http://www.mostlikelytodiealone.com/

1. Mobile Phones in a Crisis:
Maybe You Should Listen.
(CC) Flickr user hotdogger13

2. As communicators, we want to get
information to the audience…
Source
Many Many Many

3. …in a crisis, it’s even more important
(cc) Flickr User Bossanostra

4. But trying to
reach them
mobile?
You’re late
to the party

5. Technology Lesson #1
The normal stress on a cell network is high just to
find your phone to deliver a SMS.
Source: Traynor, “Characterizing the Limitations of Third-Party EAS Over Cellular Text
Messaging Services”, Sept. 2008

6. Technology Lesson #2 (now with math)
In an emergency, location and timing are even more
challenging. As volume and need goes up, the delay
of messages gets worse.
Source: Traynor, “Characterizing the Limitations of Third-Party EAS Over Cellular Text
Messaging Services”, Sept. 2008

7. It’s going to
be ok.
Just
remember
this: the
mobile
phone is
personal
and social
media ( cc) Flickr User
Pink Sherbet Photography

8. When a crisis
happens, the
reaction isn’t
always to
*receive*
information. It’s
just as much
about
dispersing it
from first-hand
sources.
Janis Krums via TwitPic

9. That’s where listening comes in.

10. Let’s call it
the 911 dilemma
(cc) Flickr User Gilbert R.

11. If an emergency
happened, would you
expect 911 to call
you?
XKCD CARTOON, “RTFM”

12. (cc) Flickr user rogiro
Don’t think of mobile as
a channel to get to
people during a crisis.

13. Rule 5
of the 7 Unique Traits of Mobile Media
1. The phone is the first personal media.
2. The phone is permanently carried.
3. The phone is the first always-on mass Media.
4. The phone has a built-in payment mechanism.
5. The phone is a creative tool available always at the point of
creative impulse.
6. Mobile has near-perfect audience information.
7. Only mobile can capture the social context of media consumption.
Credit: Tomi T. Ahonen, “Thought Piece: Mobile is the 7th Mass Media” May 2008

14. You can find out an awful lot from what people share
and interact on their mobile phones.
(cc) Flickr User Laughing Squid

15. And these channels are
where a crisis will be
discussed.

16. (cc) Flickr User Si1very
Instead of trying to find your
audience, now you know exactly
who can help you get your info out
there.

17. (cc) Flickr User I, Timmy
It’s an opportunity to let them reach you.

18. Just because it’s a crisis doesn’t mean you
need to push.
From Gary Larson’s “The Far Side”

19. Let your audience tell you what they need.
And mobile can be an invaluable tool to reach people in the middle of it.
(cc) Flickr User The Joy Of The Mundane

20. (cc) Dave Levy 2009
david.levy@edelman.com
Twitter: @levydr
Dave Levy is an Account Executive on Edelman’s Digital Public Affairs team in
Washington, DC. Dave came to Edelman in 2007 after he received a master’s degree in public
relations at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He has a
deep background in digital media research and assisted, designed and wrote studies on the
effects of interactive media as an undergraduate at Boston College. Dave has also written
extensively on how mobile communication can be used as a vehicle for grassroots and public
affairs advocacy, as well as the impact of real-time mobile communication on mainstream
media during major events or disasters. A self-proclaimed geek, he blogs often about the
social aspects of social media at Most Likely To Die Alone.