Twitter: Five Lessons for Emergency Managers From Iran

A well thought out opinion piece crossed our desks today from Government Technology. The entire piece is worth the few mintues required to read the entire article, which is available on-line here.

The key points of the piece are that people can & will communicate during a disaster, they’ve got the tools to do it now (and it’s impossible for the “authorities” to control them), the tools change the game. They completely change the game. The other point it makes that we love, is that  you can trust people to do the right thing.

I’m not sure about some of the hyperbole of the piece (and other media accounts) of how this is an “electronic revolution”, etc. But it is clear to even a casual observer that social media is a powerful weapon against an attempt to control the flow of information.

Emergency Managers and PIO’s should realize that is represents a double edged sword. Just as the regiem in Iran cannot exercise their ability to control the media (thanks in large part to social media tools) you won’t be able to control the flow of information during an incident at home.

We preach to our clients that;

A.) Yes, a lot of the information that is put out will amount to “high tech rumors”. But the information is largely self-correcting. Events in Iran have demonstrated that too. Initial reports may be inaccurate, but usually valid information is posted within mintues. That’s the beauty of this medium.

B.) You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. If your communications plan dosen’t include social networking like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook. Your plan isn’t valid for June 2009. Period. Deal with that and move on. There is no longer anything to discuss on that front.

C.) It bears repeating–YOU CAN TRUST PEOPLE TO DO THE RIGHT THING. Emergency Managers and PIO’s have to begin to change the culture and the mindset that treats civillans like the enemy. Given the facts, people usually will not panic. They will not loot, they will not riot.

More than anything else in a disaster, people crave information. They want to know about their loved ones. They want to know the risks that they face and what they can do to impact change. Give them the facts, and they’ll almost always do the right thing.

Start believing in the people that you serve. You may be surprised that communications really is the key to making your job easier.

So, my friends in the EM craft—does your communications plan include social media? PIO’s-are you using these tools to reach your audience? If not, maybe the wake up call is for you too.