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What responsibility do you have during times of disaster or crisis?
As we have been saying for more than three years now, communications and how individuals get their news are changing rapidly. As more and more Americans turn to the Internet for their daily dose of news stories, horrific events, like the recent earthquake in Japan, will be played out first on the social web and then subsequently through more traditional media. This holds true for massive natural disasters as well as more local crises and even for unfortunate events that might happen at your hospital.
Within an hour of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake, which occurred on a bright afternoon in Japan,Twitter updates were flying out of Asia at the rate of over 1,200 per minute, while Facebook posts, photos, videos, and blog updates were streaming in just behind. For many people, the instinct has now shifted from running to the television during disasters to turning to their social network. We want to make sure that our "friends and followers" in the catastrophe zone are all ok. We are eager to hear their firsthand accounts because they aren't that stranger reading the news, they are people we know personally, even if it's only through a digital connection.
With that awesome ability, however, comes responsibility. With everyone having the power to be their own "Anderson Cooper," the job of getting out information to the world comes with clearly defined rules and objectives.
REPORT ONLY WHAT YOU KNOW!
We can all recall the chaos of the first few days and weeks of the massive 2007 pet food recall. News reports were sketchy, numbers of affected pets hard to come by and speculative rumors continued to fly. Imagine what would happen now, in 2011, if a similar recall happened. Twitter and Facebook would be full of anecdotal stories and conjecture, most of which would likely be unsubstantiated.
Smart phones and mobile tablets are making it easier than ever to generate content with a few mouse clicks. From words to photos and even video, we can now post to our social network from almost anywhere. But, the real question is: Should you post?
It is vital that all of us check our sources and confirm facts before uploading and posting information that might scare or panic pet owners. As you gain influence within the social media sphere, your posts will be reposted, re-tweeted and generally shared beyond your control. There is no "Unsend" or "Back" button once you hit send! Not only can posting inaccurate information do great harm to those inside and even outside of the crisis zone, but it will also greatly diminish the level of trust people have for your future updates. Lose credibility, and you will simply be ignored.
THINK BEFORE YOU SHARE
If you are using social media, whether you like it or not, you're now a historian, as well as a part of history. Remember that before you hit "share." How do you want to be remembered? Whatever you share can be taken out of context. Something non-relevant - a sarcastic comment, even something you find humorous - while accepted by your "network," can scale to huge proportions and reach a massive group of people who don't know you, but only know what you sent. We've all done it, but now we need to be smarter.
You simply must pause and think before you submit content to the world, no matter how innocuous you think it might be. In a crisis, people are hungry for information. What you feed them will determine your destiny as well, whether in the middle of the fight, or thousands of miles away.
This article was originally posted by Peter Shankman at
http://mashable.com/2011/03/17/social-media-crisis-responsibility/ and has been edited and re-purposed by me for our VNN members.
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Of course, Easter is just around the corner too!! Another great opportunity to educate pet owners about possible dangers to our pets.
Almost two weeks later, people are still fascinated with the catastrophe in Japan. So much so that pet owners on our West Coast are wondering about how to 
