I've been working on several webinars, keynote addresses and seminar presentations coming up--not surprisingly all are in one way or another dealing with the issue of social media in crisis and emergency communications.
I have found myself focusing on three key events of the last few years that I have think have dramatically changed our world. Like most events that are seen as catalysts in history, in retrospect it is easy to see the factors that contributed to the changes and they seem inevitable. But still, it was those events that brought some invisible changes to the surface and accelerated the adoption of innovations and the underlying factors.
OK--so what are they? What three would you point at as having a dramatic impact on the world of public information management, crisis communication and emergency response communication? Don't cheat--think about your answer first.
Here are mine: Virginia Tech, Flight 1549 and the California fires beginning in May 2007.
Since I need to keep this post brief, I will just introduce these and ask you to comment as to why you think these events were particularly significant. I can tell you in most of these situations, the real reason for the significance may not be immediately obvious. More to come on this.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hello Gerald ... here's a view from Canada
ReplyDeletethe three events: Mumbai Terror Attacks, Sunshine Propane explosion in Toronto (summer of 2008) and the recent series of tornadoes that swept through Ontario (including the Toronto area) ... why?
Mumbai showed how social media could make world events a nearer thing for everyone ... especially where there's lots of people from SouthAsian background ... The propane explosiion showed how quickly social media could be used by people to share their experience and info ... much faster than authorities did ... the recent tornadoes brought the use of social media by traditional media as a reporting tool to the front
hope this helps