Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Twitter is a force to be reckoned with and it is not going away. We can not ignore all forms of social media and their use in, and impact on, EM. While I agree that Twitter is not as effective in discussions as this forum is (which is the Think Tank, right?), Twitter, Facebook, etc., are already hosting a major global dialogue on all things emergency management. That being said, I am glad to see a threaded comment forum concept in use here.

New is not necessarily better. There are a host of long-standing, complicated problems facing FEMA. In my view there are many other means of dealing with them.

I do not see a need for more issue/problem identification and description; I would like to see some implementation and "solutions" worked on.

I am not talking about communications modes, but those of research and analysis. You do not hear about the National Science Foundation or the National Academy of Sciences doing their work via Twitter, or crowdsourcing methods....

Twitter is part of the future of social media. Just because other agencies are afriad to move forward doesn't mean FEMA shouldn't.

Using new media for communicating is fine, but the thinking -- research, analysis, synthesis -- aspect complicated issues and problems is the essential component. The medium is of secondary importance at best.

There is definetely a place for social media in today's world of EM. I find twitter more usefull in desiminating real time information during events. If used properly you can receive information from Twitter fairly quickly(disaster intelligence), also relay information the same way. For use as a platform for discussion I feel Twitter is not a good choice.

While dealing with social media is necessary it is only one lens on situations. SM missles are no substitute for knowledgeable and experienced observers and assessors. Congressional Research Service has also warned about the SM error rate. SM might tell observers where to look but without confirmation its just a snap shot with all the same shortcomings of a snap shot. The SM communication which generates a good decision are going to be few and far between. Knowledgeable and experienced observers will need to add SM to the list of sources to react to. Wheat and chafe still need to be sorted.

Some of us need to take a look out the window at the rest of the world and their EM operations.

I agree that the ThinkTank is a great resource, however I disagree that social media is not a good source of input. Disasters in 2011 have proven the value of social media is there, including and especially Twitter.

I am referring to knowledge and thinking through problems, which is what think tanks usually do. Social media are communications mediums.

Social media is the citizenry, they need to know and understand. I think we have a elitism situation here, remember information is key.

Social Media in general is not a secure way to disseminate information during a crisis. think of it this way...

Terrorist bombing event...bad guys have hacked the local EOC social media sites, and direct people to gather at a certain location...where a secondary device is triggered creating more carnage...

Same incident... Everyone is texting and tweeting nonsense about the event. we all know how the "TELEPHONE GAME" works... All it takes is one person with many followers, saying something that is not reliable, and it not only distracts from the real information getting out, but can actually make the entire incident more complex.

Best is to have one PIO giving the information through secure and reliable channels.

This was not meant to be a discussion of the pros and cons of social media use. It was intended to focus on the application of social media to thinking, analyzing, and learning from experience.

Something we use (and I am not trying to advertise this, just passing on something that works for us) is a site called "TexCom" (www.texcom.com). It is a free site and a secure way to communicate between agencies. It also allows for text notifications. A "site admin" would be able to approve/disapprove people who wish to be a part of it.

If you already have an air-tight communications system, why brainstorm it here? But if you don't, perhaps Twitter offers something to the puzzle that even existing domain-experts need to hear and consider. And at the very least it's a force to be reckoned with -- ignore it to our peril. Twitter does help add well-intentioned grassroots community friends & communicators to any solution/discussion. Use it for what it's worth to take things up a notch. Try to learn more about it before dismissing it.