Easily Target Zip Codes like a GIS Expert

May 18, 2009

If you’ve ever been working on publishing an evacuation map or trying to target a specific area, then the Google “mashup” called ZipMaps is a very handy (free) online tool that helps you find out zip codes for any place in US. It displays a map and a custom tile layer of zip codes over [...]

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Here’s a Quick Way to Setup a Flexible JIC Staff Schedule

May 14, 2009

Okay, this is super cool and super simple. Need an easy way to setup an easily sharable schedule for your Joint Information Center? Go figure that there’s a free online site that does the trick – it’s called FindMyShift.com. In most of the JIC’s I’ve set up, we just scribbled names on a white board [...]

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Why Use Social Media in a Crisis?

May 13, 2009

Social media has dynamically changed the landscape of effectively reacting to a crisis and this presentation a great perspective on what’s happening.  Even better, there’s specific tips on how you should react.  The Society for New Communications Research held a forum at the end of April and their closing speaker was a PR Professional Shel [...]

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The Secret to Protecting Your Email Address

May 12, 2009

Did you know that if you put your email address in a blog post, web page or even in a comment on Twitter or Facebook, it often gets “scraped” by automated systems (bots) looking for valid email addresses to add to their spam list?  Yep, it happens all the time.  And you wonder why you [...]

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“Swine Flu” Most Popular Among Bloggers

May 11, 2009

Swine Flu, Easter, and Somali Pirates topped Nielsen’s monthly index of most blogged news stories for April 2009, according to Nielsen’s just released top 10 most-blogged topics report. “Understanding what is currently important to bloggers is essential to marketers since we know that highly blogged about topics are important indicators of conversational sustainability and impact,” [...]

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Free New Mapping Tool that Rocks

May 8, 2009

There’s now a more flexible way to customize a standard Google Map – It’s called Scribble Maps. This is really cool because you can literally scribble on a big map, add icons (more than Google Maps has) and it has a very intuitive interface.

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Fax & Email Documents Free With Your Camera Phone

May 7, 2009

Tired of taking notes during all those important meetings?  Well, if you’re into PDA’s (no, not public displays of affection, silly!), the nifty little handheld computers that are phones too, then you’ve likely got a camera on it.  Ever wondered how you could use that camera for something more professional than taking secret pictures of [...]

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Trends: Top Social Media Sites

May 6, 2009

When I teach communications professionals about “Social Media,” I often like to use the most recent statistics to demonstrate trends. There are dozens, probably hundreds, of social media tools out there and their popularity makes a big difference when you put it in the context of a crisis. Obviously you wouldn’t spend your time feeding [...]

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Have Someone Else to Read the News for You

May 5, 2009

Come on, admit it. There’s been a time when you wished someone else would do all the work of reading news stories and summarizing what’s being said for you. Well, there’s this new website that might be the place for you – especially if you’re working in a Joint Information Center and you’re responsible for [...]

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Find Similar Images with New Google Feature

May 4, 2009

When you “Google” something looking for images, you often find lots of similar results. But, it can sometimes be difficult to find the right image if you can’t describe it in words. The new Google Similar Images feature was developed with just this in mind. Using it you can now find images that look like [...]

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