Drafting Now – Top Tips for Using Social Media for Local Community Recovery After a Disaster

 

Please add your input to this draft guide: http://bitly.com/localrecovery

 

Here is the draft introduction:

What can you do with social media and online tools with your nearest neighbors to rebuild?

As we move from emergency response to long-term recovery post-SuperStorm Sandy, here are tips generated with input from the experienced Locals Online community.

Summary:

1. People matter more than tools.
2. Tools do matter.
3. Gather email addresses, mobile phone numbers, and other contact information first.
4. Connect people horizontally by creating an online group for your local building/block/neighborhood/community. Then share.
5. Pick your geographic scale and openness.
6. Interaction matters to set community agendas and priorities.
7. Now let’s talk tools.

During the initial emergency response, Facebook Pages like the Jersey Shore Hurricane News, the massive collection of links from CrisisWiki, and lessons from past community-based information-sharing with immediate disaster response like Joplin, Missouri demonstrate how to cover large regions and essentially broadcast crucial information. The OccupySandy Relief effort is pushing the envelope on collaborative use of the Internet for disaster response leveraging Recovers.org new tool set as well.

Once you have shelter, food, heat and the power back on, what’s next?

How do you connect with your nearest neighbors to rebuild your own community when the volunteers go home and the relief sites scale back?

These tips are written for the “e-connector” or organizer in your building, on your block, or covering your wider neighborhood as you shift from crisis response mode to community recovery and rebuilding. This article assumes that we are in this together, there is a surplus of noisy information, and the longer people cooperate with their nearest neighbors the better the results. It builds on the many benefits of neighbor connecting online and IRL (in real life) neighbor to neighbor activities in good times and bad.

Please add your input to the full draft guide located at: http://bitly.com/localrecovery