Social Media and Business Continuity

There are many pros and cons of using social media in business, including the concern about what to do if things go wrong. Many businesses today, however, are integrating social media into their Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans and activities. Read on to learn more about this evolving trend.

The use of social media as a business continuity tool is a trend on the upswing. (Item #1)   HR professionals, should update their business continuity plans to include social media. (Item #2)   Today's consensus is that it is now a "smart practice" to include SM in BCP and COOP programs. (Item #3)  

Twitter allows users to quickly and efficiently interact with one another 140 characters at a time through what is called a "tweet." (Item #4)   There's a wrong and right way to handle a social media disaster. (Item #5)   Two women in Missouri got on Facebook and helped after the Joplin tornado. (Item #6)  

As always, we look forward to hearing your comments & insights regarding business continuity. If you have a topic you'd like us to cover, email me at [email protected].

Bob Mellinger, President
Attainium Corp

1. Social media can transform enterprise business continuity management

Three-quarters of organizations will use social media as part of their business continuity management (BCM) strategies by 2015 with communication during crises a key component of its role. According to Gartner, businesses are already tasking their BCM teams to assess the opportunities to use public social media platforms to support business continuity.
http://www.continuitycentral.com/news06173.html

2. Strategic Synergy: HR, Social Media and Business Continuity

Human Resources professionals provide essential services to businesses and employees which must continue even in the face of a disaster. Social media makes available an important tool kit for HR's key role in Business Continuity Management (BCM).
http://www.portlandhrmablog.org/?p=703

3. Social media in Business Continuity
    and Continuity of Operations Programs

As in emergency management, social media is becoming a growing consideration for business continuity and continuity of operations planning. The topic was discussed at a recent meeting of the National Emergency Management Association in Washington D.C. At NEMA's mid-year conference, a whole day of discussions was dedicated to the role of SM in emergency management and BCP/COOP.
http://www.ptsc-online.ca/forums/
emergencymanagementtopicscrisisandemergencycommunicationspractices/
socialmediainbusinesscontinuityandcontinuityofoper

4. Twitter and business continuity

Twitter has created a new baseline for effective and efficient communication. With the ease of use and scalability that social media provides, organizations are looking to understand how social media not only fits into their marketing and branding efforts, but also their business continuity capability.
http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0784.html

5. Social Media Disaster Recovery: It's All About the Response

Many people who have yet to establish organizational social media guidelines are faced with the same type of split-second decision I was faced with that day in the sandwich shop: own up to a mistake and deal with the consequences, or dance around it and risk a potential disaster.
http://engage.tmgcustommedia.com/2011/02/social-media-disaster-recovery/

6. Of Hurricanes and Hashtags:
    Disaster Relief in the Social-Media Age

Just hours after a tornado devastated parts of Joplin, Mo., in the late afternoon of May 22, 2011, the mother-daughter team of Rebecca and Genevieve Williams of the nearby town of Neosho went to work on a Facebook page. In the days that followed, the page became a clearinghouse for information on recovery, how to volunteer, where to donate supplies, media updates, and requests for information about loved ones. It was one big piece of a spontaneous eruption of social media that helped those survivors who relied on their smartphones for access to information.
http://news.yahoo.com/hurricanes-hashtags-disaster-relief-social-media-age-064505218.html