PowerPoint Presentation

February 21, 2013Strategic Use of Social MediaOn Incidents

This net meeting will begin at 10:00 a.m. mountain time You must dial in to the conference call to receive audio:Phone Number: 888-601-3873Participant Passcode: 215300

If you are experiencing technical difficulties, please click on Q&A on the toolbar at the top of your screen, write a message in the box that says Type a question for the presenter and click Ask, we will try our best to assist you. Or email Jennifer Jones at jejones@fs.fed.us or call her at (208) 631-0406.1Operator will make standby announcement.Strategic Use of Social Media On Incidents

Jennifer JonesPublic Affairs SpecialistU.S. Forest Service, Washington Office, Fire and Aviation ManagementNational Interagency Fire CenterBoise, IdahoGood morning, this is Jennifer Jones, thanks so much for joining us today for this webinar on a topic that weve been talking about a lot for the last couple of years.

When I started my job here at the fire center almost four years ago, the conversation about social media and how to use it on incidents was just getting started. At that time very few of us had much understanding of the tools and how to use them and most agencies didnt have any social media guidelines or policies in place. A lot of the discussion centered about whether we should even use social media during incidents.

Weve come a really long way since then and now its widely accepted that social media is a great way to communicate during incidents and most agencies have adopted formal policies that permit the use of social media during incidents - while others have had to be a little bit creative.

In any case, social media is in widespread use in incident management, so the conversation has shifted from what is it and should we use it to how can we use it strategically to achieve our communications objectives and that is what well be focusing on today.

2Whats the point of this?To supplement information presented in S403

To develop material that may be incorporated into the all risk advanced PIO training course

February 28 Leadership: Its Not In A Taskbook! webinar has been postponed, new date to be determined.

Before we begin the presentation, I want to talk a little bit about why we are putting this webinar on. For those of you who listened to the webinar on Organizing mega fire information shops and strategic thinking, this will be a repeat, sorry about that.As many of you are aware, S403, the advanced information officer training course, has not been updated since it was created in 2001. S403 is one of about 20 wildland fire training courses that is currently being crosswalked with the FEMA all risk training courses. That means that the National Wildfire Coordinating Group will not revise and maintain S403 in the future unless the content is determined to be wildland fire specific and dictates maintaining a module to supplement the FEMA course. Meantime, over the last 12 years, the world of wildland fire management and public information has completely changed. There is a tremendous need for updated training. We also have a lot of public information officers who have been gaining some great real world experience and have a lot of knowledge and information to share. So, we have decided to take advantage of the technology at our fingertips and start sharing what weve learned by putting on some of these webinars. We have held two webinars so far this year on organizing mega fire information shops and strategic thinking, if you missed those, we are trying hard to post them on the NIFC PIO bulletin board, weve been having a little trouble getting them to playback but weve just gotten some info on how to do that so well keep working on it, Ill have the URL for that on the next screen. We had scheduled another webinar on leadership for February 28 but we are postponing that for now. The new dateAnd information about other upcoming webinars will be posted on the NIFC PIO bulletin board and well be sending out email invitations ahead of time as well.We will also be passing along the content of these webinars to the folks who are working on crosswalking S403 with the FEMA all risk advanced public information officer course with the hope that the material can be incorporated in it or in a supplemental module. 3

NIFC PIO Bulletin Board http://www.nifc.gov/PIO_bb/webinar.htmlThe URL for the NIFC PIO Bulletin Board is at the top of your screen, if youre not familiar with this site, I would encourage you to explore it as it has a lot of good resources for PIOs.4Topics for future training/webinarsEvacuations & Road ClosuresThe PAO/PIO relationshipMore about VOSTs & how to get oneVirtual Joint Information Centers/JISA research informed approach to incident communicationsConsistent MessagingAdvanced News Media Effective public meetingsStakeholder/cooperator engagementLegislative issues/politicsCurrent issues in wildfire/incident managementUnified Command Working with multiple teams on a fire/Area Command

jejones@fs.fed.usWe have identified a few other topics that we think should be included in the all risk advanced PIO training course, those are listed on the screen. The plan is to develop and present webinars on these topics like we have been. If you have any ideas for additional topics or if you would be interested in helping to develop and present one of these webinars, please send me an email, my email address is at the bottom of the slide.5HousekeepingDownload documents by clicking on pages icon on right side of live meeting toolbar.

Before I introduce our presenters today, a couple of housekeeping items. First, we have posted a copy of this powerpoint presentation as well as another handout that our presenters are going to reference in the Handouts section of live meeting. You can download one or both of those by clicking on the pages icon on the right side of your live meeting toolbar.

we will answer questions and address comments at the end of the presentation today. You can email questions in at any time during the webinar. All you have to do is click on q&a on the toolbar at the top of your screen, write a message in the box that says Type a question for the presenter, and click ask. You can also ask questions over the phone, our operator will explain how to do that later on. 6HousekeepingDownload documents by clicking on pages icon on right side of live meeting toolbar.

Questions will be taken at the end in writing or over the phone

To submit a question in writing any time during the presentation:

Click on Q&A on the toolbar at the top of your screen, write a message in the box that says Type a question for the presenter and click Ask

Second, we will answer questions and address comments at the end of the presentation today. You can email questions in at any time during the webinar. All you have to do is click on q&a on the toolbar at the top of your screen, write a message in the box that says Type a question for the presenter, and click ask. You can also ask questions over the phone, our operator will explain how to do that later on. 7Michelle Fidler

NPS Fire Communication and Education Specialist@PIOFidler@NPSFireSW@T1SWIMT

Now its my privilege and my pleasure to introduce you to our two presenters. Michelle Fidler is a Fire Communication and Education Specialist with the National Park Service. She is based at Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona, where she supports NPS units in AZ, NM, TX, and OK. She is a Type 1 public information officer and has spearheaded social media efforts for Joe Reinarz's Type 1 Southwest Incident Management Team since 2011 including for the Wallow Fire, the largest fire in AZ's history, and the Las Conchas fire, the second largest fire in NM's history. You can tell she is a big social media user because she has all of her twitter accounts listed on the screen!

8Kris Eriksen

National Incident Management Organization- Portland Team: Public Information Officer

@kriseriksenKris Eriksen started her career in fire as a summer job while she was in college. 28 years later, she is now with the Portland National Incident Management Organization (NIMO) team and lives in Alaska. Kris has been deployed with the Alaska Type 1 Incident Management Team, as well as many other National Type 1 and 2 teams, responding to many of the nations largest wildland fires and all-hazard assignments. She is an advocate of advancing the use of social media and an originator of the use of VOSTs in wildland fire, Im sure she is going to tell you all about those during the presentation. With that, Im going to turn it over to Kris!

9What We Wont Cover:Why you should use social mediaWhat social media tools to useHow to use social media tools

We begin with the assumption that we all understand the need to engage with social media at some level & that it must be part of an overall strategy.KRIS: Just so we set expectations: this is not a lesson in using social media or whether you should or the role it plays in emergencies. Today we are simply going to talk about how lead PIOs might deal with some of the issues surrounding the incorporation of social media into their overall communication strategy. Using social media is a whole other webinar!10What We Will Cover:How to build a Web 2.0 Unit in your PIO shop if you have the skills available.How to manage Web 2.0 needs if you dont have the skills available.Social media transition issues going from an IMT with a staffed SM effort to an IMT with nothing.Social media can you or cant you?!Kris: These are the things we will try to cover: How to build a web 2.0 unit if you have people to do it. And how to deal with Web 2.0 if you dont have the people and you are no expert. That will take most of the time but we will try to answer some of the newly developing issues like how do you transition from a team that does to a team that doesnt and the most popular question Can you or cant you and I warn you now the answer is not definitive and is more along the lines of it depends! But more on that later.11When To Use? Local standardEvacuationsNational / International AttentionPolitical Pressure from Governor / PresidentPrimary systems crashWhen your story isnt in the conversation

Every incident is different

Michelle: Social media may not be necessary on all incidents, but it has become essential on high profile, large-scale incidents. If you think that because you chose not to build active pages for two-way community engagement, that it means you dont have to deal with social media, youd be wrong. And if you find yourself in a community, say in Colorado, where the people are VERY connected with social media because the sheriffs department uses it as their sole means of doing outreach, and you dont have a plan for dealing with the demands of social media you will get very behind the curve, very quickly.

Ready or not, social media is here to stay, and we need to learn to harness it to help us meet our needs.

12Not a silver bulletDont give up the traditionalAble to update from the fieldServes as a backup Tools will come and go

Choose the tools that meet your needsHow Does it Fit?

Part of an overarching information strategy

Kris: So where does social media fit in. As public information officers, we recognize the importance of developing a communication strategy for our incident. Each incident is different and our strategies and tactics may evolve through the duration of the incident.

There is no one size fits all strategy for incorporating social media into your plan. Focus on keeping it SIMPLE: Strategize, Implement, Monitor, Plan, Leverage and Evaluate.

Social media tools are not a silver bullet that will address all your needs, nor should they replace traditional outreach methods. But just like traplines, news releases and media interviews, they are tactics that can be incorporated as part of the overall incident info strategy to reach your target audiences.

Social media tools give us more flexibility to provide incident updates from and to the field. They can help us meet our audiences needs, by allowing us to take the information to where THEY are, and serve as a backup source of information when one system crashes.

However, since not everyone has access to social media, any information posted to a third-party social media Web site should also be provided in another publicly available format such as Inciweb, the host unit website & along more traditional paces like traplines.

Remember, social media tools will come and go; and youll want to choose the tools that meet your needs for any given incident.

Bottom line: If social media tools help you meet your objectives, you can use them to your advantage.

13Where to Begin? Start with a 360 review to determine the need and key partnersSample Monitoring Template - http://bit.ly/HowToMonitor

Site(s)Type of Content / Frequency of UpdatesHost Unit(s)IMT(s)Partner AgenciesElected OfficialsLocal MediaCommunity OrganizationsSocial Media SitesEtc.Michelle: Before you can decide where to engage, its important to develop your situational awareness. We developed a simple monitoring framework to identify and track key sites on the 2011 Wallow Fire and its been a helpful tool on every incident since then. As soon as our team gets called out, while Im waiting for a resource order, I start scouting out what resources are already out there that we can tap into and if there are any gaps that we need to fill.

What you see here is just a basic spread sheet to document key websites and social media accounts and identify what type of information theyre sharing and how often. It may tell you, for example, that the sheriff's department already has a large following and is posting regular updatesm or there is a statewide fire information site you can take advantage of.

You can download a sample Monitoring Template from http://bit.ly/HowToMonitor Dont worry you dont need to try to capture all of the links well refer to today youll be able to download a PDF with all the links from the NIFC PIO Bulletin Board.

14Plan AheadEstablish a Protocol

Have a Contingency Plan

Sample protocol: http://bit.ly/CommentGuidelinesMichelle: Before you engage, its important to have a plan. Know that the plan will change throughout the incident, but its the planning process thats really what youre after to stay ahead of the game.

Its important to establish protocols that identify what youll be using and how theyll be used, especially when multiple PIOs are sharing social media responsibilities. Your protocol should address who needs to approve info before its posted, guidelines for posting such as using a standard hashtag format (ex. #NMFire #LasConchasFire). Its also important to identify what you wont post. For example my do not post list includes fireline personnel without PPE, identifiable structures (ie. Visible address), burning structures, inmate crews, childrens faces, and accident or investigation scenes.

Its also important to have a contingency plan. We all know that all technology inevitably fails, often when we need it most. We need to plan ahead and be flexible and think about What are we going to do if a social media platform crashes? Or how will we adapt if we lose power or internet? And thats true for ALL the technology we use, not just social media.

Regardless of what happens behind the scenes, its important to do what we can to provide a seamless flow of information for the public.

15Think Through Your NeedsInitial SetupOrderingOrganizingPublicizing

Daily TasksPushing MonitoringEngaging

CloseoutEvaluatingTransitioning2013 PIO Incident Organizer - http://www.nifc.gov/PIO_bb/nps.html

Michelle: Its helpful to consider your needs throughout the incident before you decide how you want to move forward, to ensure that you dont take on more than you can support. The 2013 PIO Incident Organizer has been updated (http://www.nifc.gov/PIO_bb/nps.html)and now includes a checklist of considerations to help you think through the process.16Intel GatheringTraditional planning cycle doesnt meet our needs

We need to provide nuggets of info throughout the day

Requires buy-in from entire IMT

Can be helpful to embed a PIO in Ops

Kris Its also a good idea to think about your protocol for receiving updates the traditional planning cycle no longer meets our needs. As I have said many times, We live in a CNN Refresh button world. We need to retrain our teams to share the little things throughout the day. If were starting a burnout, i want to know. If we completed line in Div K, i want to know. By the time its reported in the 209, or at the planning meeting, its old news. Its important to have a discussion with your team members pre-season, to help them understand your needs, and identify protocols for information sharing throughout the day. If Plans, Ops and the IC are not behind you and havent bought in, you wont have the operational or mapping information you need to be successful.

Michelle: There are a lot of ways you might accomplish this. On my team, we have a PIO that we embed with Ops as a fly on the wall to gather info and help us verify rumors. Weve also started experimenting with having air ops live stream video footage. Kris has had success getting Air Attack to radio updates to the Comm Unit which is distributed by 213 to the IC, Ops and PIO once every hour. But remember youll also want to develop a protocol for approval of breaking information ie. Perhaps you decide that all evacuation updates must be approved by the IC/OPS/LIOF before being released.

As with all other info we release throughout the day, its important to pause before we post to ensure information has been verified and approved before we release it.

17Comment Guidelines

http://bit.ly/CommentGuidelinesMichelle - Its also important to consider how much time youre willing to dedicate to managing comments, which can be a full time job in and of itself. Be sure to include a disclaimer on your site and emphasize that inappropriate, obscene, and hateful comments and solicitations or advertisements will be deleted.

We dont want to engage in arguments or debates. Responding factually to substantive questions is ok, but engaging in policy debate is not.

Its can be unrealistic, if you are shorthanded, to attempt to answer every question individually. Instead, focus on monitoring comments for trends and posting responses to the audience as a whole (ie. Evacuees want to know when they can go home) and post a response that addresses their concerns (ie. The Sheriffs Dept is coordinating the evacuation and can be contacted at xxx).

This Response Considerations flowchart can be a helpful tool to help you decide which conversations to engage in. The link to this flowchart will be on the handout available on the PIO BB.18Building Your Organization

TaskToolKris: So how to your build your organization. Well, every incident is different. The worst thing you can do is start something you cant maintain. There are numerous ways to structure your organization and you may vary your structure throughout the incident. Two of the most common ways to structuring your social media unit are by task or by tool as shown here. Again, each incident will be different. In some instances you may be able to have one person cover multiple functions, but on large mega-incidents, each function can often be a full-time job. Outlining a structure will help ensure you dont build more tools than you can manage with the resources you have.19

Photo by Kari GreerHow To Structure?Wallow Fire Case Study : E-Trapline GroupMichelle: For instance, on the 2011 Wallow Fire we had upwards of 80 public information officers on our incident, and we tiered down our info organization accordingly to help maintain span of control. One of our information units we coined the e-trapline unit

The E-trapline unit handled all of our electronic communications, including e-mail, Inciweb, Twitter, Flickr, internal text messages to our PIOs, and media monitoring

While the Community unit was engaging and disseminating information via a traditional trapline to reach our local communities at the grocery stores, coffee shops, post offices, etc., the E-trapline unit focused on a series of electronic communications where PIOs provided accurate, timely updates to our online & mobile audiences

They also monitored electronic communications and gathered information we could use to help us adapt our communication strategy accordingly and in real-time

Our staffing was flexible, depending on needs, however due to the significant demand for information on such a large scale incident, we had a minimum of 3 PIOs assigned to the unit at any given time. But it generally took a team, sometimes with up to 5-7 people to be truly effective.

When we had significant updates on evacuations, etc. we verified the information with Ops and had the messages approved before releasing them. We found it especially helpful to embed one of our PIOs in operations to help usverify, get updates and confirm or deny rumors

Using internal text messages helped us make sure our PIOs got the same updates in the field; we recognized not all PIOs had text capabilities but they were generally teamed up with another PIO that did have access; however the Info Center always activated a PIO phone tree simultaneously to make sure everyone received critical updates

Like all PIO operations, staying flexible was key, and we had to adapt when multiple teams were assigned to the fire, and ultimately many of the social media functions were transitioned to area command.20How To Structure?The Ultimate!Kris: So in an ideal world, if it was up to me and I could get all the help I needed, I would build something like this. I, as lead. Would stay out of the task related stuff so I could stay strategic. And my deputy, would run the day to day operations of the shop, and approve messages if needed or help with other decisions.

Where Michelles E-trapline divides by tools, I would divide by Tasks: Messaging: They would handle all writing, talking points, releases or updates, and wording for all SM and inciweb updates Intel: They would gather information, vet information, gather printed and digital maps, gather and store jpgs, check validty of rumorsMonitoring: Scan internet for documentation, scan SM sites for comments, push questions and rumors to intel for answers, watch for and compile trends for use in messaging and updates.Pushing: They would do all the posting to SM, other agency or community sites, update Inciweb, text messages to PIOs in the field, manage email lists and distributionSpecial Projects: VIP visits and briefings, National Geographic Visit, embedding journalistsMedia: the usualCommunity: Trapline, meetings, etc

With some of these, one person could handle two jobs on a smaller incident, like special projects. There is no prefect way or right answer. Build what works for you.21Tasks any PIO can doPushing MessagesPost articles and announcements on Inciweb (which will be tweeted automatically from @Inciweb)Autopost Inciweb RSS feed to Host Unit and/orIMT account (optional)

MonitoringDo an initial review of partner sites to identify key resourcesScan Icerocket.com 1x / day

Countering RumorsAddress trending social media concerns in Inciweb articles/announcements

I have no PIOs with Social Media skills

Michelle: So lets assume you have at least one or 2 PIOs to do your social media, even if its just you. On the screen are some basics that most people can manage, and we suggest these as a place to start. Chances are you may be using social media and not even realize it. Inciweb automatically sends out a tweet via @Inciweb for every article and announcement you post. Even if you cant dedicate any PIOs to social media, if you can follow instructions, you can do a one time set up at the beginning of your incident with a service like dlvr.it to autofeed your Inciweb posts to social media accounts like a host unit or IMT Twitter account.

The real advantage to social media is the opportunity to engage in a two-way conversation, and its a goal to work towards. Ultimately, youll need to work with what you have or look for other options to get help getting the job done.22How to Ramp Up with More PIOsI have 3-5 PIOs who have skillsMichelle: So if youre lucky and have additional PIOs to support your electronic outreach, you can start ramping u more. I recommend starting with cross training folks, so you have more than one PIO to help post in the event your primary posters are at lunch or are otherwise unavailable. If you are on a high profile incident, your next priority should be establishing a blog as a backup another incident information site (like another agency site) does not already exist that you have access to updating 24/7. It will also serve as a backup to inciweb.

From there, focus on the tools that will help you meet your needs. Facebook is an exceptional force multiplier, as youre able to share your official updates and your followers will take care of spreading the word with those who need to know. Twitter can also be a valuable tool for delivering breaking news to evacuees and other audiences on the go. In addition to following tweets via the web or a mobile app, folks can choose to sign up to receive tweets as texts on any cell phone with text capabilities.23What If I Have Nothing?You have some options:OrderUse an off-site PIOAsk the host unitUse your partner agenciesCreate a VOST - Trusted Digital VolunteersKris: So what if you are not like Michelle and you dont travel with anyone but your deputy and he is as old as dirt and cant operate his cell phone much less social media and you arrive at a fire where its obvious the community needs, wants, relies on this kind of interaction and the forest is not opposed? What then? You have a few options. Hopefully you have anticipated this and you know a few names with some skills and you can just order them. But if not here are some ideas. Now well talk about each one of these. First, lets talk about ordering.24How Can I Find A Qualified PIO?Lead = Able to lead a social media group on an incident

Advanced = Regularly use social media tools for personal, office, or incident use

Intermediate = Comfortable Using a Variety of Social Media Tools

Beginner = Have Training and/or Have Tried Using Social Media Tools

Contact: Michelle Fidler520-733-5136Michelle_Fidler@nps.gov

Social Media PIO DatabaseMichelle: So the first step in ordering is knowing someone to order. Since its not a red card qualification you cant just order a SMEX (social media expert). Lets assume you are using one of the unit structures weve suggested. You need to think about what skill level you need. Here are some basic definitions of skills you might look for. And lets be clear I have a facebook page does not qualify someone to manage your social media outreach! And as a lead you need enough working knowledge to know what you need and what you want them to do.

I am the keeper of a spreadsheet of PIOs with social media experience where you can look for people. Want to be added to the list? Send your information to my address on the screen (Name? PIO Qualification? Are you an AD? Social Media Skill -Lead, Advanced, Intermediate, Beginner? GACC? Home Unit? Dispatch Unit? Jetport? Phone Number(s)? E-mail? Description of Social Media Experience. 25Will a name request be approved?Requesting PIO Qualification, Full Name as its Listed in ROSS, Cell: xxx-xxx-xxxx, Home Unit: xx-xxx, Dispatch: xx-xxx, Jetport: xxx) to report at date/time.

She/he has advanced social media skills and has the skills and experience to serve as a lead PIO for our multimedia unit. He/she will be maintaining electronic public information incident communications (Inciweb, social media, etc.) and needs to work at location with reliable power, phone, and internet.

Her/his work station may move throughout the incident to accommodate this need. Work may be performed remotely at official duty station or off-site locations as appropriate. Travel to the incident is authorized. Rental car, laptop, cell phone, handheld radio, portable printer, and digital camera are authorized.

Name Suggest Resource Order LanguageKris: Will a name request or name suggest specifically for social media help be approved? It depends. Its generally easier to get a name suggest filled in-GACC than trying to get someone from outside your geographic area. Wherever you are headed, use Michelles list to find someone within the GACC and find out of they can come help.

Consider using a justification similar to this one when submitting a resource order request.

The truth is, its easier to have someone attached to your team ahead of time because GACCS vary in their willingness to allow you to order for something they arent sure you should be doing anyway. GACCS are like people there are many levels of comfort with this. Some will shut you down immediately, some completely get it and support it. You just dont know.

26Use an off-site PIOAsk a PIO or other person, not on your incident, to help

Place an order for someone to work remotely

NWCG Memo on Off-Site/Remote Incident Assignments - http://www.nwcg.gov/general/memos/nwcg-013-2011.pdf

Kris: The next possibility is to use someone off-site. Remember social media is virtual and so the people doing it for you can be virtual as well. If you know a PIO or anyone with the skills you need, have them at least be your eyes and ears. Ask if they can monitor for you for the fire as a whole, or for a specific issue like evacuation, burnout or some other controversy. When I have been alone and had a fatality or serious injury, I have people not attached to my incident, that I call on immediately and ask to monitor for me so I know right away when word is out. You can also ask these people to retweet things for you, or help push your Facebook or Inciweb posts. One of the best sources might be your children! Its a good idea to set up these relationships and requests pre season so youre both clear on how far the off-site PIO should go on their own.

It s also possible to order a PIO to help from their own unit, but still have them on a resource order so their time spent supporting your incident is billed to the fire. This saves money in travel and per diem and might be more palatable to the GACC or home unit if they are resisting letting a person go. In some cases, one person may even be able support multiple incidents. The link to the memo with the official guidance for remote support will be included in the links documents posted on the NIFC PIO Bulletin Board.27Ask the host unitTwitterWebsite/blogOther standing social media accountsFront desk or PAO staffKris: And dont forget to ask the host unit for help. Many local units of many agencies have gotten permission to have twitter or other social media tools. DO ask to use that account if you are not starting your own they can always change the password after you leave.DO ask if you can post to their website or have 24/7 access to the person who does. Nothing is worse than having the local web page not have the same updated info as Inciweb so dont start unless YOU do the posting or have immediate access to the person who does. They can always just put links to your pages. Some local agency offices and/or regional offices have blogs. Request posting permission.

And dont forget to ask the front desk staff or any remaining PAO staff if they personally use social media. There is no reason they cannot retweet or repost anything and everything you do. They can serve as a force multiplier for your messages if they simply follow any outreach you do and use their personal accounts to push it out.

The key is negotiating with the host unit Public Affairs Officer what you are able to take on and who will do what during your in-brief.28Use Your Partner AgenciesFire DepartmentsChamber of CommerceSheriffOther Fire Agencies

Michelle: Partner agencies often already have large followings. Its pretty rare these days that a community has zero official presence on social media. Its not hard to find agencies or groups with a presence in a community and these sites can be leveraged to help spread your messages. Usually, these people wont let you post their pages, but there are ways to be there. Even if you arent able to engage directly, you can leverage existing resources to work for you.

For example, in Arizona the AZ Department of Emergency Managements Emergency Information Network posts incident news releases to their accounts. If Inciweb crashes, AZEIN.gov serves as a backup.

Check for social media in use by cooperators like the sheriff or local fire dept, the community or volunteer agencies like local Red Cross chapter. Official agencies vary and their engagement varies. Some start FB pages and You tube channels they post themselves. Others have front groups, like their volunteer organization Friends of the XYZ Forest build those sites for them and you can use them to post information about that XYZ forest.

Kris: Dont hesitate to ask them for help. Find the person who DOES do the posting and tell them you will add them to your push list in hopes that they will post anything you send. Ive never had one refuse, in fact, they are usually glad to have official content about the incident in their community. And ask them to please repost anything they would like from inciweb and retweet anything you tweet.

I suggest you NOT start posting as an author somewhere unless YOU are in charge of it. Its to difficult to control versions and details if a 3rd party is doing it. When I am using/ leveraging a cooperator or other agency page, I just send them the same daily info I send others and ask them to post to their page so it remains their responsibility. I also make sure they know how to find us if there is a question on THEIR page, for which they need an answer

If you do find official FB pages or other site that allows comment, include monitoring those sites in your daily sweep and make sure you post links when inciweb or other sites are updated, or comment in reaction to other peoples concerns or issues.

Its essential to build close working relationships with these partners as you dont have control of or access to their sites and will inevitably need their help to push critical messages at inconvenient times.

NIFC is currently working on establishing a Broad Purchase Agreement for the 2013 season that would enable PIOs who need mass email/text messaging services to be able to request them via NIFC similar to the way we can request photographers and videographers on incidents. Jennifer Jones is working on this and will be sending out information about how to gain access to this soon.

29Build a VOSTVirtual Operations Support TeamA VOST is a structured group of volunteers, whos location is irrelevant, who have been organized by you to assist in providing virtual social media support, under your direction, for your incident.Kris: Lastly, there is the VOST concept. I am not going to go into a great deal of detail here as there is detailed information on the PIO BB, and its a whole other webinar, but I would like to make these points. A VOST can help with the following things:

30Build a VOSTVirtual Operations Support Team cont>Away from the incidentIn many time zonesGive you distance from social mediaGive you an invisible staff that can accomplish a huge amount of workEnsure the WO & other VIPs are getting infoCan supply you with dedicated eyes and earsKris: Members of a VOST are not where your incident is. As Karen Takai will tell you, a large fire may have no power or phone lines. But no one cares- they still expect information. As long as you can get a phone call to a VOSTie, you can get word posted where people can get it.VOSTies are in many time zones, which mean I have someone up and with me at 5 am and someone else with me at 10 in the evening.If you are concerned that the rules about social media for your agency, seem to imply that you shouldnt start a page of some sort you dont have to. Using a VOST mean the VOST starts it and uses the Official Fire information logo. Your name and your agency name are not on the pages at all if you dont want, as you can see here on the FB page we started in Colorado.31

Kris: You see the official fire info logo, which is not agency specific and the info line simply reads: virtual operations support for Little Sand Fire Information Operations. The fire information logo is available on the PIO bulletin board for any one to use. 32

Kris: Or here on this Wordpress blog page which in the capture did not have the logo but did eventually. A VOST allows the pages you create to appear official with the official fire info logo, but your fingerprints are nowhere on the pages giving you some plausible deniability, if that concerns you.33Build a VOSTVirtual Operations Support Team cont>Give you an invisible staff that can accomplish a huge amount of workEnsure the WO & other VIPs are getting infoCan supply you with dedicated eyes and earsKris: VOST supply more people. I have about 7 people on my VOST with others I can tap into. Thats a lot of extra help and hands. Some of them have talked about putting in more than 20 hours a day in support of the fires last summer.Keeping VIPs informed is always an issue. As Karen experienced, and I know because she called me, she had rolling brown outs, black outs, an email system that crashed and a call center that went down. Oh, and evacuating the ICP as well. And yet, the WO was upset about not getting information. I know because they called me back to DC to do something about getting congressionals more information. They didnt care about power and internet issues. However, you can ensure continuity of information with off site support and information flow whether its black outs, phone system overloads or simply that rare even when Inciweb crashes! And BTW, yes we duplicate a lot of information Inciweb has because it crashed so often people couldnt count on being able to get updates. Plus SM allows for comments and questions that Inciweb did not.And lastly, as things get really busy and everyone gets dragged away to do other things, the VOST works on, undistracted

While VOSTs can be valuable tools, they arent a silver bullet. Recruiting skilled, trustworthy volunteers and training them requires a pre-season commitment. Youll need to be familiar with social media yourself and be able to dedicate someone on your team with social media oversight to interface with them. 34VOSTConcernsMost common concerns about VOST:Its just more people to manage.What if one of them goes rogue, saying things we dont want them to?I dont want to have to make sure what they write/say is correct.Kris: Just a reminder, there is lots of specific information about VOSTs and how they interact with an IMT on the PIO BB so I wont repeat it here. But let me address the concerns I hear most:1 there are more people but a VOST has a lead who manages all the members assigns tasks, ensures shifts are covered, etc just like you do with PIOs. I only interact with the lead and allow him/her to manage the VOST2 We have agreements and protocols the VOSTies agree to follow. Thats said, they are volunteers and are free to do as they wish, but remember, a VOST only has information we give them to make public! The only information they have is what we push to them and we WANT them to tell people. 3 The VOST is not a public facing entity. It does not produce, write, or comment on ANYTHING that doesnt come from us. We are not trying to make them PIOs, they simply serve to amplify the messages we create and want out and to do some of the background, non-public chores like monitoring, documentation, watching for rumors & trends, pushing out the daily key messages and, if you wish, building the public facing sites. But ONLY the PIOs write things and provide the words posted.

Weve included a link to the protocol I use with my VOST in the links handout as a reference.

35Case StudyHow We Managed@Inciweb was on autopilot@wildlandfireAZ autoposts from InciwebAZEIN Blog/@AZEIN/FB posted our updatesSet @T1SWIMT to autopost from InciwebMonitored Google alerts and IcerocketGladiator Fire One PIO Using Existing Resources

Michelle: Now we are going to look at some specific case studies. Sometimes there may not be a need to reinvent the wheel when you can take advantage of existing resources. On the Gladiator Fire (2011, Prescott NF, AZ) we determined that even though there were evacuations going on, our local community wasnt big into social media. Our primary social media audience was fire personnel including IMT members and our own PIOs, the media, partner agencies, and elected officials, all of whom were familiar with and adequately served by existing social media resources.

We were using Inciweb, so we were automatically posting Tweets from @Inciweb whenever we added an article or announcement.

Arizona also has a statewide interagency account that posts the Inciweb RSS feed for Arizona incidents and posts it automatically to @wildlandfireAZ. The states emergency management agency also shares our incident updates via their AZ Emergency Information Network blog (azein.gov), Twitter, (@AZEIN) and Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ArizEIN).

As per our standard team protocol, we set up our @T1SWIMT team twitter account to autopost our incident Inciweb feed while we were assigned to the incident. We used icerocket, a search engine, to monitor social media as part of our daily routine.

We focused the majority of our efforts on monitoring social media as part of our overall media monitoring strategy including using Google alerts and Icerocket.com.36Case Study

1 PIO off-site 1st few daysRelocated to ICP once stable connections establishedPushed MessagesInciwebNMFireInfo blog, FB, TwitterIMT & Host Unit TwitterIncident FacebookMonitored & EngagedPosted consolidated responsesMitigated Rumors

Little Bear Fire One PIO Off-Site > On-Site

Michelle: Our team was ordered for the Little Bear Fire (2012, Lincoln NF) during initial attack. Based on initial conversations with on-site Type 3 team PIOs who called me from a satellite phone, I learned that phone, internet, and power connections were unreliable and ICP was likely to move. They had a phone bank set up at a local fire department but were having difficultly distributing information electronically. The language included in my resource order allowed me the flexibility of working off-site, so I decided to work remotely for the first few days. I received updates from PIOs on-site primarily via text messages and eventually via e-mail and landline phones at the call center. I was able to pull maps from the ftp site and 209 info via FAMWeb.

I waited to relocate to ICP until stable connections had been established. I waited until evacuation changes slowed and had a PIO in camp serve as a back-up while I was in travel status. Once onsite, I had my own designated, somewhat separated space, in PIO office to limit my distractions so I could continue to stay focused on social media.

I used a variety of tools for pushing information, including @Inciweb tweets, the NMFireInfo.com Wordpress blog, @NMFireInfo Twitter, NM fireinfo Facebook page(facebook.com/nmfireinfo), our team @T1SWIMT Twitter account, as well as the host units @LincolnUSForest Twitter account. We also utilized an incident specific Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/LittleBearFireNm).

The NM Fireinfo accounts are all co-managed by a team of interagency partners that helped me post info when I couldnt and also helped respond to comments and let me know where there were controversial comments that I needed to be aware of. NMFireInfo was an essential component of our incident communications and played a key role as a backup source of information when Inciweb was crashing repeatedly. However managing comments was more than a full time job for one PIO, so having a backup network of peers to help co-manage it was invaluable.

Monitoring was also a key component of our strategy and helped us make sure our partners were sharing correct information for instance when the community Facebook page posted an incorrect date and time for our next public meeting we were able to ask them to correct the information within minutes of it being posted. In another instance, a local woman posted a rumor that the forest service had lost the fire and it was running towards town Her facebook profile identified where she worked so I called a PIO working the trapline in the area and she was able to contact the woman directly to offer an update on the fire status.

These examples just illustrate how real-time monitoring can help you mitigate rumors before they spread.37

KRIS. As another case study, on the Little Sand Fire in Colorado, we had a full court press. We didnt start out with anything, but when we started getting pressure from the community for more interaction and Inciweb crashed, we talked to the Forest Sup who was all for it and then we built everything: Facebook, a Wordpress Blog, a Google + page, About me, Flickr. We posted links to everything on Inciweb as you see here. All of these links were also posted along the trapline with QR codes for each. Our focus was to use tools people wanted and were comfortable with and make them easily accessible, even if they were simply walking b a bulletin board downtown.

38Case StudyLittle Sand Fire, COMe as lead PIO1 Social Media PIO1 Deputy running day to day OpsOther PIOs as worker bees

KRIS. On Little Sand, I had a simple structure. I had a PIO good at SM, brought aboard just to handle this work. I focused on trying on new tools. I set up and pushed information internally to PIOs and the Forest PAO using Groupme which worked beautifully (one hint no one but the pusher gets to put out info or have very strict guidelines about what gets posted there or it will drive people insane.) And I set up and began using Ustream to live stream our morning briefing to the Forest Sup, county commissioners and the regional office.

My Web 2.0 person worked with the VOST pushing them information, watching the pages, and creating all sorts of tools for them and for us like QR code posters for BB, FB and the blog. We encouraged people to print them and post them in their places of work and stores. There are QR codes, by the way, that, when scanned, will add something like a community meeting, automatically to the persons calendar.

We had a PIO with ops experience interacting with Ops & long term planning as needed. But, for the very first time, we had Air attack providing updates once an hour, which I cant recommend highly enough. All day long, little bits of information trickled in that made the community feel as though they were updated constantly.

Other regular PIOs took pics and videos and provide them to the SM PIO for posting. The SM PIO, with concurrence from the Deputy, decided on what information to push and only came to me if they werent sure. She also gave Inciweb updating over to other PIOs who wanted the experience and trained PIOs as they wished on social media.39TransitionThis is a new issue as we move into SM because of the disparity.The key is communicationDocument all accounts and passwords

Kris: Many people are asking, and the issue was faced a couple times last summer, how do we transition when teams are very different in how they engage in Social Media? For my part, the answer is whatever you have to do, keeping in mind the primary goal which is seamless service for the public good. It is not awkward to go from a team using no SM to one that uses a little or a lot. The problem arises going from one that does a lot to one that does little, uses different tools or does nothing and has no skills.

This is my suggestion, and Michelle has some as well, if you are a team that does a lot, like my team and some of the PNW teams, when you know which is the incoming team, call their lead and talk about it. What do they normally do? Would they like to do more social media and can you help with that by leaving people behind or ordering some to help? Leaving one or two people to ensure continuity is the best way to transition if the new team plans to continue & wants to learn. If not, and if they do not want to continue, then you need to talk about what they want operational when they arrive. But you also need to talk with the local agency because sometimes the PAO wants some parts to remain and is willing to maintain them.

But if most of your tools are going to be shut down its important that you begin telling the public on your pages that you will be transitioning to another team and that the sites will not be posted after a certain date and repeat that message often over the transition period so there are no surprises. Also critical is documenting your accounts and passwords and include them in your transition plan. A hard copy and spreadsheet are fine, or a Google doc which is what the VOST creates we all use.

As Karen Takai says, sometimes you just have to take the hit and in this case, people wont be happy when you leave because they like feeling like they have a connection and a way to comment or tell you how they feel. But just make sure you beef up another site inciweb or the forest website and redirect people there for as many days as you have so they have someplace to go.

Michelle?40How to Transition?

First Type 1 IMT on-site used a VOST that disengaged with the IMT left

We considered stopping posts when the VOST left

We ultimately determined there was still value to feeding sites theyd started

We only had 1 PIO to manage so we used dlvr.it to autopost

We focused on monitoring and responding to trendsWenatchee Complex Case Study Transitioning From a VOST

Michelle: Heres a case study on transition. On the Wenatchee Complex (2012, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF, WA) we transitioned with a PNW team that had been using a VOST. The VOST left with the team and we only had one PIO with social media skills to manage what they had been doing with a team of folks. We considered having the outgoing VOST just post a final message to each site saying this site will no longer be maintained, please visit Inciweb for future updates.

Ultimately though, we decided the sites still had a large following and there was value to continuing to post to them, so we put them on autopilot so we could post to the blog and it would automatically updateTwitter and Facebook as well. This allowed me to focus the majority of my time on monitoring.

When our team demobilized, we transitioned to a Type 3 organization. At that point we posted a final message on each of the social media sites directing folks to visit Inciweb or contact the local unit for additional information.

Maintaining open communication with the transitioning team is key, and becomes increasingly important when youre working with multiple teams on a single incident or area command. 41Building Social Media SkillsTips - nifc.gov/PIO_bb/social_media.htmlFAQ - http://www.nifc.gov/PIO_bb/webinar/WebinarQA2012.pdfSM Training - training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is42.aspHow To - howto.gov/social-mediaVOST questions answered - http://vosg.us/How VOSTs/IMTs work together 1 hr webinar https://webmeeting.nih.gov/p88541552/

There are numerous resources available the key is getting started and using the tools yourself.MICHELLE: So were near the end and I think a major takeaway is, even if you dont plan to do much yourself in terms of building sites, you do need to spend some time to gain knowledge about the tools. Listed here are a few sites where you can get some training on your own time. But the best way to learn is to try it. Start your own sites for yourself, practice using monitoring tools, learn to use an aggregator to compile stories, try employing a few search engines using a current event and see how they work, start a twitter account and give it a shot. You dont have to use it a lot, just become familiar.

Dont forget, well be posting a recording of this presentation, along with the powerpoint and a PDF handout of all the links we mentioned will be posted on the NIFC PIO Bulletin Board.

42Issues that remainCan you or cant you??Use of Social media is not just a PIO decision.Kris: #1 Can you or cant you?! Big question. The answer is an ambiguous it depends and were not going to go over every agencies guidelines. It changes all the time. People are beginning to understand that they MUST engage at a minimum by using search and monitoring tools. I think many of the guidelines are for agency pages official pages for a forest or park. Incidents are different and they are beginning to see that. I think right now, you as a PIO are one of two types: 1. A risk taker who sees the need and value of SM and would rather apologize later than ask permission or 2. A non-risk taker, more of a rule follower who wants permission before wading in. You and your IC have to decide which way you want to go and where you are comfortable. The links document for this presentation includes a list of agency guidelines.

Which leads to #2. You, the PIO, cannot do this alone. This requires a conversation and the support of your whole team. If your IC, Ops and Plans people are not behind you and dont understand the value of these tools, you will not be able to get the digital maps, and operational information you need, at the rate you need it, to do this successfully. Thats a conversation and commitment that has to happen pre-season. Its important they understand this benefits the whole team.

Again , you and your IC have to have a talk about this subject.43New (er) ToolsUstream - livestreaming of briefings

Direct to FB livestream available now via iPhone; streams live and posts recorded

QR codes allows for easy access to websites from smartphones

Avenza Maps - download geotagged PDFs to your mobile device; GPS shows where you are

Ipads updated mapping from the fireline; also used to record/stream briefings / air attack footage

Groupme group texting to inform PIO / PAOs

Google Voice one number; can designate which cell and/or landlines it will ring to; transcribes voicemail; group texting feature

Wildland Fire Apps (Red Cross, US Fires, Wildfire Info, CO Wildfire Watch) mobile access to Inciweb and 209 information

Kris: Here are some suggestions for tools that people have been using that are very promising, tools that you might experiment with. Not all are really social media tools, but they all provide information in a way that can be used on social media. I have used a number of them and am looking forward to the possibilities with the others.

44Questions or comments?3 Ways to Ask

Click on Q&A on the toolbar at the top of your screen, write a message in the box that says Type a question for the presenter and click Ask

Click on the hand icon and ask your question over the phone when you are called on

Ask your question over the phone when I ask if anyone has any questions

Thank you Michelle and Kris! At this time we will be happy to try to answer your questions and address your comments. As I mentioned previously, you can email a question in all you have to do is click on Q & A on the toolbar at the top of your screen , write a message in the box that says Type a question for the presenter and click ask. You can also ask a question or make a comment over the phone. Our operator will explain how to do that now. You can direct your question to a specific presenter or just ask it and well figure out who is the best person to take a shot.

45Contact InfoMichelle FidlerNPS Fire Communication and Education SpecialistSupporting Parks in AZ, NM, OK, and TX3693 S. Old Spanish Trail, Tucson, AZ 85730(520) 733-5136 office(520) 400-2932 cellMichelle_Fidler@nps.gov

Kris EriksenPIOU.S. Forest ServiceNational Incident Management Organization(208) 869-7685 cellkeriksen@fs.fed.us

46Thank you!Jennifer Jonesjejones@fs.fed.us(208) 387-5437NIFC PIO Bulletin Board http://www.nifc.gov/PIO_bb/webinar.html

PIO, Little Bear Fire, New Mexico, 2012Again, we are recording this webinar and will attempt to post it on the NIFC PIO bulletin board at the URL you see on the screen, as I mentioned we have had some challenges with that! Youll be able to find the powerpoint presentation and the other handout there as well or as we mentioned earlier, you can go ahead and download them right now by clicking on the icon that looks like sheets of paper in the upper right hand side of your screen.

Thank you so much for joining us today. If you have any additional questions or comments, please email or call me, my contact information is listed on the screen. Thanks again and have a great day!47