Digital Diplomacy & The Mayor’s Office for International Affairs
On Monday, we hosted an event with the Mayor's Office for International Affairs and the Digital Diplomacy Coalition on the topic of Social Media for Emergency Preparedness and Crisis Response. The panel featured Nancy Silvestry, Press Secretary for the NYC Emergency Management Department, Liz DeBold, Communications Manager for the NYC Mayor's Fund, Detective Scott Glick, Social Media Strategist, NYPD in a discussion moderated by Masha Gindler, Deputy Director at the NYC Mayor's Office of Digital Strategy.
(Photo from L to R: Nancy, Masha, Liz, Scott)
The timely topic was engaging to audiences members from the Consulates General and the Missions to the UN. The event was part of the Mayor's Office series on "Connecting Global to Local" to help connect NYC's diplomatic and consular community to the City, and was made possible with the support of the Digital Diplomacy Coalition, which serves as a network for the diplomatic community to discuss digital, tech and innovation in government. It was great to see a packed house in attendance from the diplomatic community and the City government!
Welcome remarks from Consul General, Ambassador André Schaller focused on why this topic was important to Switzerland, and to all foreign representations in New York. He also described Switzerland's role in creating the Digital Diplomacy Meetup in 2012, which has since merged with the Digital Diplomacy Coalition to organize such events with governments and the private sector. His aim was to bridge the conversation between what the City is doing for the citizens of New York and how the consulates could apply that knowledge to communicating with their own citizens in NYC and the citizens in their home countries.
Penny Abeywardena, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs, followed the Ambassador with her opening remarks on the City's commitment to connecting the consular community with city partners on a range of issues, as a priority of the de Blasio administration. She also highlighted the importance of the topic of Emergency Management, and welcomed each of the speakers representing different departments of the City government.
The moderator, Masha Gindler, opened the panel by having each speaker introduce themselves and share a little about the work that they do. Then the panelists went straight into a discussion guided by questions prepared by Masha.
From verifying sources to keeping communities informed, the discussion focused on the importance of knowing when and how to act during a crisis. Sometimes, the best thing one can do is to not react at all but to listen. Once facts are verified, it helps to amplify statements from City Government officials, and to reshare content and redirect traffic rather than to create original materials (unless translating is needed for foreign communities). One question that was posed centered on what defines a crisis. If someone is tweeting that they heard a loud explosion, is that cause for concern? At which point does a consulate need to act in the interests of its employees, their families and its citizens? While the answers often call for best judgement, one thing was clear: the most reliable information is usually found in the press conference following a major incident. If it is a crisis, the City government will react and provide necessary information. Following this, the best thing a consular representation can do is to amplify the official messaging online.
Crisis Management begins with Crisis Preparation. The NYPD does recommend disseminating information to communities about crisis hotline numbers and resources in advance of knowing when a crisis might occur. It is helpful to have links or redirects to the City's emergency helplines from a consulate's website. More info can be found here.
If a crisis does occur, after a consulate has amplified the City's messaging on its online accounts, the next helpful step is to encourage fundraising. This was seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, when thousands mobilized to volunteer and donate to the victims. Showing solidarity online is also an important way to show support for the host country's citizens. And finally, it's useful to have translation services on hand, so that your country's citizens can be reached in the City, and so that the home office can be informed of the City's official messaging.
The panelists also engaged audience members, and encouraged consuls in attendance to share their experiences and their concerns. We had a lot of great questions in the room and could have continued the discussion for another hour! Attendees were encouraged to tweet and the conversation could be followed online with the hashtags #CL2G and #DigitalDiplomacy and the handles @swisscgny, @NYcoem, @NYPDnews, @NYCMayorsFund, @globalNYC, @digidiplomats.
A special thank you to all those in attendance, and to the speakers, to the Mayor's Office for International Affairs and the Digital Diplomacy Coalition for helping us to organize such a great event! We hope to have more discussions like these in the future.
More photos from the evening can be found in a Facebook album from the Mayor's Office for International Affairs here.