Tom Christensen Communications Specialist

San Diego County Office of Communications

FOLLOWERS!Social media becomes an even more powerful tool in emergency situations but it order to be effective you must have laid the groundwork and gained a following first.

There is a whole generation of younger adults that gets the majority of its news from the internet and social media.

The most southwestern County in the 48 contiguous United States, San Diego County is home to 3.2 million people. The County is larger in area than the combined states of Rhode Island and Delaware with 70 miles of coastline.

CHALLENGES

Varied geography – urban, suburban, rural, backcountry

Military – home to 16 naval and military facilities

International border (3 border crossings)

18 Indian reservations – more than any other county in US

Ethnically diverse

- 48% White

- 33% Latino

- 12% Asian

Department 9/15/13

San Diego County 15,342

Ready San Diego 8,681

San Diego Sheriff’s Dept. 6,546

Public Works 1,389

Health & Human Services 1,254

33,212

County Total – 11 accounts 41,925

Department 9/15/13San Diego Sheriff’s Dept. 6,195

San Diego County 4,169

Animal Services 3,474

Ready San Diego 2,300

Public Works 1,477

Health and Human Services 869

Environmental Health 517

19,001

County Total – 12 accounts 26,850

Traditional Media

ALERTSanDiego – home and cell phones

Reverse 9-1-1

Wireless Emergency Alerts – targeted cells

SDCountyEmergency.com

ReadySanDiego.com

SD County Emergency App

CountyNewsCenter.com

3:30 p.m. – right before the start of rush hourAll traffic signals down, or flashing red

9-1-1 calls surged to 3 times higher, exceeding surge capacity

Airport backup power - no outbound flights, limited inbound

No access to fuel with no power

2 hospitals backup generators failed

All schools closed the following day

Because it was a power outage most of the major news outlets were unable to operate traditionally:

TV stations were broadcasting, but no one could watch.

Most people don’t have transistor radios.

Social media allowed us to interact directly with the public.

Without power, Twitter became the main source of information and was more immediate than Facebook or the County website.

We received many tweets from the public asking for specific information related to the power outage.

Announced we were going to have a press conference with County officials and representatives from the power utility.

People began tweeting us back asking how they could get the information with no television coverage.

The answer? We “live tweeted” the press conference. We sent out all the information from the press conference in 140 character messages as it was happening.

Number of Tweets during the blackout (approx 12 hours):

157 – San Diego County142 - SDG&E

92 – CBS8

56 – North County Times

38 – 10News

30 – San Diego Union Tribune

1,000’s of Re-Tweets

Mentions & Favorites

Both during and after the power outage, we received

dozens of tweets from the public acknowledging us for

providing them with constant information.

If anyone had doubts about the power of social media,

they were erased during the power outage.

Here are a few tweets that followers sent in regards to our

blackout tweets:theCSAedge: My first emergency during which my only source of news was tweets. @SanDiegoCounty & @ReadySanDiego were Amazing! Follow your local EOC!

markfidelman: Overall, I'd give @sdge @SanDiegoCounty and @MayorSanders an 'A' for the response to the #sandiego #blackout <Great work #custserv

carlsbadistan: We were super impressed by how well @SDGE, @Sandiegocounty, and @MayorSanders used Twitter last night. Nice work.

LilBlondMizard: @SanDiegoCounty thank you 4 everything you're doing! I feel better knowing my sister is safe and her power just came back on! Thank you!!!

GoNCTD: Kudos to @SanDiegoCounty @SDGE: communication during #sdoutage has been excellent and allows us to plan our service. Thank you.

SDGE: Be sure to follow @Sandiegocounty for helpful information #sdoutage

We gained over 2300 followers on the day of and day after the

blackout for our main County account and ReadySanDiego account

meaning people were finding out about us as a primary information

source and wanting to get that information.

New Followers 9/7 9/9 GAIN

SanDiegoCounty 4166 5336 +1170

ReadySanDiego 3926 5080 +1154

- Once you have established yourself

as a reliable source of information,

people will continue to turn to you in

a crisis.

- Social media allows you to

get your message out directly to the public and allows

them to help you spread your message.

- In an emergency situation, it makes a great partner with

traditional media to get your message quickly to as many

people as possible.

Social Media Information Sources:www.tweetdeck.com

www.mediabistro.com

www.mashable.com

www.hootsuite.com

www.ragan.com

www.blog.hubspot.com Photo credits:Associated PressDigibuzzme.comUTsandiego.comLAtimes.comBajadock.comMediaBistro.comNBCLosAngeles.comKUSI.comEgovan.blogspot.comMashable.com