This is a presentation I gave to a group of Oregon 9-1-1 managers and IT professionals in Hood River.

1. Shawn Pray © 2010

2. What's a Tweet:
and Why Should I Care?
March 18, 2010
Shawn Pray © 2010

3. Agenda
● What is Social Media?
● Why You Shouldn't Use Social Media
● Why You Should Use Social Media
● Who is Using Social Media in Government?
● Social Media Use at DC911
● How You Can Use Social Media at Your
Agency
Shawn Pray © 2010

4. Social Media
● Blogs: Wordpress, Blogger, TypePad
● Microblogs: Twitter, Pownce, Plurk
● Wikis: Pbwiki, WetPaint, WikiDot
● Social Networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, GovLoop
● Bookmarking: Delicious, Fark
● Aggregators: Digg, StumbleUpon
● Photos: Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket
● Video Messaging: YouTube, Blip.tv
Shawn Pray © 2010

5. Social Media
● In short, it is global lateral interpersonal
communication
● Often times it is viral
● It is always about sharing
– Inward (intra-departmental)
– Outward (inter-departmental, inter-agency)
– Inbound (real-time information gathering)
– Outbound (pushing information out)
Shawn Pray © 2010

6. Reasons Why You Shouldn't Use
Social Media
● Potential security threat
● Classic bureaucracy
● Trustworthiness of information
● Lack of manpower/resources
● FOIA concerns
● TOS & EULA
Shawn Pray © 2010

7. Potential Security Threat
● Issue:
– SM usage threatens our IT and agency
security
● Solution:
– Create a SM policy
– Train those that will use SM
– Control how SM is accessed/updated
Shawn Pray © 2010

8. Shawn Pray © 2010

9. Classic Bureaucracy
● Issue:
– We get in the way of our own progress
● Solution:
– Shift the “we can't because...” thinking to
“how do we...”
– Create a SM strategy and policy
– Do your research and address the naysayers
with facts and reason
Shawn Pray © 2010

10. Trustworthiness of Information
Shawn Pray © 2010

11. Trustworthiness of Information
● Issue:
– We can't trust the information we get via SM
● Solution:
– We already deal with this over the phone
– SM falls in the same category as informants,
tip lines, and anonymous surveys
– Most people will do and say the right thing
– When in doubt, verify as best you can
Shawn Pray © 2010

12. Lack of Manpower/Resources
● The Issue:
– We can't dedicate someone to SM
● Solution:
– It doesn't take as much time as you might
think
– According to the UK Strategy departments
took limited time to utilize SM
● 20 minutes/day for 10 Downing St
● <45 minutes/day for FCO
● 5 minutes-2 hours/day UKTI
Shawn Pray © 2010

13. FOIA Concerns
● The Issue:
– How do you archive SM content?
● Solution:
– Assume SM content is subject to FOIA
– Use “Save as Web Page, Complete” when
appropriate
– Use available services such as Tweetake or
Backupify
– Do it yourself
Shawn Pray © 2010

14. TOS & EULA
● The Issue:
– How owns the content?
● Solution:
– Read & understand the TOS/EULA
– Consult legal
– Inquire about modified TOS/EULA
– Post content accordingly
Shawn Pray © 2010

15. Twitter TOS
Shawn Pray © 2010

16. Shawn Pray © 2010

17. Reasons Why You Should Use
Social Media
● It's where the public is at
● Emergency management communication
● Real-time information sources
● Transparency
● Alternative media coverage
● Crowdsourcing solutions
● Your people are already using it
Shawn Pray © 2010

18. It's Where the Public is At
● Twitter
– Reaches 27.3M U.S. people per month
– 58% reaches 13-34yo
– 24% reaches 35-49yo
– 57% reaches HH income $60K-$100K+
– 48% reaches users with no college
Shawn Pray © 2010

19. It's Where the Public is At
● Facebook
– Reaches 124M U.S. people per month
– 64% reaches 13-34yo
– 20% reaches 35-49yo
– 62% reaches HH income $60K-$100K+
– 47% reaches users with no college
Shawn Pray © 2010

20. It's Where the Public is At
● LinkedIn
– Reaches 17.9M U.S. people per month
– 27% reaches 18-34yo
– 69% reaches 35-50+yo
– 69% reaches HH income $60K-$100K+
– 47% reaches users with college
– 27% reaches those with grad. school
Shawn Pray © 2010

21. It's Where the Public is At
● MySpace
– Reaches 54.8M U.S. people per month
– 64% reaches 13-34yo
– 21% reaches 35-49yo
– 63% reaches HH income $0-$60K
– 58% reaches users with no college
Shawn Pray © 2010

22. Emergency Management
Communication
● LAFD uses SM tools like Twitter to give the
citizens additional avenues of communications
– “We think these tools represent a great
opportunity for better situational awareness
and a more timely response to the specific
need of those we proudly serve” - LAFD
● While ICS provides command and control over
resources, SM provides command and control
over information
– In the CA wildfires of 2007, LAFD used Twitter to
communicate citizens behind the fire line
Shawn Pray © 2010

23. Real-Time Information Sources
● Mumbai Terrorist Attacks of 2008
– Incident information and photos flowed
through Twitter and Flickr like wildfire
● Virginia Tech 2007
– The names of all the deceased were posted
to Facebook before being officially released
● Sometimes the public has more access to
information than we do
– Satellite imaging, traffic reports, videos and
photos
Shawn Pray © 2010

24. Transparency
Shawn Pray © 2010

25. Transparency
● People want to know
● People want to participate
● Open Government Directive (12/8/09)
– Publish government information online
– Improve the quality of government
information
– Create and institutionalize a culture of open
government
– Create an enabling policy framework for open
government
Shawn Pray © 2010

26. Alternative Media Coverage
● SM allows your agency to get out ahead of
the media on certain issues and publish
factual information
● SM allows you to create your own media
virally
● Public trust of traditional media sources is
rapidly diminishing
– 37% trust the Internet as their primary
information source - Forbes
Shawn Pray © 2010

27. Crowdsourcing Solutions
● Use the wisdom of the masses to find
solutions for your problems and get valuable
feedback
● This can be used in all directions
● Hillsborough County, FL using crowdsourcing
via SM to get input and ideas on budget cuts
– This was driven by the BOCC and their desire
to see what the public was willing to give up
Shawn Pray © 2010

28. Your People Are Already Using It
● You already have information leakage from
your agency
● You're better off to get ahead of the ball and
guide your employees on their use of SM as
it relates to the job and how SM can be used
by your agency
● You probably have an SM evangelist in your
organization somewhere
Shawn Pray © 2010

29. Who is Using SM in Government?
Shawn Pray © 2010

30. SM Use at DC911
● It all started with me experimenting with a
personal Twitter account and then creating
an agency Twitter account
● Went to management and then IT with
research and facts in hand
● Created SM strategy and game plan
● Created SM policy
● Created employee “How-to” instructions
● Created public “How-to” instructions
Shawn Pray © 2010

31. SM Use at DC911
Shawn Pray © 2010

32. SM Use at DC911
● Started tweeting on DC911 account
– Bio indicates that DMs will not be monitored
24/7
– MVAs, SAR missions, fire info, road closures,
and hazards
– Engaged the public with @ replies
● Improved Twitter implementation
– Backupify for archiving
– CoTweet to improve agency management of
account
Shawn Pray © 2010

33. SM Use at DC911
● Started working on Facebook page
– Want to push positive agency content and
activities to public
– Will be putting electronic versions of our 9-1-1
handouts up on Facebook
● Started tweeting about a recent recruitment
● Created a company profile on LinkedIn
– Will eventually tie this in with recruiting
– Would like to re-create Oregon APCO/NENA
connections on LinkedIn
Shawn Pray © 2010

34. SM Use at DC911
● Future SM plans
– Look at mirroring Facebook content on
MySpace
– Develop an agency blog; public and/or
internal
– Push some content to YouTube
Shawn Pray © 2010

35. How You Can Use SM at Your
Agency
Shawn Pray © 2010

36. How You Can Use SM at Your
Agency
● Do your research → gather data
● Engage and recruit SM evangelists in your
agency
● Create a rough SM strategy and game plan
– Why do you want to use SM
– How do you plan to use it?
● Go to IT/management and present your case
● Update your SM strategy and game plan with
IT's input
Shawn Pray © 2010

37. How You Can Use SM at Your
Agency
● Create a SM policy
– Address who will update content
– Who will you follow or friend?
– What type of access will employees have
● Train your employees on SM your SM policy
and game plan, including common security
pitfalls
Shawn Pray © 2010

38. How You Can Use SM at Your
Agency
● Twitter www.twitter.com
– For real-time dynamic information use
– Emergency information & updates
– Recruiting notices
– Positive media
– Retweet applicable information
– Follow 9-1-1, police, fire, EMS agencies only
– Use hashtags to increase your message base
● #inBend, #inPDX, #oregon, #911
Shawn Pray © 2010

39. How You Can Use SM at Your
Agency
● Twitter Analytics and Apps
– TwitterMail www.twitttermail.com
– CoTweet www.cotweet.com
– TweetDeck www.tweetdeck.com
● Also available as an iPhone app and soon a
BB app
● Track several different SM accounts
– Twitter Analyzer www.twitteranalyzer.com
– TweetStats www.tweetstats.com
– Twitterfall www.twitterfall.com
Shawn Pray © 2010

40. How You Can Use SM at Your
Agency
● Facebook www.facebook.com
– Use for static information
● Basic agency information
● 9-1-1 FAQs
– Perfect place for soft media releases
– Track your projects progress
– Public education via Q&A
– You can link your FB account to your Twitter
account
Shawn Pray © 2010

41. How You Can Use SM at Your
Agency
● MySpace www.myspace.com
– Use similar to Facebook
– My Recommendation: mirror FB data
● YouTube www.youtube.com
– Perfect for PSAs
– Built-in analytics
● bit.ly bit.ly
– URL shortener
– Track how many people click on your links
Shawn Pray © 2010

42. How You Can Use SM at Your
Agency
● LinkedIn www.linkedin.com
– Professional networking
– Create a company profile
– Use as a supplement for recruiting
● GovLoop www.govloop.com
– Professional networking, more inward
– Only for government employees
– Good source to exchange and discuss best
practices in government agencies
Shawn Pray © 2010

43. How You Can Use SM at Your
Agency
● WordPress www.wordpress.com
– Robust blog platform
– Create an agency blog
– Another place for soft media releases
● Allows for more public interaction
– Built-in analytics
● UberTwitter www.ubertwitter.com
– Blackberry app
– Access multiple Twitter accounts
Shawn Pray © 2010

44. EOF
● Thank you for having me speak on social media
● Please feel free to contact me about SM
implementation at your agency and/or best
practices for personal/professional SM use
● Shawn Pray
– Email: shawnp@deschutes.org
– Email: shawnpray@gmail.com
– Twitter: @Deschutes911 and @shawnpray
– LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/shawnpray
– Blog: shawnpray.wordpress.com
– Sources: www.delicious.com/shawnpray/socialmedia
Shawn Pray © 2010