Social Media Monitoring for Public Health Response Operations

Tamer HadiStrategic Initiatives Coordinator

Office of Emergency Preparedness and ResponseNYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

@tamer_hadi

Brief Social Media Basics Why Monitor Social Media? Planning Considerations for Developing a Monitoring Team

o Resources (staff and materials)o ICS positioningo Logisticso Agency and Jurisdictional Policies

Real World & Exercise Examples Social Media Tools & Resources Future Direction & Discussion

OVERVIEW

Types of Social MediaSocial Networking

Blogs / Microblogs

Photo / Video Sharing

Current Major Platforms & UsersFacebook: Social Networking (1.2B Worldwide, 158 USA)

Twitter: Follow People / Organization (500M)

Google+: Social Networking (340M)

Pinterest: Virtual Pinboard (50M)

Instagram: Photo /Video Sharing (150M, 4B Photos)

YouTube: Video Sharing (1B, 4B)

LinkedIn: Professional Networking (200M)

Tweet Breakdown

Tweet BreakdownTwitter Handle Hashtags

Mention

Shortened-Link

Composing Tweets

• Trending Topics / Hashtags / Keyword Searches• Twitter API (“Firehose”, “Decahose”, 3rd Party Applications)• Streaming / Dashboard• Geo-fenced Searches• Geo-tagged Posts• Sentiment• Influence• Crisis Mapping• Crowdsourcing

Definitions / Terminology

1. Situational Awareness– Pics, videos, commentary on the ground

2. Assess Success (or Failure) of Public Messaging– Unanswered questions and reach of agency

3. Rumor Control / Reputational Threats– Identify and dispel false information– Respond to questions and mentions ( & ) and issues about agency

operations/services4. Detecting Public Need or Requests for Help

– Respond or Route calls for assistance through appropriate channels5. Supplement ongoing disease surveillance

– Identify patterns or trends in public health related needs

Why Monitor Social Media?(from a PH EM standpoint)

REASON 1: Situational AwarenessAugust 16, 2013

REASON 1: Situational Awareness

TRUCK FIRE: August 16, 2013

REASON 2: Success & Failure of Messaging

REASON 3: Rumor Control / Reputational Threats

REASON 3: Rumor Control / Reputational Threats

REASON 4: Requests for Help

• Hard to do with free, active monitoring tools• Depending on scenario, creating symptom keyword

searches still worth doing• MappyHealth (NowTrending.HHS.gov)• HealthMap

REASON 5: Symptom Trends

Building Social Media Into ICS

Social Media Monitoring Team (SMMT)Trained agency staff mobilized during ICS activations to monitor

social media in support of incident objectives.

Purpose of Monitoring Social MediaProvide relevant, verifiable and actionable information

to ICS Leadership

1st and foremost

LEADERSHIP BUY-IN

Planning Considerations

• Does agency already have established social media / digital communications program / presence?– If not, essential to have this come first

• Does agency have 1 staff that can dedicate 50+% of time to developing/sustaining this capacity?– If not, consider hiring consultant, but still sustainability issue– Expertise may reside in-house, but lack of time to dedicate to project

• Does agency have staff that can be trained and dedicated to perform this role during emergencies?– If not, consider the “VOST” concept

Planning Considerations (2)Staff / Agency Resources

• ICS Positioning – PIO vs Planning Section vs Other?

• Communication - Bet team and sections (bidirectional)

• Reporting – Style, Format

• External Agency Sharing – How? Liabilities?

• Training/Exercises - Ongoing to maintain skills and stay up to date

on new trends

Planning Considerations (3)Structure and Protocols

Software / Hardware / Space Requirements:- Dedicated space w/ desktops/laptops/projector (virtual possible)- Remove network security barriers/filters- Unified email address for team members (e.g. socialmedia@xxxxx.gov)

- “Dummy” accounts on various platforms- Activation / Mobilization Protocol

Planning Considerations (4)Team Logistics

• Kickoff Meeting Hurricane Sandy ( 4 month delay!)

• Vendor-Facilitated Workshop w/ ICS Structure Repso Familiarize vendor with agency ICSo Expand Social Media Monitoring project awarenesso Identify section-specific use cases (e.g. specific keywords, strategic goals

and objectives)• Reference Guide / Training Binder• Refresher videos• In-person training

Outsourcing Vendor Deliverables

• Unit under PIO Serves all branches of the ICS structure• Mobilized during ICS activations to monitor social media in

support of incident objectives• 20 staff trained on tools/techniques to gather info• 10 permanently assigned/dedicated to this function• 3-5 staff any given operational period• Room in HQ dedicated to team during activations• Goal Provide relevant, timely, verifiable and actionable

information to ICS Leadership

Social Media Monitoring Team (SMMT)

SMMT STRUCTUREPIO Section Chief

SMMTShift Manager

Monitoring Specialist

Analyst

Operationalizing SM MonitoringInput User-Defined Search Parameters

(Topics, hashtags, people, events)

Analysis / Visualization Tools(Filter, analyze for relevant info using software)

Human Analysis(Validate and determine if info requires leadership attention)

Reporting(Provide ICS Leadership reports in easily consumable format)

SM Information Flow

1. SMMT Internal SharePoint site:o Manual, JASso Refresher Videoso Protocolso Archive for reports

2. All staff have:o Full network social media accesso Access to socialmedia@health.nyc.govo Access to Hootsuite enterprise accounto Access to @SMMT_DOHMH twitter account w/ relevant lists

3. Room Dedicated for Monitoring after ICS Activation4. Laptops w/ broadband cards (in addition to desktops)

Resources in Place

• Team of volunteers activated to perform specific functions using new communication and social media technologies in support of an affected organization and/or jurisdiction

• Each VOST has Team Leader that reports directly to the affected organization/agency

• E.G. DOHMH could call on trained group of NYC MRC to assist w/ monitoring and provide technical assistance such as:– Providing general awareness of sentiment and commentary by public– Identifying relevant mobilized organizations– Mapping specific incidents or calls for assistance– Be official message disseminators

Virtual Operations Support Team (VOST)

Real World Examples&

Social Media Tools

Example of Twitter Impact

• Hepatitis A - Food Handler– Manhattan Supermarket– Bronx Chinese Restaurant

Real World Examples

• Super Bowl

Hot97 NYC Morning Radio Show

SuperBowl XLVIII (NY/NJ)

Super Bowl Search Strings

("a cold" OR flu OR sneeze OR sneezing OR cough OR coughing OR "a fever" OR "my fever" OR "sore throat")((("super bowl" OR superbowl OR #superbowl OR sb OR #sb OR #sb48 OR #sb2014) (boulevard OR blvd)) OR #sbboulevard OR #sbblvd OR toboggan OR #toboggan OR #tobogganrun OR superbowlboulevard)

• Scenario: Citywide aerosolized anthrax release• Gave PIO keyword trend summaries and relevant twitter mentions to

evaluate how it would be handledSAMPLE TWEETS

@nycHealthy Got my medication yesterday, already feeling #better. POD staff were nice @nycHealthy I think I have a fever. How do I get my shot without spreading illness to other people? @nycHealthy I saw a man walk out of the POD and into the grocery store. Is it safe to eat fruits and vegetables that he touched?@nycHealthy Standing in line at the #POD, dude behind me offered cash to the staff to be moved to the front of the line.@nycHealthy I can’t find any masks that filter out anthrax. Where do I get them? #worried #coughing @nycHealthy Which is more effective against anthrax Ciprofloxacin or Doxycycline? Where can I get the anthrax vaccine?@nycHealthy How do I clean my apartment to get rid of anthrax? @nycHealthy I started having diarrhea, is this Anthrax taking over my body or a side effect of the Cipro that I was given.

Functional Exercise: Social Media Injects

**** EXERCISE ONLY ***

Monitoring Tools – LIVE DEMO

Identifying Foodborne Outbreaks Using YELP• Developed program to analyze text of reviews based on:

o Keywords: sick vomiting, diarrhea, etco Multiple people illo Relevant incubation period

• July 2012 - began analyzing reviews posted on Yelpo Yelp provides a feed to analyze reviews for NYC restaurantso DOHMH contacts reviewers to interview them about their

illness o Identified and investigated 3 outbreaks from July 2012-March

2013 missed through 311 reporting

Using Twitter for Foodborne Illness

Currently working to analyze Twitter data• Creating program to search Twitter respond to those that may

indicate a foodborne illness for further investigation • Ask users to complete a web-based survey which collects: – Contact information– Name of restaurant

• Can follow-up similar to 311 complaints

Resources• Twitter Chats/Hashtags: #SMEMCHAT #SMEM #SM4PH• CDC NPIN Webinars• http://www.sm4em.org - Cheryl Bledsoe @CherylBle• http://idisaster.wordpress.com/ - Kim Stephens @kim26stephens• http://crisiscommscp.blogspot.com/ - Patrice Cloutier @patricecloutier• http://irevolution.net/ - Patrick Meier @patrickmeier• http://www.agincourt.us/ - Agincourt Strategies @gbaron• Emergency Management Magazine - blog• NACCHO / UPMC Research Paper “Riding the Mobile Wave” (2014)

Supplemental Passive Surveillance Tool• Customized algorithms running 24/7 in background at

health departments• Triggers alerts when keywords above threshold• Natural language• Full “firehose” and geographic specificity

FUTURE?

Key Questions:

• Did Social Media information assist with decision making? • Did it help achieve objectives?

At the very least…

• If SM allows agency to rapidly respond to public confusion/questions and identify and address rumors that arise in a timely manner, that is success!

Success?

CONTACT:

Tamer Hadithadi@health.nyc.gov

347.396.2769@tamer_hadi (opinions my own!)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/tamerhadi