Series introduction (October 12, 2011)

Part 1: starting from scratch (October 23, 2011)

Part 2: Setting objectives and measurement (October 23, 2011)

Part 3: Choosing your first social network (November 2, 2011)

Part 4 Interactive use of social media (November 22, 2011)

Part 5: monitoring social media as a routine and going into crisis mode (December 20, 2011)

Part 6: Conversational use of social media (February 11, 2012)

PART 7: Operational use of social media 

My strong assertion has been that the use of social media should not be limited solely to the PIO function. In fact, I'd suggest that the use of social networks and mobile technology has a place throughout the entire IMS structure

For command, it comes down to the simple fact that information is the most valuable commodity for any I/C. With "social convergence", commanders and EOC managers have information that enables them to use resources in a much more strategic fashion when coordinating their response. That information was not available to them just a few years ago.

Here's what an experienced incident commander (Fire Chief Bill Boyd, from Bellingham, Washington State) thinks about it: 

For Plans: again, it's about going well beyond mere assumptions and using the data provided via social networks, crowdsourced and often put on a map by digital volunteers.

For an explanation of crowdsourcing and crisis mapping, see this link to a very exhaustive presentation. For those with a shorter attention span, here's a brief video on a very popular crisis mapping and crowdsourcing tool: Ushahidi (video below).

For logistics: I think we could use QR codes for tracking needs and equipment, orders for supplies, use apps for check ins and the such. This happens organically, we saw it today on Twitter after a tornado hit Henryville in Indiana. As seen on this screenshot from Monitter with #henryvilleneed on the left and #henryvillehelp on the right. We know donation management is a growing issue with social networks. Monitoring that type of activity becomes paramount for communities impacted by a disaster.

Finally, for finance/administration, lots of mobile tools and social network tools offer realtime ability to coordinate purchasing and related activities.

Most NIMS/IMS compliant apps for mobile devices have a useful fin/admin component.

You can add to them, the ability to communicate in a closed loop (on Yammer for example), to further strenghten your procedures.

This is but a brief overview, of how mobile technologies and social networks can combine to enhance your capabiliies to respond more efficiently to incidents ... by tapping into the collective wisdom of the crowd ... by filtering and analysing information to enchance your situational awareness, emergency managers and incident commanders have a greater chance of using stretched resources in a much more effective manner.

The emergency management family has grown, it's no longer the sole purview of governments, first responders and a few others ... Now the public wants to take part ... and with emerging technologies ... they can ... Emergency managers have a choice ... ignore the date that's now available to them ... or make the most of the valuable info being shared by those experiencing a disaster first hand .... See this link here for a fantastic tool on how to separate the good stuff from the fluff ...