Your social media can be a great vehicle to let people know when accidents and emergencies happen. It can help people avoid blocked routes by enabling them to go around them. It can update people on current conditions during an emergency. It can actually save lives. Social media can do a lot of good in times of trouble.

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People will appreciate the extra heads up that you give them. You might just save them some time or help them avoid danger. They can share your message with others as well. People want to help their friends stay safe.

Twitter is a great toll for warning or updating others. Tweets can be spread quickly around in an area, unlike Facebook posts that travel much slower. But what do you say in your message?

Here’s a few pointers:

  1. Where is the emergency or accident at? Be descriptive using terms that people can understand.
  2. What time did it happen? An accident or emergency can be dealt with quickly. Tweeting that a road is blocked, when it is not, is not good practice. Blocked roads get opened up as quickly as possible. Give people a rough idea how long you expect delays when possible.
  3. Use hashtags for your area. This helps your tweet show up in the local searches of others.
  4. When you can, and when it makes sense to do it, include a photo.
  5. Above all, MAKE SURE YOU ARE SAFE when you send the tweet. If you are in a car, pull over to a safe place. Don’t allow yourself to become the next accident.
  6. If you are the first on scene, call 911 before tweeting. When people’s lives are on the line, make sure you get them help first.
  7. Make sure you exit any danger before tweeting or posting. Your safety is foremost. Tweet only when it is safe to do so.

I hope this gives you a few ideas on how you can use social media for emergencies and accidents. Social media can be a great tool for updating others in these times. Here’s a shot I took just before I began to deliver my social media training to a class in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. No one was injured here. But he accident sure jammed up traffic for quite some time. It’s amazing how one downed power line caused so much trouble for so many people.

Emergencies-accidents-Twitter

So have a safe day everyone. If you see something, make sure you let others know. You might just save someone’s life while you are at it. By the way, make sure you give emergency personnel lots of room to do what they do best.