Newport This Week cites Portsmouth blogger in Irene social media wrapup

Newport This Week (NTW) (the print companion of NewportNow.com) features comments from this editor in their wrapup of social media use around Hurricane Irene. If you can't grab a free copy at the many locations around the island, there's an online version here.

The story focuses on how citizens (and local businesses, and even National Grid) used social media to keep friends and neighbors informed, while governments like Newport and Portsmouth did not.

"I don't know about other towns, but Portsmouth did a lamentably poor job at communicating, specifically with residents in my neighborhood," said Portsmouth resident and local blogger John McDaid.

As McDaid, who pens the blog HardDeadlines.com, notes, Island Park was the subject of a "mandatory" evacuation order. "I learned about that on Facebook," he said, "And not even from the Town of Portsmouth, which doesn't even HAVE a Facebook presence."

Instead, the town posted a notice on its municipal website, which he said, "is not a place I typically go for breaking news."

And do you know WHY Portsmouth has no presence on Facebook? According to an e-mail earlier this year from former Town Administrator Bob Driscoll, because our IT consultant nixed it over to security concerns. I have a query in to Facebook.com for their official response, and I intend to follow up with new Town Admin David Dolce.

NTW even gave me the kicker:

Concluded Portsmouth's McDaid: "I consider it a missed opportunity — to say the least — that local government and emergency response did not take advantage of social media during this critical time. While I think our community-based media performed admirably — and everyday friends and citizens stepped up to keep each other informed — the lack of any official word was troubling."

When I say community-based media, I'm explicitly thanking Portsmouth Patch and Newport Now, who were both out there on Twitter and Facebook. I spent the weekend refreshing feeds on my iPhone (plugged into the car charger) and that was how I kept up with the big picture.

And another big thank you to all my friends and neighbors in Portsmouth who kept posting what they were seeing. We kept each other in the loop, even if the Town didn't.

Comments

Did you ever notice that there is, on East Main Road, right next to the town hall, a sign proclaiming us to be "A Storm Ready Community."?! I've always wondered what that means and now I wonder more.