Social Media may have saved lives in Cumbria

Last week on 2nd June 2010 a series of shootings took place in Cumbria. Lucky for many the police used their twitter account to alert people to the danger. Their first message was "Urgent public message - Shots fired in Whitehaven". Traditional methods of communication would have been more time consuming and would have been slower to reach a large audience. The police therefore decided to use twitter, a channel that can be used by anyone at anytime. Their Twitter account is available on http://twitter.com/cumbriapolice.

This crisis demonstrates the importance and benefits of being social media savvy in a crisis. Organisations would be well advised to develop their social media accounts and to incorporate their use in their crisis plans and crisis management planning.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Marco Greenberg - Meeting a force of PR Nature

I have this afternoon come out of a truly inspiring session at the International Association of Business Communicators World Conference in Washington. I had the great privilege to meet Marco Greenberg who spoke about the work he has done on publicising the story of Ian Burkhart. Ian is using ground breaking technology, called NeuroLife, to bypass a spinal injury that left him with quadriplegia and he is regaining the use of his arms - amazing, uplifting and insightful story. Marco gave us a brief and fascinating look into exciting world of bionic technology, exploring the cutting edge ways in which humans are integrating computers into their bodies. Ian Burkhart, his client is one of world's foremost pioneers in this realm. Although paralyzed from the chest down, when he is hooked up to the computer, and the computer is connected to a special sleeve wrapped around his forearm, he can use his hands to pick up and put things down. The technology reanimates his arm and allows him
Read more

Keynote at Public Relations Institute of Ireland's Annual Conference

Image
What a great honour to be asked to give a keynote address at the Public Relations Institute of Ireland's Annual Conference held on Thursday 20th October in the Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin. Fantastic to hear great case studies and examples of best practice from colleagues across the industry. Laoise O'Murchu, Keynote Address: Leading from within: the secret to business communication. If you would like to get a flavour of the event and the atmosphere on the day watch the video below.
Read more

Employee Engagement and Social Media Seminar

What happens when two leading communication experts invite you to an event designed for PR pros, corporate communicators, social media strategists and employee engagement execs? YOU PROFIT! The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Ireland and event partner Diageo have invited two leaders in the communications industry to teach an event in Dublin emphasizing best practices in social media, employee engagement and measurement.  Author of a leading book on employee engagement and measurement Susan Walker is joine d by  the digital communication strategy Manager of the Council of the European Union to present at this seminar. Event Details Date:  Friday 5 th  April, 2013 Time:  6pm-8pm  (Refreshments served 5.15 - 5.45pm) Venue: The Master Brewer Suite, “The Guinness Storehouse”, St. James’s Gate Booking:   http://iabcireland. eventbrite.ie .  If you are a manager working in employee engagement or social media today, you don't want to miss
Read more