The Engagement Consul enables the Red Cross to respond to tweets, Facebook and blog posts within the various networks in a well-informed and therefore very selective and targeted manner.
Volunteers become power users through 'Digital Volunteers Program'
To take full advantage of the social media monitoring platform, social strategy director Wendy Harman and her list to data team have also launched a ‘Digital Volunteers Program’. The digital volunteers will play a key role in the social media response to requests for help. The idea is that volunteers will become the main users of the Radian platform, filtering the bulk of the information in the ‘social media space’ for local use.
The volunteers receive a special 2-day training for this. They work mostly from their own homes and take a lot of work off the hands of the professionals. They do all this:
they filter the bulk of (local) information that comes in via social media in emergency situations;
they respond to individual requests for help ('Where is the nearest shelter?' or 'Where is food being distributed?');
they give 'virtual hugs' (for example, they assist people who have become trapped as a result of a natural disaster and are waiting for help).
Interviews, Work in progress and Workshop
There is a lot to find on the internet about the new initiative of the Red Cross and Dell. Here are three more videos that provide insight into the goings-on around the centre: In the first video (2.5 minutes) Wendy Harman and other managers talk about the importance of the Digital Operations Centre.