Andrew Ostrow of Mashable had an interesting post pointing out how the new Twitter Lists have already become excellent resources for the public during emergencies as was demonstrated last week during the Ft. Hood shootings.
The Lists allow Twitter users to organize the feeds they’re following into groups. And, Ostrow notes the work of several news [...]
Twitter Lists: A Terrific New Social Media Information Resource In Emergencies
November 9th, 2009 · 1 Comment
Tags: Preparedness 2.0 · Preparedness Resources
“If You Get Sick, Pledge To Yourself: ‘This Germ Stops With Me.’ Don’t Pass It Forward”
October 11th, 2009 · 1 Comment
Michael Coston at the Avian Flu Diary had another helpful post today in which he highlighted a good citizen H1N1 prevention idea from Seattle’s Carol Dunn (also a terrific preparedness resource).
She suggests that when it comes to the flu every American should make this commitment: “If you get sick, pledge to yourself: ‘This germ stops [...]
Tags: Pandemic Flu · Preparedness Ideas
#FollowFriday @CraigatFEMA — Administrator Fugate Is Back On Twitter With New Name & Under New Management
August 28th, 2009 · No Comments
He’s back! The much anticipated return of @Disastersrus (a.k.a. Florida Emergency Management Director Craig Fugate) to Twitter with a new identity and under a new management occurred yesterday as now Federal Emergency Management Administrator Fugate launched his new feed @CraigatFEMA.
Based on @Disastersrus and his public statements thus far as Administrator, I can almost guarantee that @CraigatFEMA [...]
Tags: Preparedness 2.0
Summing Up The H1N1 Summit From Citizen POV: Start Preparing For Possible Severe Fall Outbreak; Federal, State, Local Officials Now ‘Working The Problems’ On Policies/Logistics For Schools, Workplaces, Vaccine Distribution & Risk Communications
July 12th, 2009 · 10 Comments
I had the opportunity to attend Thursday’s U.S. H1N1 Flu Preparedness Summit held at the campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. The all-day event was organized by the Obama Administration to focus attention on preparation for and response to a possible more serious H1N1 outbreak in the Fall. Five hundred [...]
Tags: Department of Homeland Security · Government Education Programs · Government Web Sites · Pandemic Flu · President Obama · Public Health Preparedness
Good Question: “Twitter Growing Virally But Can It Stop Viruses?”
July 11th, 2009 · 1 Comment
In a post on the Software Advice blog, “Twitter Growing Virally But Can It Stop Viruses?”, Chris Thoman argues that Twitter could play a significant role in epidemiology. He writes:
The combination of Twitter and epidemiology presents an interesting opportunity: What if doctors twittered about symptoms they observed and diagnoses they made? What if that information [...]
Tags: Preparedness 2.0 · Public Health Preparedness
New Study Shows State/Local Health Departments Vary On Web Information Delivered To Public During H1N1 Outbreak
July 8th, 2009 · No Comments
A new report gives state and local health departments mixed grades for distributing information through the internet to the public during the H1N1 outbreak. According to an article in U.S. News & World Report:
After the U.S. government declared a public health emergency in April, 46 of 50 state health departments posted some information about the [...]
Tags: City Preparedness · Preparedness 2.0 · Public Health Preparedness · State Preparedness
The U.S. Homeland Security Department’s New Social Media Menu
June 29th, 2009 · No Comments
I wanted to highlight a new list of social media offerings from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which are on its website here. They include the Department’s here. They include the Department’s two-week-old blog; Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter sites for various DHS agencies; and even the iTunes offerings from the Transportation Security Administration. And, [...]
Tags: Department of Homeland Security · Preparedness 2.0
Postcard From This Weekend’s “CrisisCamp”: No Swimming, Hiking Or S’Mores, But Progress On Improving Emergency Preparedness/Response…And A Lot Of Fun Too
June 15th, 2009 · 13 Comments
Though I am too old for summer camp, I did get to go away this weekend to CrisisCamp in Washington, D.C.. CrisisCamp was a gathering of about a hundred campers from all over the country and the world with an expertise or interest in crisis management/disaster preparation and response, especially in how new technology and communications [...]
Tags: Preparedness 2.0 · Preparedness Events
H1N1 Flu Response Shows Government Needs To Improve Social Media Public Communications For Future Emergencies
May 4th, 2009 · 7 Comments
In his weekly radio/video address, President Obama addressed the government’s response to the H1N1 flu outbreak. One new topic he raised was the role of social media in communicating with the citizenry. As the President said: “The White House has launched pages on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to support the ongoing efforts by the CDC [...]
Tags: Preparedness 2.0
Is Twitter Playing A Positive Or Negative Role During Swine Flu Outbreak? I Say Positive But Am Concerned About Governmental Social Media Capability During A Pandemic
April 29th, 2009 · 3 Comments
In an interesting article on ForeignPolicy.com, “Swine Flu: Twitter’s Power To Misinform”, Evgeny Morozov argues that “despite all the recent Twitter-enthusiasm about this platform’s unique power to alert millions of people in decentralized and previously unavailable ways, there are quite a few reasons to be concerned about Twitter’s role in facilitating an unnecessary global panic about swine [...]
Tags: Pandemic Flu · Preparedness 2.0 · Public Health Preparedness · Red Cross · Risk Communications