Social media changes disaster response

MAT-SU — Facebook is a lot things, to a lot of people.

It’s a place to reconnect with people you’d all but forgotten about. It’s a place to raise virtual farm animals. Share photos of a tasty meal, or complain about your crappy day at school or at work.

But it is also quickly becoming a vital tool for government, something you probably noticed if you were friends with the borough during the floods in September.

Nationwide more and more agencies are using social media. It also proved a vital in the aftermath of hurricane Sandy. As a state, Alaska has been slower to catch on, but not here in the Mat-Su.

As waters rose this fall, the borough was putting out real-time updates to its Facebook page, presenting the most complete, up-to-date picture of events available anywhere. Most news media — including the Frontiersman — either reposted those borough updates or directed Facebook readers to the borough’s page, or the National Weather Service for the most timely information.

At the flooding Emergency Operations Center, crews staffed the public information desk 24 hours a day for six full days. They issued 98 press releases with updates about evacuations and road closures.

Borough public information Patty Sullivan compared the task to drinking out of a fire hose. She’s also used a different metaphor:

“To be on that PIO desk is like riding on a surfboard with a tsunami of detail at your back. You must look forward as a crash of messages descends upon you, you must keep your eye on the horizon, bringing the most critical information first to the shore. PIOs hug upon shift change,” Sullivan wrote.

But the change wasn’t just in how much the borough was putting out. It was also about how the people in the borough use social media. They were posting their own updates with photos and video on the borough’s Facebook page, too.

“Early in the days of the web, the Borough was active online in disseminating information during emergencies,” Sullivan said. “A few years ago we posted maps of a fire perimeter for the Point MacKenzie Fire. Many residents were overjoyed to see how far it was from their property. This wasn’t normally done.”

But this time, she said, the rules changed.

“We weren’t only posting, but receiving images, and getting questions and concerns and giving answers in real time. Our residents were ready to be engaged with the borough on Facebook.”

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.