If tragedy were to strike Bowling Green, I can honestly say that I would want someone to model an emergency response team after Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s response to Hurricane Sandy.
On a day-to-day basis, Mayor Bloomberg updates his 350,000+ followers about big news events, health tips and other happenings, but his Twitter account served as something more this past week. Before, during and after Hurricane Sandy hit, his account was a method of emergency response.
Days before Sandy started scaring the citizens on the East Coast, Bloomberg was sending out warning tweets. His account (whether it was actually him or just someone who runs his account) tweeted preparation tips for the storm. Not only did he tweet his own preparation ideas, he linked to other accounts and websites to get the word out to his people.
During the storm, the Mayor kept his citizens informed. Even though millions were without power, they still had their phones for a few hours and satellite Internet connection. He posted tweets about evacuation plans and talked about which areas had the most damage. Not only did he give helpful and informational insights, he gave condolences as well.
While Sandy was wrecking his territory, every tweet from Bloomberg had a mini-URL attached. These links brought users to helpful pages with updates on the storm and even personal video messages. In this way, he made himself seem human to the people who needed a human touch.
Sandy left behind a great deal of destruction. Bloomberg posted updates and positive messages to keep his people looking up. “NYC has been through a lot in the last 11 years: Hurricane Irene, a transit strike, a blackout and more. We’ll get through this too #Sandy” was one of my favorite motivational tweets.
He kept businesspeople in the loop by explaining what the New York Stock Exchange was doing in response to the storm, but he also kept parents informed with school delays and closures. He had the whole demographic in mind the whole time.
All in all, Bloomberg did a fantastic job while responding to Hurricane Sandy. He helped citizens of NYC prepare for the storm, he rode it out with them and helped motivate them to get back on their feet. He never left them in the dark.
Posting of Youtube videos and personal messages offered the human touch that the people needed and the informational links gave them something solid to hold on to.
Good on you, Mayor Bloomberg. You’re the type of mayor NYC needs.
