Social media and crowd sourcing comes in various forms and is ever present as part of our daily lives. Tweets, podcasts, posts, and educational blogs like this are today, just as commonplace as answering the phone or sending an internal email communication. It's no secret that technology has advanced greatly over the past two decades -- it comes with benefits and drawbacks in our industry and this blog will carefully and concisely highlight the good and the bad.
PROS - (leverage it fully as a tool for good)
Community Outreach and Engagement
Recruitment/Staffing campaigns
Crowdsourcing - CPR applications to increase OHCA survival rates
Increased access to quality Fire/EMS education
Live info on Weather emergencies/Major events/Road closures
Highlighting New Equipment or Personnel
Improve agency reputation/credibility
Clear policies can provide excellent guardrails for its proper use
CONS - (be extremely cautious as it can backfire when used incorrectly)
HIPAA violations (images, videos, text) - discipline and/or termination usually follow
Political debates
Generalized insensitive comments (race, creed, religion, sexual orientation)
Our personal and professional lives can begin to blur
Fact checking can be an issue -- it's certainly not required on most platforms
Social media overload can increase incidence of depression & suicidal ideation
Destroy agency reputation/credibility
An absence of a social media policy can spell trouble
TIPS FOR SUCCESS AT THE AGENCY LEVEL
Develop a Strategy
Include a Business case around your professional website/media platform
Minimize who has admin access
Be focused
Post relevant information often -- don't be another static page
In summary, know that the various social media tools on our mobile devices aren't going anywhere. It's actually evolving and becoming more complex with each passing year. Some would argue that it's changing our industry (both positively and negatively). Be thoughtful and safe with its overall use - it can be a beneficial addition, but it you don't plan ahead or if its use is unmonitored, it can have disastrous effects on your agency, and the personnel on the roster. We all bear this added responsibility, as we are ALL end users in some form or another. May commonsense approaches always prevail.
May 15, 2023
Author: Joshua Ishmael, MBA, MLS(ASCP)CM, NRP
Pass with PASS, LLC.