I think that the concept of people sharing their experiences in real time through web enabled communications is something we’ll be dealing with for the long term. As Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said, and I quoted him in this blog posting, “we all as an emergency management community have to understand that there will never be again a major event in this country that won’t involve public participation, and the public participation will happen whether it is managed or not.
Definitely click the link above. It is a transcript of the EMForum.org Virtual Forum Group Discussion on Social Media During Crisis Response. Conducted on October 27, the transcript was just released today and gives a great overview of the state of social media in emergency response. There are some great nuggets in there, including how best to utilize volunteers to help with public information on social media channels. Thanks to Patrice Clouthier for passing this along.
Remaking Public Affairs 