… at least when it comes to speed.
I’m currently responsible for the media unit and as part of that role I have to coordinate our public communication around the response to Typhoon Morakot. Essentially that means editing web stories, connecting journalists with spokespeople in the field and informing our National Societies about what we are doing.
The latter part is particularly challenging because National Societies (rightfully) expect us to give them the things they need to populate their web sites. The problem is that it can take a very, very long time until I get information to pass on.
Short-circuiting the workflow
Normally a National Society that is involved in a disaster response operation will send a message to their country delegation who will send a message to the regional office who will send a message to me. And yes, sometimes this happens by surface mail.
Philippine National Red Cross assists victims of the typhoon in Botolan, Zambales. Photo: Philippine National Red Cross
However, today I had a great example for how Twitter can be used to be better informed within your organization -particularly if you are regionally very dispersed: because the Phillippines Red Cross has a Twitter account I saw instantly that they had uploaded photos from their operations and was able to use them on our site and share them at record speed. Result: everybody was very happy.
Granted, that is hardly rocket science or a great reveleation. But it is another example how social media can make your life a little bit easer.
How have you used social media to cut through beaurocracy in your organization?
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