(Course updated March 19, 2013) MCUrgent is a social media emergency notification system developed by Morris County and used in multi-jurisdictional emergencies. It includes towns as team members in a single Facebook and Twitter emergency notification stream. This beginner course explains what it is and how municipalities can post messages.

1. MCUrgent
A Shared Emergency
Information Network
Getting the
word out with
social media
Carol A. Spencer, Web Manager Building a Municipal Social Presence
Morris County NJ March 19, 2013

2. M r i s Count y’ s Shar ed, M t i -
or ul
j ur i sdi ct i onal
Em gency I nf or m i on Net wor k
er at
What it is. How it works.

3. What is MCUrgent?
• An application that utilizes the power of social media to share
official emergency information during an emergency with
multi-jurisdictional impact.
• Led by Morris County’s Office of Emergency Management,
MCUrgent allows all 39 towns to post to a single Twitter feed
and Facebook page.
• Via a Twitter widget (a small piece of code your web person can
grab and use), MCUrgent can be put on any web page.
• Individual town emergency notices can be posted to a town’s
website, Twitter feed or Facebook page at the same time.

4. Using Twitter to Share Information
Messages can be posted
from a desktop, laptop,
phone
Message can be retrieved
from a desktop, laptop,
phone
Subscription-free access
Fast Follow text messages
AccessibleTwitter.com
Twitter users can:
Retweet (share)
Search by #hashtag
Share with RSS
True social media use allows citizen contribution & sharing:
Twitterers can add #hashtags to their own postings
Twitterers can message MCUrgent

5. What Twitter IS:
•A news service, a microblog
•Information-only notification methodology
•Technology dependent notification
Server overload; “Fail whale” issues
•140 characters only
Very brief announcements or links to more information
•Available on multiple media
Computer, laptop, wireless, smartphone, sms, rss reader,
ipad, and more
•Available without registration

6. What Twitter is NOT:
•A formal, guaranteed notification system
– No guarantee that notices will be posted
– No guarantee on uptime
– No guarantee that applications that pull Twitter feed
will function
•The sole notification system
– TV, radio, Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, SMS/text,
reverse 9-1-1, email must all be used
•Substitute for an official emergency
notification service

7. Our vision of MCUrgent
#MCParsip RT 46 WB between New Rd and Rt 202/Parsippany
Rd flooded. All lanes closed. 6:37 AM Mar 15 via Twitter
th
Parsippany
Morris Twp
Towns create a tweet
Denville
#hashtag post
Riverdale
Dover

8. Our vision of MCUrgent
Twitter
(MCUrgent)
Parsippany Facebook
(MCUrgent)
Morris Twp
Towns create a tweet
Denville
#hashtag post
Riverdale
Dover

9. Our vision of MCUrgent
Twitter
(MCUrgent)
Parsippany Facebook
(MCUrgent)
Morris Twp
Twitter
Towns create a tweet (MorrisCountyNJ)
Denville
#hashtag post Facebook
(MorrisCountyNJ)
Riverdale
Twitter
Dover (Town feed)
Facebook
(Town page)

10. Setting Up
Hootsuite

11. Log into Hootsuite.com with any browser
Username is the generic email used to set up Hootsuite:
MC+TownName+NJ@gmail.com
Password is: change#me

12. Hootsuite Setup: Getting Started Tab

13. Hootsuite Setup: Locating social networks

14. Hootsuite Setup: Settings

15. Hootsuite Setup: Add info about you

16. Hootsuite Setup: Change password

17. Hootsuite Setup: Use https, uncheck items

18. Hootsuite Setup: pull in other information

19. Hootsuite Setup: RSS example
The RSS feed from CarolSpencerNJ on Twitter is “fed” to the MorrisTest
account. Each time CarolSpencerNJ posts to Twitter, it also goes out on
MorrisTest. Uses? Nat’l Weather Service, TransOptions, etc.

20. Hootsuite Setup: Social Networks viewable

21. Hootsuite Setup

22. Hootsuite Setup: Add your Town networks

23. Hootsuite Setup: Add your Town networks

24. Hootsuite Setup: Add your Town networks

25. Hootsuite Setup: Terminology
Social Networks
Tabs
Streams
Posts

26. Hootsuite Setup: Adding Tabs

27. Hootsuite Setup: Adding Tabs

28. Hootsuite Setup: Adding Streams

29. Hootsuite Setup: Adding Streams

30. Hootsuite Setup: Adding Streams

31. Hootsuite Setup is done!
Now, we’re ready to post.
Post to:
MorrisTest for Twitter
MyJurisdiction for Facebook

32. Hootsuite
Dashboard

33. Hootsuite Dashboard

34. Hootsuite Dashboard

35. Hootsuite Dashboard

36. Hootsuite Dashboard

37. Hootsuite Dashboard

38. Posting with
Hootsuite

39. Hootsuite Dashboard: Let’s try it…
1. Post to test accounts (MorrisTest, MyJurisdiction)
Click in the ‘Compose message…’ box
Enter a test message. Use abbreviations, hash tags.
Check off MorrisTest first. Note the number of characters remaining.
Check off MyJurisdiction. Note the number of characters remaining.
Click the calendar icon. Schedule for 5 minutes from now.
Note that the ‘Send Now’ button became ‘Schedule’.
Click ‘View date in Publisher’ to see what happens.
Click on the floppy drive icon to see that that does.
Save your tweet as a draft.

40. Hootsuite Dashboard: Let’s try it…
2. Post to test accounts (MorrisTest, MyJurisdiction)
To see your draft posts, click the down arrow next to the floppy drive
icon
If you see the post you want to send, click on it.
Check the social networks to which you want this to go.
If you were to check off one of the MCUrgent social networks,
you would get a confirming slider to prevent accidental posting
to this account.
Click the calendar icon. Schedule for 5 minutes from now.
Note that the ‘Send Now’ button became ‘Schedule’.
Click Schedule.
If you still have the ‘Publisher’ calendar open, see your tweet.

41. Before Posting
Double check before you post
Information is accurate
Information is authorized for public release
Post is 140 characters or less
Spelling is accurate
Link is accurate
Copy it into a new browser window to be sure it goes where you want
Date and time are correct if scheduling into the future
Selected social networks are the correct ones
Once it’s out there, you can delete it but anyone who has read it,
has read it.
To delete in Hootsuite, hover over the tweet in the ‘sent tweets’
stream and click the x.

42. A few more things…
Searching, deleting, filtering
To search Twitter, enter the search criteria in the search box and
click the magnifying glass.
To create a stream of a particular search term, click “+Add Stream”.
Choose a search term or use logic as per examples
To create a stream of keywords, enter the terms. Tweets using any
of the keywords will be returned.
To use hashtags so your comments will be included in a stream using
that term, precede your term with a #. Example: #MCLibrary;
#Jan25; #gov20; #superbowl, #poltwt
To be sure your tweet ends up in someone’s mentions stream,
use @ before their Twitter handle.

43. Hootsuite
Tools

44. Hootsuite Tools
Click any Twitter
handle to get
information about
who they are, their
website, number of
followers / following
and more….

45. Hootsuite Tools

46. Hootsuite Tools

47. Hootsuite Tools: Scheduled Tweets

48. Hootsuite Tools:
Analytics

49. Hootsuite Tools: Interactions

50. Hootsuite Tools: Interactions

51. Hootsuite Tools: Applications

52. MCUrgent: What’s next?
• Practice: Use MorrisTest for Twitter and MyJurisdiction
for Facebook.
(You can only see these on Hootsuite.com when you’re
logged in. These are not live accounts.)
• Post: Post to MCUrgent only in a multi-jurisdictional
declared emergency OR when whatever has
happened impacts multiple towns.
For example: Route 46 closed in rush hour
• Remember: • MCUrgent on Twitter goes to phones as text
messages. Post judiciously.
• The public considers weather & major highway
closures as emergencies.
• If you post that it’s closed, post when it’s open.
• Go Mobile: Come to the advanced class when we schedule it
to learn how to post from an iPad, tablet or
smartphone.

53. Summary of MCUrgent
• What: Emergency notifications from
participating towns: MCUrgent
• Web: MorrisCountyNJ.gov Twitter widget
Town info on town website if they want
• Social: Twitter.com/MCUrgent
MCUrgent.org / .net / .com / .info
Facebook.com
(Morris County Office of Emergency Management)
• SMS: text follow MCUrgent to 40404

54. Contact Information
Carol A. Spencer
Digital & Social Media Manager,
Morris County
Website : MorrisCountyNJ.gov
Email : CSpencer@co.morris.nj.us or
CarolSpencerNJ@gmail.com
Facebook : Facebook.com/MorrisCountyNJ
Facebook : Facebook.com/MCUrgent
Twitter : Twitter.com/MorrisCountyNJ
Twitter : Twitter.com/MCUrgent (or MCUrgent.com)

55. MCUrgent
A Shared Emergency
Information Network
Getting the
word out with
social media
Carol A. Spencer, Web Manager Building a Municipal Social Presence
Morris County NJ March 19, 2013