It is really a pity, not to say
it makes me feel a bit ashamed, seeing how Twitter failed to provide the
expected coverage to @CalgaryPolice, an account who was wonderfully giving answers,
support and feedback to thousands of citizens during Calgary floods. @CalgaryPolice
managed the situation when Twitter locked their account (due to an overused,
according to Twitter terms) by redirecting the traffic to Digital
Communications Officer, Jeremy Shaw, @CstShaw, who took over tweeting from his
personal Twitter account, on behalf of
the official police Twitter account.
@CalgaryPolice used its account as the citizens expected.
Engaging in conversation, countering criticism, managing volunteers offers and
giving answers to questions as well as pulling information using the hashtag #yycflood. It is not this the essence of
social media? Well done till here. I won’t bIame them. On the contrary. My
congratulations.
I don’t know how many people they needed to engage in
that endless conversation but sure it has been an effort well worth. If I were in
the middle of a flood, fire or hurricane, I would really appreciate that the
authorities answer me in case I use Twitter to ask for help or instructions.
As a citizen I don’t care whether it was Twitter or
Twitter algorithm the one who fail, as Simon Fraser University communication
professor Peter Chow-White says here. The only thing that matters is that the account was shut down in the middle of
an emergency for hours.
If we all agree that Twitter has become a fundamental
channel in crisis communications, as it was during Sandy Hurricane, to
quote but one example, how can it be possible that Twitter made a Twitter jail
in the middle of a crisis of that dimension? I know rules must be obeyed,
that’s what they are for. Otherwise no one would be able to know what to
expect.
Having this scenario two questions come to my mind:
Is it sensible to rely crisis communications on one
single channel? So long as I have seen, Calgary Police did not use its Facebook
page during the floods, a channel with a lot of traffic during Sandy Hurricane.
Neither had I found videos uploaded to YouTube.
The other questions I wonder is: Do we need a different way
to engage with people during an emergency? A reliable and resilient software we
can really trust no matter what?
Just thinking aloud.
