I submitted the following article to the National Information Officers Association (NIOA). I am currently serving as Vice President of the NIOA. This article was printed in the March/April 2008 edition of the NIOA News.

“The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.” — William Gibson, science fiction author.

They’re Talking About You: Social Media and Public Safety

Opinions are out there

Your agency is the topic of conversation. Somewhere someone has said something about it. The statement they made may be very positive. Of course, it may have had a negative slant, as well. Most assuredly a monologue has become dialog. It has possibly expanded into a complete discussion with global reach. Now, the perceptions that have formed are not limited to your agency alone, but to your entire industry.

How is this global reach happening? It is spreading through social media. People are engaged in the views, opinions, statements, and perceived credibility of the leaders in their networks and communities.

Social Media Big Dogs

Perhaps you are familiar with the “big dogs” of social media: MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube. These tend to be the most viral and most well known by the general computer user. Even those persons that don’t engage in social media themselves have likely visited a YouTube video or MySpace site that has been recommended to them in an email. Perhaps they’ve stopped at a personal or corporate web log (blog) to read an article about a brief subject of interest. That blog may include an embedded “widget” from a social media site such as YouTube.

But wait, there’s more

You should also know, however, that social media is not limited to these big names. There are hundreds of sites and services that help people engage in conversation. People have SMS (short message service) connections to almost every contact through web sites, their mobile phones, portable data assistants (PDAs) and even their wi-fi enabled gaming devices such as Play Station Portables. Sites such as “Twitter”, “Jaiku”, and “Pownce” provide them with direct connections to people around the world through a process now called “micro-blogging.” The account holder is limited to 140 characters via their favorite connection device. The 140 character limit is based on the typical cell phone SMS limit. Messages are typically limited to this number, otherwise they carry over into a second message. Pownce, though not as widely popular, allows for great character entries and includes the opportunity to attach images and other file attachments.

Pushing the message to the masses

Other subscribers, or “friends,” can respond to the content in the same manner – and through the same variety of devices and formats. They can subscribe to their personal content or their friend list content via RSS (really simple syndication) and have the entire “stream of consciousness” delivered to them for immediate consumption and reaction. Many use this technology to talk about current events or simply to engage in conversation about their own activities.

Once people know, they will talk

How does this affect your agency’s flow of information? The conversations are immediate and the results can be rapidly viral. Some conversations can carry to global proportions in only moments. More people engage in the micro-blogging activities and some carry it to full length blog posts. Some even develop ready-action campaigns that elicit response at a rapid rate. Often, of course, these activities grab the attention of traditional media.

An example of social media micro-blogging that carried news around the world faster than traditional sources could report it was recently cited by Neville Hobson of the “Hobson and Holtz Report.” In a recent podcast version of this report, Hobson recanted his response to the January 17 crash of British Airways Flight 38 at Heathrow Airport. He reacted to the initial report by entering an entry to his Twitter account that stated the plane had crashed and that there were “no injuries.” His own personal convictions for providing correct information dictated that he update that information when he discovered that there were, indeed, 12 injuries on the aircraft. He lamented in his podcast report, however, that this update might not have been read or discovered by his group of subscribers, therefore, not everyone might have received the updated information. Simple events such as this can obviously sway public reporting and the message that is carried forth.

Opinions will be stated — and shared

NIOA President Judy Pal shared an article with me from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution web site (ajc.com). This article showed how social media can carry a message – and obviously create public opinion – that can possibly damage the reputation of an agency. In this example, the AJC headline from January 23, 2008 reads “Pupil who called schools chief about snow gets icy reply.” The article showed how the student from Fairfax County, Virginia shared a voice message reply from the wife of the school official through the YouTube service. Her reply to his phone call was made public in a matter of moments. The potential listening “audience” is obviously global. One can see from the four pages of comment to the AJC article that opinions of every possible variety were formed.

You can control the official message

Can your agency benefit from the use of social media tools? Of course! Can it be damaged by others’ use of the same tools? Of course! The key, I believe, is that public information officers must be aware and keyed into these resources. They must have strategic ideas in place that help them use this knowledge and these resources productively. Can you use a service like this to help ensure that your message is direct and “official?” Yes, I believe you can. When you are the source of the information in this social media environment, you can deliver it directly to those that might otherwise “make it up as they go along.” Will people change the message? Probably. But if you have the option to deliver the message directly into the stream of RSS feeds – instead of waiting for it to filter there through “traditional means” – you should probably take it.

It will become more than we now know

I’ll share one final opinion. Social media is just the tip of the iceberg. Some of these technologies are just now being explored. Those involved in these communities often admit that they know this is just the beginning of drastic changes in how we communicate with each other. When your information technologies personnel block your access to these services, they may be doing your agency a huge disservice. As public information officers, we are responsible for monitoring media to find out how our agency is being reported. We should monitor ALL media. Radio, television, and newspapers are only a small part of today’s media landscape. Don’t limit your knowledge – or your sources.