Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Although emergency managers have not yet fully implemented social geoloca-
tion systems for operational usage, many emergency response agencies (at all levels
of government) have more thoroughly implemented Web 2.0 mapping for geo-
graphic information analysis and information sharing. This was particularly uti-
lized by media outlets and educators to show the progression of events such as
the BP Oil spill in the summer of 2010.
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Perhaps the most powerful utilization
of socially interactive maps was Google's Crisis Response Center that integrated
publicly generated YouTube videos, visual mapping, oil spill forecasts from the
National Weather Service, spill berm locations provided by the state of Louisiana,
and satellite images of the spill provided by NASA all into the Google Map technol-
ogy that is free to all. The need for crowd-sourced, real-time mapping for emergen-
cies and disasters is so well accepted that Google has established MapMaker to help
facilitate just this concept.
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The power of text messaging for the improvement of donations management
has already been discussed in relation to the American Red Cross's fundraising
efforts for the Haiti Earthquake in 2010. However, text messaging has also become
an extremely impactful tool for mobile and portable communications. According
to the latest Pew Internet research, 72% of American adults and 87% of American
teenagers who use cellular phones text message on a regular basis, which is 9%
more than one year ago.
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This high level of utilization is extraordinarily benefi-
cial to local emergency managers because of the relatively easy, cost-effective, and
robust mechanism to communicate emergency public information notifications to
their citizens.
As was established for Facebook and Twitter, emergency managers would be
doing their local citizens an injustice by ignoring the presence and growth of text
messaging within a community. Many jurisdictions (especially schools and higher
education institutions) have utilized private companies to perform an automated
text messaging service; however, there are a few that have tied Twitter's capabil-
ity for text notification to provide these services at a fraction of the cost and with
similar efficacy.26
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Slaying the Giant
Even with the numerous examples of the impact of social media on emergencies
and disasters, most local emergency management communities have yet to adopt
comprehensive use of either social media or the communication concepts inherent
in its use. The application of social media and Web 2.0 options falls into three cate-
gories: (1) proactive, (2) reactive, and (3) inactive. Proactive utilization includes the
active usage of social media systems such as Facebook and Twitter to disseminate
information and monitor public comments regarding their agency and/or com-
munity event. Progressive is the most complicated use of social media and requires
the most time and resources to master. Reactive utilization of social media only
