Podcamp Toronto : Social Media in a Disaster

Social media is a bit part of the Podcamp Toronto scheduling. I'm going to hit at least one this weekend:

Dave Fleet is one of my favourite social media guys (go through my archives if you want proof). He's working with the public security division of the Ontario Government.

His presentation touches on the use of social media during the recent California fire disaster.

• Website wasn't adapted for the crisis. Information related to the fire was minimal, not particularly relevant. Irrelevant information, such as a photo contest, were not moved off the home page.


• Keyword search : words 'help', 'assist' weren't as predominant as the word 'governor'.


• Used a news organisation's website for mapping purposes


• Didn't take advantage of all available tactics


• 'Went old school'

News organisations:

• Used Twitter feeds


• Flickr pages for geotagged photos


• Video on YouTube


• The PBS website received 31 times its normal tracking - was recognized as an authoritative source of information


• Started a blog


• 1.3 million impressions of their map in the first few days of the fire

Je vous inviterais à consulter sa présentation ici.