Social Media by Business and Governments-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the use of Social Media by Business and Governments. Answer: Introduction Social media is an integral medium of communication in events of emergencies such as flooding, bush fires and fire emergencies. Due to the low usage of bandwidth of social medias, the information can be transferred quickly from one place to another without any delay which is essential in the event of an emergency. People tend to look towards social media channels endorsed by government during the state of an emergency. Social media is used extensively by governmental bodies as it helps in the sharing and coordinating information among emergency staffs who are located in multiple regions. It also helps in focusing and coordinating volunteers. It plays an important role in connecting communities with ample amounts of support services. It also helps in understanding the situational information from the communities who use social medias to prepare a proper response and management team. Time to tim e update is also achieved via social medias which is important for preparing the proper rel ief operations in the event of crisis. In the proposed report, the effective use of social media during an emergencies have been analyzed. The risks and benefits associated with social media during the emergency has been highlighted and evaluated. The proper way of handling a potential threat of fire to a regional community has been discussed. For assessing the context, the case of Hazelwood Mine fire has been taken as an example and the use of social media in the proposed scenario has been evaluated. Discussion Brief Introduction of The Case Study Figure 1: Hazelwood Coal mine fire (Source: Cliff 2015) On February 9th 2014, a fire broke out in a coal mine of Hazelwood Power station. The fire was described as one of the most complex and longest running fire in the history of the state by the Country Fire Authority. The ash and smoke from the fire affected the residents that were living in the nearby towns. The people of South Morwell were relocated by the Victorian Chief Health Officer as the region was covered with dangerous particles of PM 2.5. The fire highlighted the need for proper inquiry and effective preparation of the part of the government to tackle such problems. The fire was brought into control on March 10, 2014 (Cliff 2015). Figure 2: Hazelwood coal mine fire (Source: Macnamara 2015) The Fire inquiry report of Hazelwood coal mine fire stated that the communities who were living around the power station faced adverse health conditions. The financial impact was faced by both the government and the businesses due to medical costs, relocation of homes, destruction in property and downturn in the businesses (Siskey et al. 2016). Handling a Potential Threat of Fire for a Regional Community using social media For effectively handling a potential threat of fire for the local communities, some steps have been devised for the local government to assess and implement during a crisis. The steps have been devised keeping the main focus on the effective use of social media during a fire emergency. State emergency and local officials should share their official websites and social medias to the regional community members so that they can stay up to date about the transit changes, evacuation routes, status about the fire, emergency numbers and other relevant informations (Criado, Sandoval-Almazan and Gil-Garcia 2013). The state officials should manage their Twitter account judiciously to respond directly to the community and correct any misinformation. During the emergency, hundreds of people will upload their eye witness accounts and damage photos which can be effectively used by the state department to formulate an escape strategy and response efforts. News Medias can encourage the local public to use particular hashtags so that everyone can check the relevant messages (Simon, Goldberg and Adini 2015). In this way, effective and coordinated distribution of information around the region can help in effective handling of the emergency situation. A crisis mapping technology can be implemented just like in Haiti when an earthquake occurred in Port au prince. The open source mapping technology can help in mapping geo tagged messages of Twitter and other online links. The blue badges provided in the next figure shows the content items which can be accessed by the concerned authorities to access the associated contents. This tool is very useful in gaining valuable information during a crisis and initiate appropriate recovery strategies (Oliveira and Welch 2013). The crisis map can be used to aggregate the social media information like geo tagged messages and emails. Figure 3: An example of a crisis map of Australian fires (Source: Google Crisis Map 2018) The government can also take advantage of SMS and smartphone technology to initiate a charity campaign. The relief that can be gained from the campaign can be used to address the affected people who lost their homes and those who are in need of a basic funding due to the fire emergency. The government can use Google Person Finder to share and collect information about people who went missing during the crisis. The website is capable of tracking hundreds of accounts days after the crisis. Critical information can be distributed through the official twitter account of the government. Voluntary efforts can be made through dedicated facebook pages who organize their efforts to help those who are in dire need of aid (Mergel 2013). An emergency alert network can be created by the authorities which can be used to generate emergency updates and notification in the event of a crisis. The government can also review its emergency broadcasting systems to increase the internet broadcasting capabilities so that more people can access the Social Medias to convey emergency messages. Public should be informed and educated about how a social media can be utilized as a part of the public information systems and the emergency warning system (Wendling, Radisch and Jacobzone 2013). Furth er research needs to be conducted so that the effective use of social media can be incorporated with information exchange during a crisis. The ideal way of implementing social media to handle a potential fire threat is written in the following methods and descriptions. The first method is developing a strategic plan. The target audience, staffing requirements, objectives and tactics need to be identified. The governance structure needs to be created for approval (Imran et al. 2013). The ideal social media channel needs to be identified. Second, the policies need to be established. Documents need to be developed which will be used as a guide by emergency managers for proper use of social media. Policies which provide effective leadership support need to be implemented. Third, a social media presence need to be established. The concerned authorities need to create accounts in popular social media for maintain an active presence online. They need to engage with the communities properly in advance. Fourth, the expectations need to be managed. The prospective people need to be engaged early in the process so that they can have realistic expectation during the time of a fire emergency (Kryvasheyeu et al. 2016). The frequency of communication between the people and officials need to be properly stated. Fifth, the operation concept need to be established. The management process of the social media need to be determined during a fire emergency. More staffs need to be trained so that they can be allocated to monitor the social media during a fire emergency. The emergency management plans needs to incorporate strategies related to social media. Sixth, frequent updates need to be distributed. The public needs to be pre engaged son that the visibility is increased during emergency as well as no emergency scenarios (Potts 2013). Seventh, coordination with other organizations need to be conducted. An online central source can be set up for distributing information from numerous sources about fire emergency related topics (De Albuquerque et al. 2015). The social media channels also need to be coordinated regionally. Eight, social media content needs to be monitored. The community members need to be engaged in communications where all their queries can be properly answered. Ninth, public information need to be evaluated. The method of receiving official messages through social media channels need to be monitored (Graham and Avery 2013). Incorrect rumors need to be quickly decimated. Social media management tools need to be utilized for analyzing documents. Tenth, utilization of visual maps. Location services, for example crisis maps need to be used to provide more visual content in the case of a fire emergency. Evacuation and shelter zones need to be properly mentioned in the map (Hiltz and Plotnick 2013). Regional members should be able to upload damage reports and eyewitness accounts in the case of an emergency. Lastly, extra measures during lack of connectivity. The infrastructure of the network need to be robust and should be able to handle high demands in case of fire emergency. A contingency plan need to be established to mitigate the issues in the vent of loss of connectivity and power. Benefits of using social media during the emergency How social media was used by the CFA The 2014 Hazelwood Coal Mine fire showed a critical flaw in the information flow system between the community and the emergency management system in a dynamic manner. The Country Fire Authority (which is responsible for providing emergency service to regional townships and rural areas) performed extensive work to update their communications strategies during the emergency (Country Fire Authority 2018). Social medias such as Twitter and Facebook was used by The Country Fire Authority of Australia to understand the severity of the coal mine fire and encouraged the local communities to upload their content in the News and Media Website of The Country Fire Authority (Houston et al. 2015). This was extremely useful as the interactive multimedia website allowed people to keep in touch with the latest news, join the discussion board and provide the latest multimedia content. Figure 4: Screenshot of CFA website (Source: Country Fire Authority 2018) The timely update of information from the people living around Victoria, Australia was the key engagement strategy of CFA during the emergency. The website provided a common platform to the people for uploading pictures, videos and discussion comments to understand the severity of the condition. This information was actively used by the authorities to deploy perfect mitigation techniques for the emergency. The prompt action of relocating thousands of people (by reviewing unofficial and official information) was only possible due to the social interaction between the authorities and the local communities (Country Fire Authority 2018). A collaborative approach was deployed by CFA to engage the public in online communications. Twitter was used extensively by the authorities as a prime distribution mechanism in the time of emergencies. The detailed communication approach was used through Facebook social media (Landwehr and Carley 2014). The effective management of the social interaction was only possible due to the effective management of roles by the staff members of CFA who were handling the social media accounts. How social media was used by the government authorities Figure 5: Recovery attempts after the emergency (Source: Macnamara 2015) When the fire broke out, the government authorities started to actively monitor the social medias and made use of collaborative communication to understand the severity of the issue. Hashtags such as #Hazelwoodfire was used extensively by the public, nongovernmental as well as governmental agencies and news media to update information about the incident on social medias. The consistent use of hashtags on Social Medias was used by firefighters to assess the evacuation routes for the common public residing around the area (Lachlan et al. 2016). The use of social medias in these incidents helped the concerned authorities to formulate a response effort and demonstrate the power that these social medias can have for emergency management plans. Other benefits in general The social media gives the person an immediate voice to give their opinion about the emergency. It also assists an individual to track the progress of the recovery efforts in the case of an emergency. The social media can also alert the local communities by acting as an early warning system. It can help individuals to connect with their near and dear ones during the emergency. Businesses can contact their customers and shareholders about the emergency and update them about the efforts that are being carried out. Other businesses usually update their social media presence to tell the public to reope and rebuild their busineses. Trending hashtags can be analysed by relief organizations to boost their relief efforts in a targeted area. Risks of using social media during an emergency Figure 6: Protests after Hazelwood was widely criticized in social media (Source: Cliff 2015) Studies have shown that during an emergency, outdated and inaccurate information can be updated in social media forums which can delay the response efforts of the concerned authorities. The location of the emergency can be reported inaccurately in the forums which is a huge concern that needs to be addressed. Even after the victims are rescued, repeated tweets about rescue operations can jeopardize the entire response efforts (Mergel and Bretschneider 2013). The response time also can be falsely reported in the social media sites. Another risks related to using social media during emergency is that some organizations or individuals can deliberately delay rescue efforts by providing incorrect information (Imran et al. 2015). Trolls are hoaxes during an emergency is very common and there is little time to prove their authenticity. During an emergency, power outages are very common. This can lead to a huge technology limitation to access the social media sites for getting a proper disaster response. The number of personnel and their skills sets need to be assessed to carry out a proper response effort (Alexander 2014). These estimates can be miscalculated due to improper information that are posted in social media sites. Another risk factor during the event of an emergency is the security and privacy of personal information in social media (Wukich 2016). Besides that, there are some people in a society who do not access social media accounts. This is a huge drawback as the rescue effort messages would not reach the intended target audience during an emergency. Lack of proper training of personnel who access the social media management can also delay response efforts. Negative opinions can be targeted at a particular organization which can reduce the effect of the disaster response. Conclusion To conclude the report, it can be stated that proper methods have been discussed by which potential threats of fire can be handled by regional communities through the usage of social medias. The benefits of using social medias have been evaluated through the proposed scenario. The risks of using social medias have also been evaluated. Proper recommendations need to be analyzed so that the advantages outweigh the risks that are involved in using social media during emergencies. Social medias are used increasingly in the emergency management procedures day by day. These tools are used as they effectively disseminate information to a wide audience in a matter of minutes giving the concerned body ample time to create a response plan. These social tools are used by humanitarian bodies as well as government bodies for recovery, response and preparedness efforts by sending alert messages to the public and helping others to monitor their interactions. The report has evaluated the case study to get an insight into the advantages of social media and the key role it played in saving countless lives. Although the social tools need to evolve and has a number of drawbacks, with proper analysis by a social management team, the threats can be ignored for the proper utilization of social media. References Alexander, D.E., 2014. Social media in disaster risk reduction and crisis management.Science and engineering ethics,20(3), pp.717-733. Cliff, D., 2015. The Hazelwood Mine Fire 2014. Country Fire Authority. 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