With the recent grass fires threatening Lethbridge, it is apparent that the city is a step behind in the ways it communicates with its citizens.
On Nov.27, grass fires broke out on the Blood reserve west of Lethbridge. With high winds and enormous smoke clouds billowing, Lethbridge quickly moved into a panic state. There was a rush of information coming from all directions and no one seemed to know what was going on.
In a province where wild fires are a very realistic threat, it is imperative that the city provides its citizens with current and accurate information in order to keep control and ensure the safety of everyone.
During a city council meeting on Nov. 28, there were many pats on the back regarding how well the situation was handled. While it’s certain that fire crews, police and other city staffers handled the situation with grace, there are questions regarding the effectiveness of the communications plan.
The city did use traditional media outlets and the city website to send out emergency information. However, its major malfunction was its inability to utilize Twitter. Over the course of the four hours in which the wild fires caused chaos in the city, 12 tweets were sent out from the City of Lethbridge account; on average, that’s about once every 20 minutes.
It’s not being suggested that Twitter should be turned into some sort of emergency notification service. However, all government agencies should be using Twitter to tweet emergency information in addition to formal warning systems.
Twitter is a free and instantaneous way to keep current and correct information in the hands of the public. It makes no sense as to why the city would not be taking more advantage of social media.
When a couple of members of council, including Mayor Rajko Dodic, chatted outside chambers with Endeavour student journalists, it became apparent there is a generation gap in the use of social media. To them, Twitter and Facebook are merely fun websites for young people to socialize on and not something to be taken seriously or be used as a legitimate way to inform the people of Lethbridge.
With two post-secondary institutions in the city, the student population is one group that city council members should be concerned about. After all, many students go straight to their smartphones as their first source of breaking information.
When asked why the city didn’t and doesn’t plan on having someone consistently sending out tweets in emergency situations, it was brushed off as a lack of resource problem and mentioned that only a small part of the community uses sites like that, and of course, “it would raise your taxes.”
At this point, it’s uncertain if city council has any idea what is involved in sending out a tweet. With 140 characters allowed per tweet, 15,000 staff and an abundance of resources are clearly unnecessary.
During the fires, the city was also dealing with the problem of other Twitter accounts throughout the province sending out inaccurate information.
For this to even be an issue, clearly some of the people are getting their information from social media. If the city had been posting fluent, minute-by-minute updates from their account, it would have cleared up the situation.
If Twitter was time consuming or expensive to send out information, it might be understandable if the city did not use it, but Twitter isn’t. It is foolish for the city to not move forward with better, faster and more efficient types of communication.