Measuring the success of crisis communications

The police publish pictures on Flickr of alleged looters and ask the public : can you help us identify them?  The public reply: Yes.

West London, where I live, is quiet this evening.  Those restaurants that are still open are empty with staff sitting at tables playing cards.   The predominant sound remains that of hungry large guard dogs barking. I've come to view the sound as reassuring.


The fact that the streets are deserted is a measure of the success of the key message the Metropolitan Police have been giving - shops should shut early if they can and people should avoid areas where there might be trouble.


In a crisis, there's no time for focus groups and qualitative research (although that is useful in the medium to long term to review how your actions affected your overall reputation).


Instead, the best tools for measuring the effectiveness of your messages are your eyes and ears.


In a crisis people ask "What should I do?" and sometimes even "What should I think?"


Great crisis messages are easy to respond to and are ones that call for action.  Such as "get out" in a fire, or "stay off the streets" in the London riots.


The ubiquity of Twitter has brought a degree of sophistication into crisis messaging during the London riots.  I've been impressed by how police forces across the UK have been using Twitter.


Some, like Coventry Police (Coventry is a large industrial city in the Midlands of England) tweeted this evening that there was no trouble in the city, quashing growing rumours at a stroke.  Wise and clever.


The Metropolitan Police in London (@metpoliceuk) have used Twitter to send warnings to potential looters and to reassure the public that action was to be strong:


"Levels of disorder not the same as yesterday. A large presence will be maintained tonight."

and

"685 arrests now made re London disorder - incl. 1 for Reeves furniture store fire http://bit.ly/qIaAL1"

Reeves furniture store in Croydon, a long established family store, is destroyed by arson in the riots

How about this clever one from Greater Manchester Police? (@gmpolice):

"If you have been using social networking sites to incite disorder, expect us to come knocking on your door very soon"

The first casualty in a crisis is usually the truth so West Midlands Police (@wmpolice) has been doing what it can to keep citizens informed of what is going on, even if it is not good news (looting and violence were appalling in Birmingham last night - 3 innocent people were killed):

@WMPolice: "We are investigating unconfirmed report of shots fired just outside Birmingham centre.No injuries reported.Officers on scene"


and

"For all the latest updates for rest of the evening follow @WMPolice and visit www.west-midlands.police.uk"

Meanwhile social media is playing its part in helping the aftermath of the trouble so far.  Shops in London reported they had sold out of brooms as members of the public bought one on their way to volunteering to help clear up the streets - something organised in Twitter.  Local shops made tea and sandwiches for the volunteers.  One volunteer said: "If they come back tonight and create more destruction, we'll be back in the morning to clear it again. That's what Londoners do."

But most significantly, the camera enabled cell phone has provided thousands of images of looters and arsonists and the public are sending them to the police.  In London, the Metropolitan Police have set up a Flickr site with the pictures, asking the public to identify the criminals.  This is a repeat of what happened in Vancouver a few weeks ago when civil disorder and looting broke out after a hockey match.

One young man gave himself up at a police station today after his picture was posted.

Now that's a measure of the effectiveness of the police's message - "help us to identify the looters".


In the meantime, citizens remain very, very angry and want to see tough action from the Government. Parliament has been recalled tomorrow from holiday.  For the sake of its reputation, the quality of debate must be very high, and there must be a sense of tough decisions being taken.  One way to start would be to cancel the planned cuts to the police budgets (I haven't met anyone who supports these cuts now) and firing anyone who is employed in the public service who has played any role in the riots, including on social media.