Social Media And Public Works: Lessons Learned From Real World Applications

While the phrases “social media”, “emergency management”, and “public works” are not always seen as relating to each other, in reality they should. 

This presentation will provide some fundamentals about social media including information on the different types of social media, aspects that should be taken into consideration when selecting a media, and pointers for starting out. Once the basics of social media are covered, the presentation will shift into the application of social media during an emergency or other planned events. We will talk about external considerations during an event that includes how and where social media is used. In addition to the technical considerations of social media during an event, we will also discuss the role of social media in the context of other public communications to provide directions, requests, or other information to the public. Bringing it all together, we will look at action steps that can be taken to plan and prepare for entry into the social media world with an emphasis on emergency management-related angle.

After attending this session, participants will be better able to:

1) Get out ahead of the story as best as possible – anticipate potential disasters or other situations and develop pre-planned messages that can be rolled out early in an event.

2) Expect that media will make a story if not given one and that misinformation will be rampant – determine how to proactively mitigate this and respond to it during the event.

3) Manage social media well – if you have limited resources, pick one (Facebook, twitter, whatever) and do it well.

4) Build a reputation as being trusted and timely as a source of information before an incident occurs.

Speakers: 
Gerald Reardon, Chief of the Fire Department and Chief Engineer, City of Cambridge Fire Department, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Katina Lear, Digital Media and Communications Manager, Georgia Department of Transportation, Atlanta, Georgia
Amala Sarvapelli, Social Media Specialist, Department of Transportation, State of Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia
Mark Ray, PE, Director of Public Works, City of Crystal, Minnesota
Moderator: Sherri K. McIntyre, PE, Director of Public Works, City of Kansas City, Missouri