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Hawaii Tsunami Proves Social Media Power Again: Information is a Tonic

by Roxanne Darling on February 27, 2010

How do you explain the calm and cooperation that was everywhere in evidence during the wind up to the Hawaii tsunami alert? Social media has earned a spot alongside our government planners and traditional news media. The user-generated messages supported both of those organizations on a second by second basis.

If you think about the mechanics of panic, it largely stems from a lack of information and and abundance of misinformation. When we leave things to people’s imaginations, it tends to bring unfettered “awfulizing” and a survival-based focus on worst case scenarios. Here are several use cases from the past 12 hours here in Hawaii where the free flow of information both locally and globally served to keep both panic and perhaps a tsunami at bay.

Distributed Reporting:

closures

Numerous reports coming in from specific locations help people know about road and facility closures. These are instantly made public, and shared via numerous web and traditional media channels. No longer do first responders or reporters have the pressure to be everywhere at all times. It also helps allocate resources and it keeps exponentially more people better informed than traditional media alone. (via @KaimanaPine) Continue reading…

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Nonprofits Getting Started with Social Media

16 February 2010

I participated in a panel on social media for nonprofits today, hosted by the Hawaii Community Foundation. It was held at the beautiful Hawaii Convention Center, and I was joined by colleagues Christine Lu, Chris Noble, and Olin Lagon. Local newscaster Dan Cooke was our social media-savvy moderator.
We made a last minute decision to live-stream [...]

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Social Media Club Hawaii Celebrates Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke

4 January 2010

About a year ago I founded the Hawaii Chapter of the Social Media Club. It is part of a international nonprofit organization of social media practitioners and exists to develop and share best practices and ethics on the social web. One of the first goals we had was to get the word out in the [...]

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Using Social Media to Differentiate

15 December 2009

I was invited to speak last week at the Sales and Marketing Executives meeting here in Honolulu, which featured Governor Linda Lingle as the keynote speaker. The topic was “Using Social Media to Differentiate.” I have posted my presentation file at Slideshare and also uploaded the five video episode snips I created to represent a [...]

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Executive Overview of Social Media for the C’s

4 December 2009

I had an opportunity to speak with the “c”s at a leading Hawaii company today. That’s shorthand for the CEO, the CFO, the CTO, the CLO, etc. As is standard practice, I do not disclose our consulting clients unless the client wishes to do so. They shall remain anonymous for now.
I love doing this [...]

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Confused? Consider Rox’s 180 Rule

3 December 2009

When I am doing social web training these days, at least once or twice an hour I implement what I call “Rox’s 180 Rule.” It is very simple, though not always comfortable to implement. As people and companies are learning how to participate on social networks, deciding what sorts of content to create, or even [...]

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Social Media and Spirituality: A Meditation on Change

13 November 2009

I am speaking tomorrow on The Tools of Change Panel at Envision Hawaii 2009. It has me thinking about what changes are happening right before our very eyes and how we can proactively embrace them to move this party forward with more intention.
Barriers and Gate-Keepers Are Being Removed
One of the most exciting accomplishments for me [...]

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