In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

One of the important goals of the American Red Cross’ Social Media Unit I just visited in Washington is drawing from (and spreading) creative preparedness 2.0 work being done in their chapters around the country.

This week, they invited Robin Parker, one of the founders of the Oregon chapter’s Cross Blog, to headquarters in Washington to help out with their social media efforts in response to the Midwest floods.   

 

 

 

 

Cross Blog’s Robin Parker on her way to Washington, DC from Oregon.

Robin is already helping out in DC this weekend. And she was kind enough to give me and this blog a  nice shout out from Red Cross Headquarters.

Cross Blog, which can be found at redcrosspdx.blogspot.com, was first brought to my attention by Amanda Ripley. It is informative, engaging, full of energy and even fun (which is not all that common in this subject area). For example, it has a feature called “Cross Spotting” to collect the unusual places readers see the Red Cross logo (such as recently on a shirt worn by a contestant of Bravo’s “Top Chef” show).

The blog is updated constantly with new posts, most of which will be of interest to folks beyond the Northwest. They do an excellent job of covering general Red Cross news, such as the relief organization’s ongoing work on the floods. And that coverage will be even more interesting now that Parker is at HQ. I have added it to my Blog Roll and Preparedness Resources page.

Cross Blog shows what can be accomplished by a small group of people committed and passionate about emergency preparedness using new social media communications tools. And kudos to Wendy and Carrie in Washington for seeing how Cross Blog can ‘cross’ pollinate other Red Cross online efforts.

As someone who works regularly with the Red Cross here in New York City as part of my CERT responsibilities, it is terrific to see the organization — both nationally and in local chapters like Oregon – taking a lead in Preparedness 2.0 applications.