(Course updated July 18, 2012)
MCUrgent is a social media emergency notification system developed by Morris County and used in multi-jurisdictional emergencies.
This beginner course explains what it is, how it was developed, and how municipalities can post messages.
H2O.ai CEO/Founder: Sri Ambati Keynote at Wells Fargo Day
2012 Municipal Series: MCUrgent Beginner Course
1. MCUrgent
A Shared Emergency
Information Network
Getting the
word out with
social media
Carol A. Spencer, Web Manager Building a Municipal Social Presence
Morris County NJ July 18, 2012
3. Disasters
• Hurricane Floyd, Sept 1999
6 NJ deaths, $53M damage
• Severe storms, mudslides, August 2000
2,700 homes damaged
• Torrential downpours, July 2004
1,000 homes damaged
• Hurricane Ivan, Sept 2004
• Flooding disaster, April 2005
43% of NJ impacted
• Severe storms, heavy rains, June 2006
• Severe storms, flooding, April 2007
• Nor’easter, March 2010
• Hurricane Irene, August 2011
• Tropical Storm Lee, Sept 2011
4. People need information
• What roads are closed?
• Where can I find shelter?
• How long might the power be out?
• How high is the river?
• How will I get information without power?
• Where can I get information?
5. Finding information was difficult
• Nothing on town websites
– Maintenance typically contractor or volunteer and
not typically 24/7
• Nothing on County or OEM website
– Information typically coming from towns
– Towns can’t update County website
– County doesn’t have 24/7 web staff
• Limited information in the press
• While government was handling the emergency,
the public didn’t know the government was
doing anything.
6. When disseminating information…
Situation updates need to:
– be timely
– originate from the source
– be accessible even without power
– be available 24/7
– be device independent
– cross municipal boundaries
– be freely available
(no subscription or membership required)
– be accessed anywhere
7. Crafting a solution
We needed to find a way to:
– grab information at the source
– aggregate it
– make it available so the public could:
• view it
• use it
• parse it
• share it
8. Using Twitter to Share Information
Messages can be posted
from a desktop, laptop,
phone
Message can be retrieved
from a desktop, laptop,
phone
Subscription-free access
Fast Follow text messages
AccessibleTwitter.com
Twitter users can:
Retweet (share)
Search by #hashtag
Share with RSS
True social media use allows citizen contribution & sharing:
Twitterers can add #hashtags to their own postings
Twitterers can message MCUrgent
9. What Twitter IS:
•A news service, a microblog
•Information-only notification methodology
•Technology dependent notification
Server overload; “Fail whale” issues
•140 characters only
Very brief announcements or links to more information
•Available on multiple media
Computer, laptop, wireless, smartphone, sms, rss reader,
ipad, and more
•Available without registration
10. What Twitter is NOT:
•A formal, guaranteed notification system
– No guarantee that notices will be posted
– No guarantee on uptime
– No guarantee that applications that pull Twitter feed
will function
•The sole notification system
– TV, radio, Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, SMS/text,
reverse 9-1-1, email must all be used
•Substitute for an official emergency
notification service
11. Our vision of MCUrgent
#MCParsip RT 46 WB between New Rd and Rt 202/Parsippany Rd
flooded. All lanes closed. 6:37 AM Mar 15 via Twitter
th
Parsippany
Morris Twp
Towns create a tweet
Denville
#hashtag post
Riverdale
Dover
12. Our vision of MCUrgent
Twitter
(MCUrgent)
Parsippany Facebook
(MCUrgent)
Morris Twp
Towns create a tweet
Denville
#hashtag post
Riverdale
Dover
14. Social Media Spreads the Message Quickly
Twitter
1,131
(MCUrgent)
Facebook
1,266 6,387 people could get
(MCUrgent)
the message with just
Twitter 1 click of the mouse.
2,605
(MorrisCountyNJ)
Facebook
Twitter “Fast Follow”
993 users are not included
(MorrisCountyNJ)
here so the contacted
Twitter
157 number is even higher.
(Town feed)
Facebook
235
(Town page)
29. Hootsuite Setup: RSS example
The RSS feed from CarolSpencerNJ on Twitter is “fed” to the MorrisTest
account. Each time CarolSpencerNJ posts to Twitter, it also goes out on
MorrisTest. Uses? Nat’l Weather Service, TransOptions, etc.
49. Hootsuite Dashboard: Let’s try it…
1. Post to test accounts (MorrisTest, MyJurisdiction)
Click in the ‘Compose message…’ box
Enter a test message. Use abbreviations, hash tags.
Check off MorrisTest first. Note the number of characters remaining.
Check off MyJurisdiction. Note the number of characters remaining.
Click the calendar icon. Schedule for 5 minutes from now.
Note that the ‘Send Now’ button became ‘Schedule’.
Click ‘View date in Publisher’ to see what happens.
Click on the floppy drive icon to see that that does.
Save your tweet as a draft.
50. Hootsuite Dashboard: Let’s try it…
2. Post to test accounts (MorrisTest, MyJurisdiction)
To see your draft posts, click the down arrow next to the floppy drive
icon
If you see the post you want to send, click on it.
Check the social networks to which you want this to go.
If you were to check off one of the MCUrgent social networks,
you would get a confirming slider to prevent accidental posting
to this account.
Click the calendar icon. Schedule for 5 minutes from now.
Note that the ‘Send Now’ button became ‘Schedule’.
Click Schedule.
If you still have the ‘Publisher’ calendar open, see your tweet.
51. Before Posting
Double check before you post
Information is accurate
Information is authorized for public release
Post is 140 characters or less
Spelling is accurate
Link is accurate
Copy it into a new browser window to be sure it goes where you want
Date and time are correct if scheduling into the future
Selected social networks are the correct ones
Once it’s out there, you can delete it but anyone who has read it,
has read it.
To delete in Hootsuite, hover over the tweet in the ‘sent tweets’
stream and click the x.
52. A few more things…
Searching, deleting, filtering
To search Twitter, enter the search criteria in the search box and
click the magnifying glass.
To create a stream of a particular search term, click “+Add Stream”.
Choose a search term or use logic as per examples
To create a stream of keywords, enter the terms. Tweets using any
of the keywords will be returned.
To use hashtags so your comments will be included in a stream using
that term, precede your term with a #. Example: #MCLibrary;
#Jan25; #gov20; #superbowl, #SOTU
To be sure your tweet ends up in someone’s mentions stream,
use @ before their Twitter handle.
To delete in Hootsuite, hover over the tweet in the ‘sent tweets’
stream and click the x.
61. Summary of MCUrgent
• What: Emergency notifications from
participating towns: MCUrgent
• Web: MorrisCountyNJ.gov Twitter widget
Town info on town website if they want
• Social: Twitter.com/MCUrgent
MCUrgent.org / .net / .com / .info
Facebook.com
(Morris County Office of Emergency Management)
• SMS: text follow MCUrgent to 40404
62. Contact Information
Carol A. Spencer
Web Manager, Morris County
Website : MorrisCountyNJ.gov
Email : CSpencer@co.morris.nj.us or
CarolSpencerNJ@gmail.com
Facebook : Facebook.com/MorrisCountyNJ
Facebook : Facebook.com/MCUrgent
Twitter : Twitter.com/MorrisCountyNJ
Twitter : Twitter.com/MCUrgent (or MCUrgent.com)
63. MCUrgent
A Shared Emergency
Information Network
Getting the
word out with
social media
Carol A. Spencer, Web Manager Building a Municipal Social Presence
Morris County NJ July 18, 2012
Editor's Notes
Add Twitter comment from ThePyroLives about commute home.