We have reached the conclusion of this series. The trend readers will have noticed is that most of the 9 technologies listed so far have a close relationship with the one true social network for SMEM: Twitter.
By now, most of us realize that stories break on Twitter first .... whether a plane crash ... or some other important news event ... nothing beats it for speed.In fact, the world turns to Twitter in large scale disasters.
That's why so many organizations now consider it as the primary tool for ongoing incident communications.
A clear indication of the growing importance of Twitter is the fact that more and more news organizations use to report and get sources for stories. And while it's not the only source of info among social networks, the amplification power and the typical Twitter audience make it a valuable tool. It's a fact that Twitter capitalizes on with an array of tips for news outlets.
For crisis communicators, it's an essential tool. Once they realize that traditional media should no longer be their primary info channel, they latch on to what matters: to be relevant in a crisis, organizations have to move at the speed of their audiences (social networks .... most often Twitter) or run the risk of being irrelevant.
And to have a chance to be heard among many conversations, they must use the tools their audiences use: mobile devices.
For emergency managers, the power of Twitter starts with it as an alerting/notification system .... with your followers amplifying your alerts. Twitter is making that even easier now.
The usefulness of Twitter goes beyond the alerting and communications realms. It brings enhanced situational awareness when organizations conduct effective social listening during emergencies.
It's also good to help find families and tell loved ones you're OK .... you can text in a tweet too:
I could go on but a lot of my writing here has been about Twitter ...so, to me, it's THE most important technology in the social convergence equation. That's why it sits on top in my countdown.
The series:
#1: twitter ... the SMEM social network of choice (January 5)
#2: the social media monitoring platform (January 3)
#3: the IPhone/IPad (and Android too ! ) (January 2)
#4: GPS (December 30)
#5: the crisis mapping platform (Dec. 27)
#6: Skype and Google Hangout (Dec. 17)
#7: Facebook (Dec. 12)
#8: SMS (Dec. 8)
#9: the mobile app (Dec. 5)
#10: Youtube (Dec. 3)
Series introduction (Nov. 29)
Jim Garrow's blog
Kim Stephen's blog
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