Between Hype and Frustration: Social Media in Emergencies | Social Media for Good

Evaluate whether using [insert technology here] for a given purpose adds real value. A lot of times well-meaning people want to introduce technology because they think it is better than a system that the population is already using.

If you are not addressing a real gap, you should probably not be introducing a new system – particularly not in an emergency.

Social media is about building and sustaining relationships. It is not a one-time interaction. In other words: you need to stop thinking about how you can get people to “like” a post and instead develop a long-term strategy for how you want to interact with the community. You and your management need to accept that that will take time.

Focus on the quality of the interactions instead of the quantity. Social media works best at the local level. When using social media in emergencies, invest in capacity building for local chapters/branches/organisations rather than monitoring at the national or global level. These local groups will also be able to provide the most value to their audiences.

Provide real value to your target audience. For organizations that want to use social media for emergency management (SMEM), this should be easy. Prior to an emergency invest in content related to disaster preparedness, to show that it’s worth listening to you.

Similarly, prepare content for when an emergency happens. Look at social media as a general way to interact with your organization and not just as a marketing platform.

Encourage programme staff to answer questions, invite comments and write social media content based on questions that your programme staff receives by email or phone. Manage expectations when working with virtual volunteers.

Don’t tell people “you can save lives with a mouse click”. Explain to them how their contributions help the response. Social media platforms can help share information and facilitate coordination. But they cannot replace most real-world processes. Be realistic about what can and what can’t be achieved through better communication.