I just wanted to mention something quickly, which I thought was a nice – albeit small – touch. The Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness has a Twitter feed @GOHSEP which has been very active during the oil spill response. It has been distributing a lot of spill-related information for the public, and has asked its ‘tweeps’ to retweet their announcements. What I found striking is that GOHSEP has been thanking each person who did so by mentioning their Twitter name on its feed.
It’s a small thing. But it’s the type of tiny (and cost-free) reward/positive reinforcement that isn’t always done by government agencies. It is also a good use of social media to accelerate the two-way communication between government and citizen and helps develop a community of civilians who can be a resource going forward. Further, it engenders good will for the agency. So, when @GOHSEP asked its tweeps to consider using its “I support Louisiana’s Coast” Twitter page background on their pages, they’re more likely to do so.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Avery // May 11, 2010 at 2:57 pm
They get RTs because the information is pertinent, timely and helpful. They thank “tweeps” because, well, that’s just Southern Hospitality.
2 GOHSEP // May 11, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Thanks for the praise!
3 Louisiana’s Emergency Agency “Following” Hundreds Of Citizens On Twitter To Gather, Distribute Oil Spill Info; Embrace Of Social Media’s 2-Way Potential Is Model For Govt. // Jun 14, 2010 at 8:39 am
[...] of Twitter’s use by government in emergency management crisis communications. Last month, I wrote about GOHSEP’s extra effort to thank users who were ‘retweeting’ the agency’s announcements on the oil spill [...]
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