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FEMAinfocus: FEMA Twitter Media Availability with Administrator Paulison

After Action and Event Synopsis

Overview

FEMA Administrator David Paulison participated in the first FEMA Twitter Media availability on January 12, 2009. The opportunity tied well with FEMA’s message to develop disaster preparedness communications techniques. The social media tool Twitter www.twitter.com (which FEMA uses under the account femainfocus) is a free web-based interface that allows for cell phone messaging to be distributed to large audiences.  Thus, the tool works well for FEMA to promote individual preparedness and information avenues.

In advance of the event, FEMA created a bookmark page where all related documents would be placed.  They posted the press release as well as a protocols and expectations document pre-event.  These served to show what FEMA would do and how it would do it, as well as what FEMA expected of the audience and answers to frequently asked questions.  This pre-event logistical explanation was well-received and created an environment conducive to an organized and focused event.

The format was logistically challenging, however, the Administrator was able to deliver succinct responses to inquiries. The reception was very positive.  The diversity of the audience was a plus to the conversation.  It offered FEMA the opportunity to show that it is moving in a proactive direction with regards to technology and communications, and that we take citizen disaster preparedness seriously. There was genuine interest and surprise in what we were offering.

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Narrative synopsis of Event

As with each new effort, we approach social media events with part design and part experiment. Online chats are not new, however, the format of the Twitter exchange lends to one's imagination a lot to be interpreted – is this person really who he says he is, is that a real answer or just placating a response, is there more to that issue? As a federal agency, we have certain obligations to the public trust to provide a true representation of its intent.

Therefore FEMA has a duty and a need to provide as much transparency into its actions as possible. This may be an uncomfortable reality, but it is one that is tied to the fact that the agency needs to be responsive to the public we serve. The Twitter availability with Administrator Paulison on January 12, 2009 was a good case study for how we can approach this responsibly, and improve processes in the future. It also demonstrates the difficulty of divining the intent of a person’s inquiry from short questions, as each person is limited to 140 characters per message.

The Twitter event took place over computers, with no direct visual or auditory connection between speaker and audience. This distance of communicators presents complications for the public and media to validate the authenticity of the communications they are witnessing.

For this reason, FEMA provided the full audio and transcript of the event. This move provided the necessary transparency in absence of third party validation in the room. Recordings always pose a risk but in context, the value of this format is added through showing the inner workings of responding in a limited way.

Interestingly, the responses took on a group dynamic with the Administrator discussing answers with staff within the room. This again shows a deliberative process not usually offered to the public, and increases the value of its use as supporting documents to this medium. Next time, however, it may be good to show live streaming (if possible) with no audio to see how the reception would differ. This is still in a developmental stage and balancing the issues of full disclosure and agency responsibility will have to be constantly weighed.

For the first ever event of this kind, we wanted to be as forthcoming as possible with our role so as not to jeopardize future efforts to provide useful communications and interaction with the public.

The physical structure of the event was standard to any media event that public affairs would engage in: there was a principal, advisors and public affairs staff to advise and manage the logistics. In fact, it very easily could have resembled a standard phone interview with multiple reporters; however having a computer thread to moderate pace and flow helped to keep the discussion moving without tripping over inquiries.

A computer was connected to a large TV in the Administrator's conference room. The Administrator watched the interchange and dictated his answers to a staff member who typed them into the system. The Administrator was very interested and engaged in the process of the question and reply function.

The statements were dictated to a typist as a means to facilitate flow of posting. Audio of the event clearly shows the Administrator’s words being dictated and his corrections on the text being typed.  This is an important reason to capturing audio and disclosing source and flow of content. By not offering this, it would be potentially misleading to those who could conceivably imagine the Administrator was alone in his office for the exchange. Also disclosed were the names of those who spoke (via transcript) and anyone else present in the room as witnesses.

In conclusion, the validity of the "media event" aspect for the Twitter availability comes from the disclosure of the source material, and not the tweets themselves.  This layer of content is critical for public record and should be considered whenever attempting a medium that doesn't afford full public view of an event's operations.

The “informational value” aspect of the tweets was apparent in the validity of the statements made, as all were meant in earnest as deliberative responses to serious inquires. Thus providing the value to the overall exchange.

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Lessons Learned

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Last Modified: Thursday, 04-Jun-2009 11:06:47 EDT