Yesterday, Gov 2.0 writer and advocate Alex Howard (@digiphile) posted about the U.S. State Department's intention to answer Twitter questions during upcoming press conferences as part of their "21st Century Statecraft Month". According to his post, the Tweets would be selected by State Department officials from one of their numerous official accounts and answered by the spokesperson during the press conference.
While Mr. Howard questions whether this is merely a public relations gimmick (and I agree), it successfully triggered the question for me of just what will disaster press conferences look like in the future as social tools continue to be embraced by emergency managers of all types and disciplines. While I doubt any emergency management offices are lining up to answer tweets during a press conference, it is probably past time for us to consider what tools can be utilized.
For instance, should all press conferences be streamed via a free tool like UStream? Should someone be assigned to "live tweet" the press conference on behalf of the emergency management agency? Is there a "virtual spokesperson" with the same authority to speak on behalf of your organization in social channels? How does monitoring get fully integrated into formal responses like press conferences? Like all social media integration, these tools take resources and comprehension that is not yet common place.
Press conferences are already challenging events - especially during a disaster. Social media tools may require additional resources, but ultimately will aid how and where emergency messages are disseminated, which is ultimately the point, right?
