The Williamson County Office of Emergency Management started their social media campaign with the intent to provide preparedness information as well as emergency notifications to the residents that reside in the community.

During the 2011 Central Texas Wildfires the social media efforts by the Williamson County Office of Emergency Management proved to be very successful at reaching the residents of the areas effected, as well as those who were concerned about how to protect their home.

Before the Labor Day fires occured in Central Texas, the social media had only been active for two months and had an overall 523 "likes" on Facebook. Those interested jumped in volume to 7,852 by the time the fires had been put out. On twitter, the followers went from 323 to 1,200 in the same number of days. The numerous following allows for interaction with citizens, as well as serving as a catalyst for sending out preparedness tips. Regularly, the sites are also used to gain situational awareness during any weather event and those that reside within the county are able to send information to the Office of Emergency Management.

You can view the social media sites here:

http://www.facebook.com/preparingwilco
http://www.twitter.com/preparingwilco

Williamson County also assisted with nearby counties in setting up their social media, and is a strong advocate for social media in emergency management in the community.

In 2010, heavy rains in Venezuela lead to flooding, landslides, and other serious problems. A group of online activist gathers together for setting up in five hours a collaborative map about the emergency. We filled the map with reports made by lay people, medias and authorities. Most of our reports came through the use of Social Media like Twitter, but some others through email or SMS. Venezuela has an Internet penetration of 38% and a Twitter penetration of 8% among all the population. We repeated the experience in 2011. In both cases we used Ushahidi and their service CrowdMap to setup the map, and the social media communication.

Since Joplin suffered a tornado in May 2011, the city has been using social media to help manage the recovery effort by focusing on relationships, not tools, and treating the public as a resource, not a liability.
The city manages a Facebook page that allows anyone to post and comment on its wall and it has built a large network of resources by adding related Facebook pages as city favorites. Over the past six months, Joplin's social network has grown to now include more than 50 non-government resource sites. As well as Joplin Schools, the list includes RebuildJoplin.org, Joplin Chamber of Commerce, Joplin Expats, Joplin Business Recovery, Joplin Farmers Market, Joplin's Found Photos, Elephants Remember Joplin Group, and Homes of Hope Thrift Store amongst many others. Residents and businesses have easy access to trusted sources of information for help, as well as news, daily ideas on which to comment, donations, drives and fundraisers. The City of Joplin's ongoing commitment to using social media collaboratively strengthens its recovery efforts, and is a great example that merits nomination for best use of social media for emergency management by a city or local government during 2011.

https://www.facebook.com/CityofJoplin
https://www.facebook.com/RebuildJoplin
https://www.facebook.com/hohts
http://idisaster.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/using-social-media-to-aid-recovery/

Humanity Road’s mission is to educate the public before, during and after disasters on how to survive, sustain and reunite with loved ones. Humanity Road volunteers are trained and equipped to use Internet and mobile communications technology to collect, verify and route information online during sudden onset disaster. Using the Internet, they provide public safety information as well as directing the public to governmental and aid agencies that are providing assistance for the disaster. Humanity Road is a 501[c]3 nonprofit that has earned the www.Guidestar.org Exchange Seal, is a member of the National Emergency Management Association and has participated online in disaster exercises both inside the USA and abroad.

http://www.humanityroad.org/