- April 24, 2024
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In the days leading up to Hurricane Irma’s U.S. landfall, Sarasota residents went outside their homes in search of water, batteries, gasoline and other essentials. But they didn’t have to look far for something even more essential: information.
With access to county and city social media accounts, it was not hard to find information about the storm. Law enforcement and emergency managers connected directly with the people they wanted to inform — in some cases, via one-on-one contact — reaching a broad audience.
Sarasota County was the point-person, so to speak, on hurricane information for all municipalities and agencies in the county: the city of Sarasota, Sarasota Police Department, the Sheriff’s Office and Sarasota County Schools all were sharing information from the county, in addition to their own.
Between Sept. 5-16, the height of Irma, the county’s posts on Facebook reached more than 1.1 million people. Staff members had 608 direct conversations with people on the site, and nearly doubled their account “likes,” bringing their total to almost 22,000 between their main page and the Emergency Services page.
On top of that, the county’s reach — or who sees its posts — consists of 90% local traffic. So posts were reaching the people that need the information most.
That number could be surprising to some, considering that 35% of Sarasota’s population is over the age of 65. It’s an age group not typically glued to their smartphones or social media. According to Pew Research Center data from 2016, 34% of adults over the age of 65 used at least one social media platform.
However, local officials say they have an active audience online. This was especially true during the storm, when each agency saw a spike in its engagement and followers.
Sarasota County Administrator Tom Harmer said he once was the kind of person who read his newspaper at 6 every morning before work. Now, having been with the county since 2012, he checks Twitter for local news updates. But that element of immediacy is also what makes him nervous.
“You have to throttle that a little bit,” Harmer said of sending out information as fast as it comes in, “because we want to be consistent with our message. Clarity, consistency and accuracy are so important.”
The city of Sarasota saw increased traffic to its social media accounts, too, and a lot of those followers have stuck around for more routine information after the crisis passed. Senior Communications Manager for the city of Sarasota Jan Thornburg said social media is a great way to directly communicate with people.
“Our residents are very engaged, they want information and they’re technologically savvy,” she said.
During the storm, agencies put out a mix of messages: They published information about the storm from the county, which was in constant contact with regional and national officials as the storm approached. They published information about shelters from both the county and the school district. They shared information about closed roads and debris. They posted behind-the-scenes photos to show people how many people were working to keep them safe. And they answered hundreds of direct questions from residents or out-of-town people who were worried about their relatives or property
While each agency put out slightly different messaging with slightly different voices, they all used the social media sites in a similar way. Facebook is used for longer messages with more information. It also reaches a typically older audience, and is good for answering direct questions from individuals. Twitter, on the other hand, forced communications staff to be concise. It reaches a younger audience, and is one of the main ways the media stayed informed. It is also the quickest way to get information out.
But beyond social media, the county and other agencies used other methods to disseminate information. Emails to homeowners associations in the area, direct phone calls in some cases, information posted to each agency’s website and in-person news conferences combined to help reach every age range in Sarasota.
“Social media provided that platform to continue the conversation after hours,” said Jamie Carson, communications manager with the county, “whether it was actual factual-based questions, or just needing to reach out to somebody and know that somebody in the county was there for them.”
As the recovery phase continues for everyone in Sarasota County, messaging about Hurricane Irma is still going out online, straight to those who need it.
“The days of putting together a press release and just faxing it to the newspaper are gone, I think,” Harmer said.
When Senior Communications Manager for the city Jan Thornburg found out about Hurricane Irma, she was in Los Angeles, preparing to speak at a conference. But she returned when she got the news, ready to help distribute information.
The city of Sarasota put out more than 300 posts during the hurricane across three platforms: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thornburg said the city, in addition to sharing information from the county, was putting out messages that were specific to the city — preparations the city was making, boil water advisories, information about storm debris collection.
“83% of our residents were without power, but they were still able to check their phones,” Thornburg said. “Why wouldn’t local government be using it as a tool to provide important information to our residents and visitors?”
Sarasota Schools worked with the county during the hurricane to open shelters, and were there at the Emergency Operations Center to help make decisions about what was best for the county. This agency, in particular, emphasized the need for a multi-pronged approach.
In addition to posts on social media, the district was sending media alerts out, calling parents and employees and putting out push notifications on its app to get messages out.
“When you combine them all, you reach as many people as possible,” Candice McElyea, a communications consultant for the district said.
Part of the Sheriff’s Office’s role during the hurricane, like all of these agencies, was to help keep people calm.
“We wanted to avoid mass hysteria,” said Kaitlyn Perez, Community Affairs Director for the Sheriff’s Office. “I think people were really really worked up about the fact that this was a Category 5 hurricane. We wanted to put people at ease.”
This is a mindset the Sheriff’s Office puts into effect at all times on their social media. Perez said they balance reports of criminal activity with positive stories of the work that deputies do, and even occasionally use Facebook and Twitter to get tips and follow up on crimes.
“I would encourage citizens to embrace social media,” she said. “It’s the way of the future… it’s not going anywhere any time soon.”
While most of these agencies experienced a spike in followers and traffic during the storm, the Sarasota Police Department got a unique boost from a viral social media post in the days immediately following Irma: a “hot cops” post that started with the Gainesville Police Department and spread to this agency.
Essentially, the Gainesville agency posted a photo of officers, and women across the world commented about how attractive they were and shared the post. Then, following that, the same thing happened with the Sarasota Police Department, giving them a huge spike in followers — 17,000 more likes on Facebook, to be exact, bring the total to more than 40,000.
Genevieve Judge, the communications coordinator for SPD, said while she doesn’t know if they’re local followers, she will take them.
“I know that they’re following a law enforcement agency that wants to share the good, bad and indifferent,” Judge said.
