Working With Your Community in a Crisis: How Officials of The Boston Marathon Bombing Did It Right

Patrice Cloutier recently wrote an excellent piece for this blog, evaluating how law enforcement and public safety agencies need to utilize social media both pre and in times of a crisis.

To add to the excellent comments and insights that Patrice so kindly contributed, the Boston Marathon Bombing is an excellent example of how society and emergency officials can and should come together in times of crisis, bettering the situation together, as a team.

Boston officials made the decision to take a tragic incident that occurred offline to the social world when they sought the help of anyone who could give it, asking for information, video footage and more.

The result: The bomber was found within one week. 

It’s clear that this success story would not have occurred so quickly without the help of each and every individual who kept close to the updates and provided whatever information they possibly could.

Social media is about communities coming together and building relationships. Through this most recent tragic event, there’s a warm sentiment that comes from knowing that the public came together in a crisis and, by working together, rather than against each other or by themselves, brought the terrorists to justice.

This applies to your crisis management too!

A big lesson can be taken here for all companies and organizations, not just emergency officials and government agencies. In a crisis, it’s important that you work with your audience. It’s together, as a community, that you will resolve the crisis and come out of the situation with a stronger bond and a deeper relationship.