Case Studies

Prepared by: Kim Stephens  Last updated: September 10, 2013

Blogs you should read that post lessons learned and case studies continuously: IACP Center for Social Media–Case Studies, Crisis Communications Command Post, sm4em.org, The Face of the Matter, It’s Not My Emergency

Good Overview Video: Social Media Crisis Communication – Preparedness Partners from Preparedness Partners by the OEP on Vimeo.

• American Red Cross. “The Case for Integrating Crisis Response with Social Media” American Red Cross. July, 2010. Accessed Aug. 2010. <http://www.redcross.org/www-files/Documents/pdf/other/SocialMediaSlideDeck.pdf>
• American Red Cross. “The Path Forward: A Follow up to the Case for Integrating Crisis Response with Social Media and call to action to the emergency response community.” American Red Cross. Sept. 2010. Accessed Dec. 2010. <http://emergencysocialdata.posterous.com/> or <http://www.scribd.com/doc/40080608/The-Path-Forward-ARC-Crisis-Data-Summit-Wrap-Up#>.
•  Boyd, Bill. “Social Media and Emergency Management” Video. Produced by Agincourt Strategies. 2011. Accessed July 2012.

• Barkat, Hadi, et. al. “Citizen 2.0: 17 examples of Social Media and Government Innovation” RedCut and Swissnex, Boston. “The purpose of this paper is not to serve as a template, but to provide highly successful examples of social media and government innovation that can serve as inspiration.”Accessed 3 November 2011.
• Bloomberg, Mike. “New York City Digital Roadmap”.  A comprehensive strategy paper for how NY will achieve it’s digital  goals. Lots of good items here for other cities to use as a model. <http://mikebloomberg.com/NYC_Digital_Roadmap_05162011.pdf>.
  <http://citizen20.redcut.ch/Citizen%202.0%20(EN).pdf>
• Bruns, Axel,  Jean Burgess et. al. “#qldfloods and @qpsMedia: Crisis Communication on Twitter in the 2011 South East Queensland Flood”.  Media Ecologies Project. ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation. January 2012. Accessed January 2012. Summary:”Social media, including Facebook and Twitter, played an important role in crisis communication at the height of the 2011 South East Queensland floods crisis (10-16 January). This report examines the role of the short-messaging system Twitter in disseminating and sharing crisis information and updates from state and local authorities as well as everyday citizens. We assess the overall use of Twitter, as well as that of the most important emergency service account, the Queensland Police’s @QPSMedia account.” <http://cci.edu.au/floodsreport.pdf>.
• Bruns, Axel. “Towards Distributed Citizen Participation: Lessons from Wikileaks and the Queensland  Floods.” ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Australia. Conference for Democracy and Open Government. Accessed 15 December, 2011.
• Currie, Donya. “Special Report: Expert Round Table on Social Media and Risk Communication During times of Crisis: Strategic Challenges and Opportunities.” 2009. Booz Allen & Hamilton. 16 July 2010 http://www.boozallen.com/media/file/Risk_Communications_Times_of_Crisis.pdf>.
• Chavez, Craig et. al. “Local Governments Use Social Media to Prepare for  Emergencies.” ICMA 2010. Accessed 1 Dec. 2010. <“>http://icma.org/en/icma/knowledge_network/documents/kn/Document/301647/&gt;.
• Kingsley, Chris, et.al. “Making the Most of Social Media: 7 Lessons From Successful Cities.” Fels Institute of Government, March, 2010. Accessed Aug. 2010. <http://ivyridgegreen.org/media/Fels_socialmedia_final.pdf>.
• Lesperance, AM et.al “Social Networking for Emergency Management and Public Safety.”  August 2010. Prepared for Department of Energy by Battelle. Accessed Sept. 2010. <http://social.networking-PNL.pdf>.
• McShea, Kathleen. ” Privacy Impact Assessment for the Use of Social Networking Interactions and Applications Communications/Outreach/Public Dialogue”. Department of Homeland Security. 16 September, 2010. Accessed October 2010. <http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_pia_dhs_socialnetworkinginteractions.pdf>.
• Mileti, Dennis and Jeannette Sutton, “Social Media and Public Disaster Warnings” University of Colorado, Boulder. July, 2009. Accessed, Dec. 2010. <http://www.jeannettesutton.com/uploads/WARNINGS_Social_MediaMileti_Sutton.pdfSocial Media Handbooks & Compendiums>.
• Ogilvy Exchange: “The Expanding Use of Social Media in Disaster Preparedness.” Excerpts from a panel discussion. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2B1yrBeVCI>.

• “Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Summary of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps“. Computer Science and Telecommunications Board: Division on Engineering and Physical Science. National Research Council. National Academies Press. Washington, D.C. http://www.nap.edu. Accessed Jan 2011.
• Reuter, Christian, Alexandra Marx and Volkmer Pipek. “Social Software as an Infrastructure for Crisis Management–a Case Study About Current Practice and Potential Usage.” Abstract: “In this paper we will be discussing how the (semi-)professional actors involved in crisis management (police, fire-fighters, etc.) and the affected citizens can communicate and collaborate by the use of social software. After the definition of the term ‘social software’ we will provide the state-of-the-art on current social software use in crisis management.” Proceedings of the 8th International ISCRAM Conference–Lisbon, Portugal, May 2011.  Download.
• Sunstein, Cass. “Social Media, Web-Based Interactive Technologies, and the Paperwork Reduction Act: Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, and Independent Regulatory Agencies.” Office of Management and Budget. 7 April 2010. Accessed Oct. 2010. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/inforeg/SocialMediaGuidance_04072010.pdf>.
• Rucker, J.D. “The History of Social Networks”. Timeline and graphic. Fast Company Blog. Accessed Jan 2011. <http://www.fastcompany.com/1720374/the-history-of-social-networking>.
• Sutton, Jeannette et al. “BackChannels on the Front Lines: Emergency Use of Social Media in the 2007 California Wildfires”.  Proceedings of the 5thInternational ISCRAM Conference – Washington, DC, USA, May 2008F. Fiedrich and B. Van de Walle, eds.Accessed Jan, 2011. <http://spot.colorado.edu/~suttonj/BackchannelsISCRAM08.pdf>.
• U.S. Department of Commerce: NOAA. “NWS Central Region Service Assessment, Joplin, Missouri, Tornado-May 22, 2011.” July 2011. Accessed Sept. 30, 2011. Mentions social media and points out problems with current alert and warning systems. <http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/assessments/pdfs/Joplin_tornado.pdf>
• Virtual Alabama Fact Sheet. “Virtual Alabama uses a 3D globe interface to retrieve images from a merged global imagery dataset. This dataset transforms massive amounts of data into useful information for technical and non-technical users.” <http://dhs.alabama.gov/virtual_alabama/pdf_files/viral_fact_sheet.pdf>.
• Queensland Police Service: Disaster Management and Social Media–A Case Study. The one lesson to glean from this study is that people will come to your SM sites in the event of a crisis if you have a presence.  http://www.police.qld.gov.au/Resources/Internet/services/reportsPublications/documents/QPSSocialMediaCaseStudy.pdf