The Double Edged Sword of Social Media

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