Can We Be Faster

Than Disaster?It’s a New Era

Bill Boyd, Corporate Health and Safety Coordinator

Coastal Industrial Services

@chiefb2

Goals

• Review:

• History of the Technology

• Impact of Change

• New Expectations for

Business/Agencies

• Recent Examples

• Action Steps

About Me

@chiefb2

http://chiefb2.com

Quantum Leaps

0 to 4G

The New Reality

129 million

smartphone users

The New Realities

• Facebook has 1.1 BILLION active users

worldwide as of May, 2013

• 250 million pictures uploaded daily to

Facebook

• 100 hours of video are uploaded to

YouTube EVERY MINUTE

• Twitter has 500 million active users

worldwide

Impact• Explosive Growth

• Changing work habits

• Expectation of constant connection

• Ability to instantly record and

disseminate to the world

• People walk into things

When something bad

happens…• People turn to trusted sources to;

• Share what they are experiencing

• Validate their observations/feelings

• Gather information

• Seek help

• And, they DO IT FAST!

Are you faster than

these folks?

San Bruno ExplosionSeptember 9, 2010

Photo: Paul Sakuma AP

Craig Fugate, FEMA

Director @craigatFEMA

"I got better situational

awareness [from Twitter]

before we got official

word," he said. "Four or

five years ago I wouldn't

have gotten that quality

of information."

Photo: Max Whittaker, Getty Images

Osama bin laden

Raid – May 2, 2011

Henryville, Indiana March 2, 2012

Asiana Airliner Crash, July 6, 2013

First Tweet

SFO Got It Right!

On the Other Hand…• Asiana – No social media presence for 6 hours!

LAX RESPONSE

LAX RESPONSE

LAX RESPONSE

LAX RESPONSE

SM Fail

“Ryan found two more 4 bottle packs

of Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch

beer… when we drink we do it right

#gettngslizzerd”

Red Cross Response

So, How Do You “Get Fast”?

You Need To

Understand…• Traditional news reporting has changed

• People now get breaking news from the

crowd

• You won’t be faster than the crowd

• You can use the crowd to get valuable

information

• If you don’t engage, you’ll lose valuable

opportunities

“Old School” Crisis

Comms

• Chain of Command

• Message approval process

• Reliance on media releases/briefings

• Arrogance (“It’s MY incident”)

• Underestimating public interest

Before

Event Occurs Response Information to Media Media to the Crowd

New Crisis Communication

Strategies

What is

happening?

(facts)

What are we doing

about it?

(messages)

What is

happening?

(facts)

“Here’s what’s

happening”Delegate to lowest

who can assure

accuracy

Leader(s)

PIO-

Spokespersons

Here’s what we are

feeling, committing

to, planning, etc.”

Event activityApprovals Today

Today’s Instant News

Dilemmas• Immediate demand for information

• Time inertia in mobilizing the team

• Initial “facts” may be wrong

• Raising alarm vs. minimizing situation

What It Takes

• An Open Mind

• An Investment

• Practice

• People

• Pre-existing

presence

• Fast Action

Today’s Crisis

Comms• Use Social Media platforms to:

• Size Up/Situational Awareness

• Instruct and Inform

• Identify those needing Help

• Correct Rumors

• Reputation/Credibility Preservation

• Assess message effectiveness

Some Practical Tips• Get help!

• Post early and often

• Be smart with hashtags

• Respect “The Big Two”

• Play with 3rd party platforms

• Request your archive

• Don’t speak for someone else

Tools