Charlotte Business Professionals

By Mark Basnight Basnight of Charlotte Fire Department

on September 26, 2009

Published in : Technology

Keywords : social media, Twitter, Google, Facebook, Charlotte Fire Department, YouTube, Jet Blue, Southwest, Customer Service

What do thenumbers 2,000,000,000 (two billion), 100,000,000 (one hundred million), and3,000,000 represent? One might be surprised they have nothing to do with theeconomy, unemployment, crime, the homeless, births, or drug use. No, thesenumbers represent the staggering statistics reflecting the use of various typesof social media applications. Social media is changing the way the world iscommunicating and according to research is expected to continue to impact theway people exchange information. Although everyone is not embracing the use ofsocial media, according to research the popularity of social media points to atrend of an increase in the use of social media applications. In this paper theauthor will discuss the growing phenomena of social media and the effect it ishaving on the way businesses, government, and public safety agencies arecommunicating with their audiences.

2,000,000,000 represent the approximate number of daily searches conducted on Google (mathewingram.com 2008). 100,000,000 represents the number of videosviewed on YouTube daily according to data complied in 2006. No 3,000,000 doesnot represent the number of Nintendo Wii Consoles sold in Japan, it representsthe average number of ‘Tweets’ made a day according to data gathered in Marchof 2008 by TechCrunch. Twitter is one of several applications that are part ofthe latest phenomena social media.

The use of socialmedia represents a paradigm shift from the traditional means of masscommunication mediums such as television, radio, print, and Internet topersonal online collaboration. With traditional communication mediums there waslittle to know opportunity for collaboration leaving one to questionobjectivity. Previously, people depended on traditional broadcast media to beheard. Social media has presented opportunities for unprecedentedcollaboration, feedback, and discussion that were previously limited to thosewith the finances to pay for them. Social media levels the playing field, asthese free to low-cost communication tools are made readily accessible toanyone with access to the Internet.

Social media isthe means by which individuals are able to exchange text, video, photo, andvoice easily via the Internet with an individual or pre-existing online forumsand communities which the user has a common interest. Social media tools alsoafford users the opportunity to establish new online communities and forumsbased on common interests.

Although social mediais constantly evolving, the basic forms of social media include social networksites such as MySpace and Facebook; blogs that are online web logs or journals;wikis, which are basically online community encyclopedias where people can addor edit content; Podcasts, which are audio and video files made available bysubscription, most are free. There are online communities that allow one toshare particular types of content like photographs, video and bookmarked links;the most popular examples are Flickr, Delicious, and YouTube. There is microblogging; these applications are used to quickly communicate small amounts ofcontent and allow others to receive updates via a PDA, cell phone, or email.The most popular of these applications is Twitter.   From the home to the workplace social media is rapidlybecoming an extremely viable and practical means to communicate.

The question thatbegs to be asked is; if a conversation is taking place and one chooses not toparticipate, will that stop the conversation from taking place? Some have beenreluctant to use social media fearing their personal lives may not be sopersonal anymore, some say they do not have the time. Some people are usingsocial media tools and simply unfamiliar with the term social media. The factof the matter is that conversations are taking place all around us and bychoosing not to engage or interact in these conversations one allows others toanswer for oneself whether one agrees or not or whether it is accurate are not.

Today,consumers are turning to blogs, online forums, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter forfeedback, information, and to be heard. According to a North AmericaTechnographics Media and Online Marketing Online Survey, “Forrester Researchfound that 37 percent of the adult population in the United States are“critics” who have posted product reviews, comments on blogs or contribute toonline forums. 21% are “creators” who post original content in blogs or webpages, and 69% are “spectators” who read blogs, forums and review sites (Baker2009).

Today many companiesare turning to social media as another communication tool and means to enhancecustomer service efforts. These companies include Zappos, JetBlue, Southwest,H&R Block, Dell, Wine Library, and Freshbooks, to name a few (R. Stephens,2008). This is a paradigm shift from companies relying solely on the customerto engage them, to customer representatives interacting and engaging customerswhere they are. This move is an intentional effort to meet the customers’ needsby offering solutions and providing information. In June 2007 eMarketerreported the worldwide population of consumer-generated media of 148 million,growing to 170 million in 2008. In 2008 Technorati’s Blogosphere reported that 37%of bloggers post reviews of products frequently, and 45% do so occasionally (Baker 2009). The fact of the matter is that many people online are looking forfeedback and information about the products they like or dislike; products theyare contemplating purchasing.

Case in point,Johnson & Johnson launched a marketing campaign called “Motrin Moms.”Motrin released a video on its Web site. The goal of the video was to appeal towomen who were experiencing pain after carrying their babies in a sling. Withinhours Twitter and the blogosphere exploded with commentary about the video andits perceived negative connotations about certain aspects of motherhood (Baker2009).

Customer service hasbecome social service. In a recent study conducted by Datamonitor, despite astruggling economy it appears that it is this is still a good time to introducetechnological advances in customer service. This can be confirmed by the 25%increase in visitors that global social networks have experienced this pastyear. Deloitte Consulting predicts technology providers and carriers couldspend up to $500 million this year on social networking solutions (Musico2009).

Social media is rapidly becoming anormal business application in the workplace. Casein point: Google arguably the world’s leader in social media technology wasfaced with a downward turn in hiring even though on average they receive morethan 700,000 applications for employment a year. What was even more disturbingwas that they were seeing a trend in some of their most talented employeesincluding several top executives leave the company to work for their rivalcompetitors Facebook and Twitter. Google sought out to find out why theiremployees were leaving and the reason for the downward turn in hiringpersonnel. So, what did Google do? They created an interactive social mediaapplication they placed in the employment, and engagement process thataggregated employee data including performance appraisals, salaries, andpromotion history. With this information human resource executives were able toconclude the members of their staff who were not happy in their currentposition and were most likely to leave. This application currently still in thetest phase could be revolutionary for human resource personnel and othersengage and communicate with their employees if successful. A spokesman forGoogle said, this breakthrough technology could “help the company get insidepeople’s heads even before they know they might leave”.

For some, it stillcould be a stretch to see the value in using social media for internalcommunication within business especially if the cultural of one’s particularorganization is not conducive to internal communication. Research has shownthat there are at least three problems internal social media may be able tosolve within one’s organization. First, it could improve internal dialogue andawareness by the use of blogs or online journals. Blogs often open of lines ofcommunication by removing barriers and creating a forum conducive to openconversation.    

Organizations mayalso be able to more effectively communicate business strategies and currentaffairs pertaining to company as a whole. Second, workers are often isolatedfrom coworkers because of working from home, and in the field. Twitter with its(“what are you doing now?” motif) could be used as an internal social mediatool to connect coworkers connected. Third, because of the ability of amicro-blogging social media application like Twitter to provide real-timeinformation, companies can create a competitive advantage. The ability tocommunicate information across the world is only limited by how fast one cantype (TECHNOLOGYUPDATE. (2009). Examples ofreal-time information being communicated were the Mumbai terrorists’ attacksand the 2007 Minneapolis 35 West Bridge Collapse. Both these events werecommunicated via Twitter before being broadcast over conventional televisionnews media.

Government is usuallythe last enterprise to catch up and often finds itself at the crossroads ofdecisions. Again, government has been slow to embrace social media technologyas a whole.  As a result governmentfinds themselves at another crossroad while many citizens, businesses, andgovernment officials ask how can government implement social media tools in away that will allow a more efficient, economical, and timely flow ofinformation.

Although government as a whole isstill catching up, there are government entities  that have gotten ahead of the curve and embraced socialmedia tools. Here are several examples:

PublicSafety agencies have been to be the most practical government application forsocial media applications. There appears to be a growing number of publicsafety agencies that are making use of social media tools like blogs,micro-blogs such as Twitter, and others to communicate press releases, andsignificant events such as traffic collisions and structure to their respectivecommunities.  The Los Angeles FireDepartment uses Twitter, Google Groups, Blogspot, and other social media toolsto alert the public of structure fires and other emergencies that may impactthe community at-large. Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the LosAngeles Fire Department (LAFD) said, “We can no longer afford to communicate atthe speed of government” (Humphrey 2008).  In 2007 citizens tweeted information inregard to wind direction and fire conditions which assisted the firefighters incontrolling the nearly 800 acre wildfire in Griffin Park.

Over 2000 miles onthe east coast the Charlotte Fire Department uses many of the same social mediatools to accomplish the same mission of alerting the public of agency specificemergencies that may impact the community at-large. OnTuesday May 5, 2009 around 5 p.m., Charlotte, North Carolina experienced torrentialrainfall, which produced multiple flash floods. This was a recipe for potentialdisaster and calamity and would be the first real test for social mediaapplications for the Charlotte Fire Department and the first use of Twitter inan emergency in North Carolina. During the height of the storm over 20 criticalmessages were tweeted informing the public of the areas of the city that werebeing impacted by the flash flooding. Messages included information about wherethe most severe flooding was taking place in real time. These messages werecritical in that public and the media were receiving these messages inreal-time. Both the Los Angeles FireDepartment and the Charlotte Fire Department also use social media tocommunicate messages to their respective audiences to promote a healthy andsafe lifestyle.       

Research shows social media is changing the way the worldcommunicates and in all likelihood will continue to impact the way peopleexchange information. Social media is bringing people together with others whohave common interests forming online communities. Consumers have access to anunprecedented amount of feedback via online forums. Businesses have the canengage and provide information and solutions to their customers moreefficiently and effectively with the proper use of social media tools.  People are able to connect and communicateinstantly with friends and family members in a variety of ways to include text,pictures and video. Law Enforcement agencies, Fire Departments and healthcareprofessionals are using social media to communicate critical messaging, andpertinent information. President Obama was the first president to make use ofthe social media applications Twitter and Facebook during his campaign.Facebook has become the third most popular Internet site in the United Kingdom.With 45% of mobile Internet users taking part the popularity of social mediapoints to a trend in the use of these online applications. People arecommunicating all around us; the questions are who is listening and who willtake the opportunity to be heard?      

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