based on the recent experiences during the Gorkha earthquake disaster here are some preliminary findings of what to do and what to avoid:
1.) Twitter can be used to rapidly inform people with valuable information, but used the wrong way it can also serve to spread unconfirmed, untrue information and contribute to create a mass hysteria, panic. Always keep that in mind. As so many advised before: think before you tweet. Think even more about what exactly you are tweeting than about misspelling or grammar mistakes. Don't spread rumors which sound often either too good to be true or so dramatic that you feel you just have to share that 'vital' information.
Get a grip, use a search engine (like Google) to verify information and always concentrate on the date and location of that article or that tweet(see =>6.). Often articles which are being shared are on the same or similar subject, but in fact are from years back or the depicted event took place somewhere else.
2.) After thinking about whether or not the information you are about to share is genuine or not, you have to consider:
Does the recipient, who you most likely didn't know before the crisis situation came up, finds the information useful or not. Is it really 'news' for him/her/them or just 'old' info the most likely already know. Try to concentrate on vital information which is you saw tweets requesting help or reporting locations of survivors/wounded/people in need. Priority should be to assist in locating and rescuing those people.
3.) Don't address the state authorities over and over again: "Mr/Ms foreign minister our relative/friend/ or even better -- someone whose name i heard the 1st time via mass media or the Internet -- is known to be in that area please do something, save him/her/them"
Please imagine that at the other side of your Twitter message at
foreign ministries/embassies/police departments/you name it
are your fellow countrymen / women who are professionals and are working for years to solve similar crises. (at least some of their teams)
They care and doing their best to help to help/assist people, perhaps even working unpaid overtime to locate and rescue the missing people.
It's true, that some reliable media reported that some next of kins have not been treated as they should have been, and also that some officials in some countries did make mistakes, but if let's say out of 1000 cases perhaps 10 cases in 2 countries out of 20 are worth to be upset about, it doesn't mean that 'THE authorities' are all not capable of getting things done !
No doubt about that the process of collecting missing persons' details and the search for them on the ground could be improved using all the available tools of the 21st century, but in general you just have to assume that people in the offices know how to contact their counterparts in foreign countries.
4.) Don't involve authorities' Twitter handles in some minor important discussions within the missing persons community!
Imagine that every time such an Twitter handle of officials is used they will get a notification and also when people start to retweet those tweets or when they use their 'favorite' button. So when 5 handles are in a tweet the police will get a maximum of 8 notifications & all the retweets and then their favorites ! This will distract them from noticing real emergency calls by people whose life might be in danger. You don't have family discussions at home and dial 911 (112 in Europe) in order to invite the authorities to listen to your household discussion as well, do you ?
Always remember to keep contact with authorities as rarely as possible, while compiling and organizing the information you want to give them first. They really don't have the the time to follow discussions and performing their primary tasks at once.
5.) Use Twitter to organize your 'community' of also concerned to filter and compile essential data and put it into a document/webpage/publicly accessible database. As we have done after the Gorkha earthquake had struck Nepal, authorities compile their list of missing persons and the Twitter community can compile their own name list and try to locate the people destined to be rescued as well. Try to keep a strict 'command chain' where one or 2 persons are in charge of organizing and publishing the information, and others can assist to constantly verify the status of those on the list. During the aftermath of the Gorkha event there were in fact 4 groups involved:
Team 1: busy to collect names of missing, and verifying the information and keeping contact with those who reported them missing. This was done by Caroline Heldman in the USA (
Team 2: Another for collecting the GPS positions or at least the location names of where those missing are known to be or at least suspected to be. Those data have been put into a map of the area and no doubt authorities were not only informed about this location map, but also used it for actually checking out this plces and rescuing persons found there alive. Milena Gavala (
Team 3: established and maintained contact with the right Indian authorities (army,police, embassy, etc) to deliver vital information from the Twitter community to the proper authorities and the getting the Twitter community informed about developments in the search & rescue efforts by the Indian Army.
They deserve our gratitude for that relentless effort, not only the Indian & Napelese Army, but also the team leader @AnupamkPandey (India)
Team 4: EZR here (Europe), to compile general information for the public with contact numbers of authorities, communities, individuals who are contributing to the search & rescue efforts. Also providing genuine information about the stricken country of Nepal and the regions where those who are missing were believed to be. Also actively involved in monitoring tweets by people inside Nepal and abroad either looking for loved ones or who required genuine information where to get/deliver aid for those in need and 'tagging' all people with a genuine interest to get those missing home. In the beginning trying to keep that group smaller by just 'inviting' persons who said they were missing friends or relatives, not all those who just spread tweets of others or just saw it on TV or in their newspaper. By 'tagging' I mean putting those into a group or public Twitter list which then a kind of 'public timeline' for everyone else to see and to follow developments closely.
Very few additional Twitter handles were added for Nepal weather info, Nepal government's emergency response team, and a few others from India and in Nepal who contributed most valuable information.
Another advantage of having 3 continents (with many time zones between them) involved is that a 24h flow of information is maintained.
6.) Avoid retweeting old/not up to date information!
Twitter is almost as fast lightning and there are a lot of developments during such a crisis, so don't retweet everything which originates from the beginning of crisis, when in fact you are in day 5 or 6.
Situations have changed, people have been found or at least located, so make sure that the information you are about to share by using that retweet button is accurate and really up to date!
7.) Use Twitter to assist/support & find people, not for: "I posted names & 'facts' re dead people first"
Since the last couple of days more grim information is reaching us from Nepal, after search and rescue operation was called off in many places and has now been shifted to a recover mission. That said, we must think twice what our Twitter engagement wants to achieve.
Do we want to use this medium in a way to locate people, support those who are either in Nepal or outside trying whatever they can to help the local population to survive this big tragedy and those who are involved in a big operation to find and repatriate all foreigners, or do we potentially want to hurt those who are still waiting for news of their loved ones ? Of course everyone, including those who are anxiously waiting for their loved ones to be found, is interested in some news regarding those who are still listed as missing, but circumstantial, unofficial evidence given to those next of kin is not an answer.
Only a proper identification process done by officials, often supported by medical records of the deceased, formal identification by their relatives, and in some cases DNA testing, can deliver 100% correct results. Everything else is neither 100% correct, nor would it be appropriate to shock relatives or friends of those supposed to be dead to inform them via Twitter. Even more so posting personal belongings of victims, found ID cards, etc in order to 'prove' they are indeed dead. We quickly assume that, but it's up to the officials, first and foremost to the local police, to check all leads, find the bodies and connect all evidence. There are some tasks not to be fulfilled by Twitter or any other social networks. The responsibility of determining the dead and informing the next of kin is a task to be fulfilled by the proper authorities only. Full stop.
SocialMedia not only helped to provide service but also helped Nepal Police to be more accountable and transparent: https://t.co/F8PZj3FaTR
— NSET - Nepal (@NSETNepal1) March 19, 2016
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