above would be someone tweeting about all the traffic, and NYC OEM could have replied with a suggested alternate route that may have helped reduce the congestion a little sooner
• Recycle timeless articles/tips - You can easily write a group of articles, I would suggest at least 20, that you recycle through your network if you have nothing new to add

It’s important to remember that you want to be viewed as a trusted source of information before, during, and after a crisis. Ignoring an event, especially if the local media covers it, makes you seem inept at disseminating information and you are not going to achieve the goal of becoming that trusted source.

Ultimately Social Media is like a muscle. If you don’t use it then it will never get stronger, and will eventually become dystrophic. Don’t let that happen to your agency’s presence.

While I have written how social media should be used by EMS Agencies numerous times, it is really time to show it in action with an agency that is putting these theories into practice.

LAFD.org

The homepage of The Los Angeles Fire Department is the essential hub for the department’s web presence. On it are seasonal advisories, a roll down list of preparedness pages, a Feedburner generated list of the recent posts from the LAFD Blog, and a link list of department related pages.

This is exactly the type of web presence that I previously described. The LAFD Blog and its constantly freshing content is an integrated part of the hubpage that remains the center of the department’s web presence. What I found VERY interesting and innovative about the LAFD web presence is their LAFD Alert system…

LAFD Alert

The LAFD provides an alert system to their residents. This system is actually pulled together using numerous social media applications. From an outsider looking in, it appears that it all begins with this LAFD_ALERT Google Group…

Residents who want to receive alerts can join the Google Group to receive notification of the events deemed newsworthy by the department. These events are probably submitted to the group itself via e-mail which then propagates out to…

LAFD Verified Twitter

The alerts are propagated through Twitter using TwitterMail that takes an e-mail message and posts its contents to your Twitter account. The LAFD have a Twitter Verified Account, which means that the LAFD Twitter Account has in fact been proven to be the “real thing” to Twitter.

However in Twitter the alert does not end because it continues its syndication into…

LAFD Facebook

Here in Facebook the LAFD Alerts are disseminated in status updates from the LAFD Facebook Profile using Ping.fm. This chain of syndication and information dissemination from a trusted source is exactly the point I’ve been trying to make.

Of course, we shouldn’t forget to mention that LAFD also maintains a presence on MySpace, FriendFeed, Flickr and YouTube. This proves that the LAFD “gets” social media and its benefits.

The Cost

I know that some people may be thinking, “Well they’re the Los Angeles Fire Department so their budget for this must be in the millions!”

Wrong.

Every single service that they are using as spokes in the hub (Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, Google Groups, Ping.fm, and Twittermail) to help the wheel go round are free.

In fact for that matter here is an excerpt from the LAFD_ALERT Google Group Page:

We are a one-person office with more than 300 media phone calls and nearly 500 official e-mails arriving each day.

If the LAFD can have this level of social media presence from a one person office… then what is holding your agency back?

I was recently asked a question on Twitter about what relevance I thought an article has for EMS Agencies:

The article that Greg Friese was inquiring about in the tweet above is called Speed, Social Media and Crisis Communication. The article cites a study of the 2007 pet food recall that examined social media messages and the types of messages that pet owners at that time indicated they wanted. I believe the article is very relevant for EMS Agencies as the country moves towards a new health care model that equals the focus on both acute treatment and condition prevention.

From a public safety agency standpoint, let’s take a recent event and use it as an example of what an agency could have done as compared to what it actually did in communication during a crisis.

DC Metro Red Line Crash June 22, 2009

Here is what could have happened if DC Fire & EMS were engaged in social media:

• The DC Fire & EMS SMPIO (Social Media Public Information Officer) is advised that there are multiple calls on a potential rail incident on the Red Line. There are many units responding but there is no situation report available yet
• On Twitter which is syndicated to their Facebook Page status: DCFIREEMS is receiving multiple calls for a rail collision on the Metro Red Line near Fort Totten. Expect potential delays. (123 characters)
• On their Blog: The DC Fire & EMS SMPIO would ready a blog post for the first situation report with the right categories and tags
• Once the first situation report comes in, the SMPIO would translate it into “plain english” and post it on the blog. The SMPIO would also Twitter the URL of the blog post and then summarize the first situation report into a message under 140 characters and establish a #hashtag for the event such as #METRODCRAIL on Twitter
• As future situation reports come in the SMPIO would continue to translate them into “plain english” and add them to the blog post already established as well as summarizing them on Twitter maintaining the #hashtag
• Due to the size and nature of this particular incident, the SMPIO should be deployed to the scene. He would bring with him his social media “jump bag”, consisting of a laptop/netbook with a wireless broadband air card, a FliP video camera, and a 6MP or greater digital camera. The SMPIO should continue to update the blog post, Twitter the updates, and is now able to post video and photos to the agency’s YouTube account and Flickr account

Here is what did happen:

• The unverified DCFireEMS Twitter account posted two vague updates
• The DCFireEMS YouTube account posted one video a day later
• The Fire Chief gave a statement with the mayor at a hastily thrown together press conference

So just how ready is DC Fire & EMS when it comes to social media?  It seems they are not very ready at all in the end. Their lack of preparedness lost them the opportunity to become an engaged and trusted authority with the public.

For a great example of a city agency embracing social media in preparation of a crisis, check out NYC’s Office of Emergency Management on Facebook and Twitter

Five Steps To Establish A Trusted Social Media Presence

Here are five easy ways that an EMS Agency can show themselves as a trusted source of information in today’s social media climate:

1. Develop an agency Social Media Policy that includes honest and transparent communication as base values and engagement with the public as a foundation to build upon
2. Appoint SMPIOs who then familiarize themselves with and adhere to the Agency Social Media Policy
3. Establish a blog within the agency website with RSS and e-mail syndication
4. Establish an agency Twitter account
5. Establish an agency Facebook Page

The most effective communication is the type of communication that comes from a trusted source. Ask yourself which channel do you turn to when there are rumblings or rumors of a crisis? Did you answer CNN? Perhaps MSNBC or Fox? That is probably because you have found them to be a trusted source of information when there was an earlier crisis so you naturally turn to them again under similar circumstances.

Now what is one of the biggest complaints from EMS Agencies? The way they are perceived by the public and portrayed in the media. Who’s fault is it really? With today’s technology EMS Agencies have the ability to craft the public’s perception themselves. EMS Agencies have the power to become authorities and trusted sources of information in their own right, therefore they have no one to blame but themselves for not engaging in social media.

In the end, EMS Agencies need to be a trusted source of correct up to date information daily for the public so that there is no question about the information disseminated in a crisis.

Facebook is the undisputed King of the Social Networking Sites. I’ve already talked about why EMS Agencies should be using Facebook. It’s important to understand that agencies have choices in both how they present themselves and how they interact with others on the platform.

Facebook Personal Profiles

Facebook personal profiles are the very basic building block of the Facebook platform. Facebook personal profiles should not be used to represent an EMS Agency.

From the Facebook FAQ:

I’m trying to register a presence for a business, product, or public figure: We do not allow these entities to maintain personal profiles, but you can create a Facebook Page. Pages can only be created to represent a real public figure, artist, brand or organization, and may only be created by an official representative of that entity.

Just because your agency shouldn’t have a Personal Profile doesn’t mean you can’t! For that matter, if you are an official representative of your agency you will need one to create a Facebook Page or a Facebook Group. You can check out my Personal Profile for an idea of what it looks like

Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups offers organizations an opportunity to communicate and interact with personal profile users through the Facebook Platform. Although they are distinctly different, Facebook Groups offer a number of specific features like Personal Profiles. The featured areas include:

• Recent News
• Discussion Board
• Photo Uploads From Group Members
• Group Member Link Share
• Group Member Videos
• Group Member Wall Postings

Facebook Groups also offer three different privacy settings:

• Open: Everyone on Facebook can view the group and join. All content (e.g., photos, videos and discussions) is visible to anyone viewing the group.
• Closed: Everyone on Facebook can see the group, but the administrators must approve all membership requests or personally send invitations. Only group members can view its Wall, discussion board, and photo or video content. Non-members can view its Info and Recent News. If you are not a member, you will not receive stories about closed groups.
• Secret: These groups cannot be found in searches or be viewed by non-members. The name of the group will not display on the personal profiles of members. Membership is strictly by invitation only.

Because of the different privacy preferences, agencies can choose what type of group they may want to have. An agency who wants to interact with their community, their responders, and the public in general would choose to have an open group as opposed to an agency who perhaps wants to only interact with their responders would choose to have a closed group. Another important feature of Facebook Groups is its ability to allow multiple group members as administrators for the group. Having multiple administrators will make sure that whatever presence an agency builds on Facebook will be manageable by others if the originator of the group goes on vacation or becomes unavailable to support it.

While Facebook Groups offer an opportunity for an agency to exist on Facebook, what it severely lacks is the ability to customize its appearance on the platform or to integrate the powerful Facebook Applications within the group. A Facebook Group can be created by any user and about any topic, as a space for users to share their opinions and interest in that subject.

The Facebook Group EMS: Forgotten Casualties Of 9/11 grew to over 2,500 members in less than a week through a mix of the exposure through Facebook and the passion of its members for the cause that it supports

Facebook Pages

Facebook Pages are for any real public figure, artist, brand or organization, and may only be created by an official representative of that entity. Facebook Pages are also designed to allow Page Admins to keep a personal/professional distinction while on Facebook.

What empowers Facebook Pages over the other options offered is the high level of customization that it allows. Facebook Pages are able to integrate Facebook Applications and provide rich media content to both their fans and non-fans alike. This enriched environment helps Facebook Pages gain new audiences through their friend’s recommendations and fosters natural interactions with compelling content.

It is important to remember that unlike Facebook Groups there are only two privacy settings for Facebook Pages. There is the “published” which is viewable globally, and the “unpublished” which means the page is only viewable by Page Administrators. There are no private or secret options for pages.

McGregor Memorial EMS uses Facebook Pages in a simple but effective way

In Conclusion

As social media continues to grow and develop in society, EMS Agencies can no longer afford to be absent from the sphere. Although Facebook is similar to Twitter as a tool to be used in conjunction with a strong branding message, it also provides the opportunity for an agency to stick its proverbial toe into the social media water.

At midnight on June 13, 2009 the great “Facebook Land Grab” went live. According to Mashable, they registered 200,000 usernames within 3 minutes, over 500,000 were registered in 15 minutes, and it culminated with 3,000,000 registered in 12 hours. This is an astounding high number of users laying claim for their “piece” of Facebook within the first 12 hours, but it only equated to roughly 2% of the 150 million users on Facebook.

A few years ago, MySpace was the undisputed “king” of the social networks. Through platform development, the inclusion of third party developers, and maintaining a clean interface there is no doubt that Facebook has taken the crown. So out of that 150 million users, how many of them live or work in your service area? More importantly, how many of them are with your agency as a responder? As the story of the EMT posting a murder scene photo on Facebook demonstrates, the chances are that it is more than you probably realize.

One of the huge differences between MySpace and Facebook has been its implementation of its Newsfeed. The Facebook Newsfeed uses push technology to update the user of their friends status and recommends groups or pages that the user might like based on their friends likes and dislikes. This method has caused more engagement from the users in what is a clean environment minus the flashy graphics and gaudy page designs that choked the MySpace.

The opportunity that Facebook presents is the ability to both strengthen brand recognition, strengthen relationships, strengthen the value an agency has to its community, and most importantly is to become informed about negative accusations or feedback so that it is addressed promptly. EMS Agencies should be using Facebook to connect better with both their responders and their potential patients.

The absolute worst thing an EMS Agency can do is to ignore the internet has evolved into the social web and that Facebook is playing a central role in that continual evolution. Just because you ignore it, doesn’t mean people aren’t talking about you or worse… pretending to actually be you.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Sizeable Layoffs On The Horizon For MySpace (mediabistro.com)
• Can once-cool MySpace stage a comeback? (cnn.com)
• Free Ways Advertising Your Business-Social Networking Sites … (jonggunlee.tistory.com)
• Are Your Leads Already in Your Social Network? : Lead Marketwatch (jonggunlee.tistory.com)

Mark Musarella, the EMT who uploaded a photo of a murder victim to his Facebook profile was charged with Official Misconduct. The lawyer for the 46 year old retired NYPD Detective admits that his client did upload the photo. The lawyer said Musarella was only “following his instincts” by using his cell phone to snap a photo of the victim’s lifeless body and insisted he never meant to post it although that is exactly what happened.

Police said Calvin Lawson, 28, killed the victim Caroline Wimmer, 26, because she told his girlfriend that he was unfaithful. Wimmer had been found in strangled with a hair dryer cord in her Staten Island apartment when Musarella snapped the photo. Lawson has been charged with murder and possession of a weapon.

Official Misconduct in New York City is a Class A Misdemeanor. A conviction can carry UP TO a year in prison, but may include no jail time at all.

Source: New York Daily News