In an interesting interview with CNNMoney, Jack Dorsey (one of the co-founders of the Twitter) credits working on a database of ambulances and police cars in New York City along with mapping as the inspiration for the conception of the social network:

It makes you wonder what EMS is going to inspire next…

If you are on Twitter, chances are you see those tweets using the hashtag #followfriday. So what exactly is #FollowFriday?

#FollowFriday is a way for Twitter Users to refer people they find of value. Generally, it is a recommendation to your subscribers of other users they may want to subscribe to as well. The traditional syntax usually appears like this:

#FollowFriday @Buckman @gfriese @piosmtraining and @emssafe – Great EMS Twitter Users

Ultimately, #FollowFriday can help you to navigate through the thousands of Twitter Feeds that you may not otherwise come across. Ideally, a solid recommendation from a compelling content creator has the power to net you more subscribers who will appreciate your offerings.

Some people refer to #FollowFriday as a game, others call it a great tool, and still others consider it an annoyance. I believe the truth lies somewhere inbetween. #FollowFriday is a powerful recommendation tool, but some users are offering these recommendations either as reciprocation for a recommendation, or in search for one.

Just as with everything else, make sure your #FollowFriday recommendations are not just of people who offer value, but are valuable in their own right.

For a historical look at #FollowFriday, check out this article from Mashable

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I first heard about this yesterday while listening to TWiT 207 and Greg Friese was also nice enough to point it out. A Texas based company called TechRadium™ is suing Twitter over the “process for simultaneously notifying large numbers of people about emergencies through multiple communication gateways, such as cell phones, pagers and e-mail.[1]” TechRadium™ is the creator of a proprietary system called IRIS© that they sell to organizations, public safety agencies, and of course governments.

The Issue According To TechRadium™, Is Us

The supposed issue at hand are TechRadium™’s patent numbers 7,130,389 filed in April 2005, 7,496,183 filed in December of 2007, and 7,519,165 filed April 2009 [2]. These patents outline a process to send a message to group participants via text and voicemail across numerous different devices.

While I am no patent law attorney I can tell you that the idea of one to many communication via text and voice is neither a new idea nor a new technology. E-mail allows you to send one text message to many recipients, cell companies themselves have enabled SMS messaging on their devices to allow e-mail’s to be received on phones (not including BlackBerry’s obvious e-mail feature), paging systems are still used across the country to send out call information, mobile data terminals over both radio frequencies and cellular frequencies do the same, as do two way radios that are now not only analog but digital as well. This is certainly not a new concept and not a technology that TechRadium™ can claim. In fact, their lawsuit doesn’t even really address the actual normal everyday use of Twitter at all as the issue.

The issue, according to TechRadium™, is us.

TechRadium™ has a problem with public safety agencies such as LA Fire (California), The American Red Cross (National Non-profit), Unruh Fire Department (Kansas), The Food and Drug Administration (Federal), South Orange Rescue (New Jersey), and The Center for Disease and Control (Federal). In their opinion these agencies using Twitter to better serve the people in their communities instead of the IRIS© product that they charge for is therefore costing them money and an infringement on their product.

Let me be very clear when I tell you that the TechRadium™ lawsuit, in my opinion, is both treacherous as well as frivolous.

I find it treacherous against the American Public for this company to try and handicap Public Safety Agencies who are already facing budget cuts that are forcing rolling service brown outs or just flat out closures cutting service to their communities. Why can’t Public Safety Agencies be afforded the same opportunities as individuals, small companies, and large corporations? Well it’s because obviously your tax dollars aren’t lining TechRadium™’s pocket.

Of course something they have obviously overlooked is that RSS Feeds have been syndicating messages across platforms since 1999, which is 6 years before their patent was filed. I don’t see them trying to sue AT&T for SMS Messaging, Microsoft for e-mail, or Motorola for pagers even though there are Public Safety Agencies certainly using those services. I also don’t see them suing the FCC for empowering television and radio stations to provide the public access to Emergency Broadcast System… so why is Twitter any different? Oh right, because it’s free, easy to use, popular, and in their minds probably not as powerful (and therefore an easier target for a litigious shakedown) as Facebook.

One of the supposed key components of IRIS© is the ability to take one message and translate it across multiple mediums. Therefore a text message would be translated into voice and a voice message into text. Does Twitter do that? No… but Kindle can! So the possibly only innovative idea that TechRadium™ came up with isn’t even being accomplished by the defendant, which is why I think it’s a frivolous lawsuit by a company who has a history of doing this.

The bottom line is treacherous corporate mongers suck.

Source 1: Law.com: Twitter Sued Over Emergency Tweets

Source 2: TechCrunch: Here Come The Twitter Patent Lawsuits

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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

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Awhile ago there was a Lincoln Park, Michigan 911 Operator who refused to send an ambulance because the caller was cursing during the call. So when I caught sight of this tweet today it got my mind to thinking about what the conversation between Meghan McCain (who lives in New York City) and the 911 Operator who answered the phone when she called might have been like:

911 Operator: 9-1-1, what borough is your emergency?

Meghan McCain: Um, it’s not actually in a borough

911 Operator: What city is it in?

Meghan McCain: Umm, not too sure, maybe Seattle

911 Operator: Maybe Seattle? Do you have any definite information?

Meghan McCain: Well I know it’s someone who may have wanted to kill themselves 8 hours ago

911 Operator: 8 hours ago? Are you sure about this?

Meghan McCain: Of course I am! It’s on the Internet! It must be true!

911 Operator: Stay right where you are ma’am, we’re dispatching an ambulance to your location right now for your psychiatric emergency

In all fairness I have no idea how the actual conversation occurred, but that’s my imaginative one. Here are a few more of Meghan’s tweets regarding that incident:

What is she referring to you may be wondering? She’s talking about the middle tweet in this screenshot of three:

Here’s a Twhirl snippet of Rolson141’s Twitter profile from earlier yesterday:

Rolson141 seemed to tweet out his desperation to both Meghan McCain and Martha Stewart after he spent 8 hours celebrating Sarah Palin leaving office. Meghan McCain, by her own admission, found out 8 hours after the fact, but at least she took action. Although she seemed a bit undecided about what to do for a few minutes, I applaud her for actually listening to those who interact with her on Twitter.

Martha Stewart however kept it real by continuing her corporate mongering ways and showing a complete disinterest in those who continue to indulge her and keep her out of the poor house:

Martha Stewart recently made some pretty snide remarks about how Twitter was superior to Facebook. In an interview at The Daily Beast she heralded Twitter as the best thing since sliced white bread when saying:

“First of all, you don’t have to spend any time on it, and, second of all, you reach a lot more people. And I don’t have to ‘befriend’ and do all that other dippy stuff that they do on Facebook.”

I didn’t realize that listening to others, engaging people, and building relationships was a “dippy” thing to do. Does that mean that since Facebook has 250 Million users, there are 250 Million Dipsticks in Martha Stewart’s view of the world? Well there is certainly 1.2 million dipsticks on Twitter… those that are actually following Martha Stewart.

As for Rolson141, well I guess now he knows who his REAL friends are… and Martha Stewart isn’t one of them.

Meghan McCain is a writer for The Daily Beast, but did not do the Martha Stewart interview. Perhaps Meghan should take the time to educate Martha on just what Social Media is really about.

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.

Twitter.

Chances are that if you are reading this then you have undoubtedly heard about Twitter. I’ve already written about how I myself explain what Twitter is to other people. So how could an EMS Agency use Twitter effectively?

Before an agency begins to use Twitter, they need to decide if they need to use Twitter. This is often a mistake companies make when something gets hooked onto the buzz train. They blindly jump onto it before understanding both its true value, potential pitfalls, and investment required. The true value of Twitter is it’s ability to get out a direct message (140 characters or less) quickly to those who are potentially interested in the message while simultaneously being able to hold a conversation. Companies such as ComCast use it for customer service, while Starbucks uses it for primarily for promotion.

The Burning Man Festival has their Emergency Services Department using a Twitter Account. Their tweets include information related to the upcoming festival as well as information about community members in crisis and what can be done to help them.

5 Types Of Tweets For EMS Agencies

• Promotional- Promote the fundraising, blog posts, and social activities of your agency
• Informational- Share information from your agency (i.e. EMS Week, AED Awareness Week)
• News- Link to news articles on the local or national level that may effect your agency
• Conversational- Use a tool such as Tweetdeck to search Twitter for mentions of your agency, and then converse with the Tweeter about their Tweet
• Alert- In the case of a city/county/state wide emergency, tweet alerts for the community as the emergency develops

EMS Agencies who choose to use Twitter should organize exactly how they are going to use it. Will it be just an agency account, or will their different departments or department heads/personnel also maintain agency oriented Twitter accounts? The question of organization is key to answer before doing anything else because whatever gets Tweeted is representative of your agency. Based on their own needs, agencies may decide to have a Chief, a Director, a Supervisor, a Field Training Officer, or their Public Information Officer be the primary Tweeter. Whoever is chosen to perform this task should be knowledgeable of the Agencies Social Media Policy and of how Twitter actually works.

The Northwest Fire Department in Tucson, Arizona maintains a Twitter Account. Their tweets are primarily nationally news based links.

Steps To Effectively Use Twitter As An EMS Agency

• Establish a Twitter Account
• Upload a clear picture of your agency logo as an avatar
• Begin Tweeting Your Messages
• Follow related Twitterers in both your service type as well as geographical location
• Register with the Wefollow Twitter Directory using the tags: EMS, (Your Town/City as one word), (Your State as one word)
• Publicize your Twitter Account in e-mail, your website, and in memos

The Virginia Office of EMS also has a Twitter Account. Their tweets are primarily broadcasts about news, available new training aides, and important information based on current issues.

The greatest strength of Twitter is also its biggest pitfall. It is actively hyper dynamic. Your message does not necessarily have staying power. If you send out a Tweet there is a strong possibility that a high percentage of your followers may not see it due to the variables of the time of day, their ability to monitor Twitter, how many other followers they are following and their Tweet velocity.

It is important to remember that Twitter is a tool for quick, direct, timely messages and has the ability to aggregate a conversation.

It is the modern watercooler.

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Over the last few months more and more people have been asking me, “What is Twitter?”

While I could easily try and point them to some articles that are filled with both philosophical and tech speak that would probably leave them more befuddled than when they began, I chose instead to make it as simple as I could.

Twitter is a tool to answer the question “What are you doing?” with the power to hold a conversation across huge distances almost anywhere. It is the water cooler of the world.

While I think that this video, Twitter In Plain English, goes pretty far in explaining the very basic function of Twitter, I think it doesn’t touch on why Twitter has literally become a break through sensation that seemingly everyone… including your mom… is using.

But why is it so popular?

Twitter is in fact a very easy service to use. Once you sign up, all that is really required for you to do is to post updates in 140 characters or less via the web or using your cell phone and SMS Messaging. Because it is such a minimalistic service, it can also be integrated with other services, such as Facebook, very easily.

What seems to really have propelled Twitter into the social conscious is its broadcast use by such entities as CNN (CNNbrk) and its conversational power by such celebrities as Ashton Kutcher (aplusk). After Ashton became the first person to get over 1,000,000 people following his stream… then Oprah (oprah) got in on the bandwagon.

While Twitter was once the water cooler of the tech elite and their savvy cohorts, it has quickly become the water cooler to the world.

I’m using it. Will you?

For Different Perspectives On Twitter:
• Twitter Blog – The Official Blog About Twitter
• TwiTip – Twitter Tips In 140 Characters Or More

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