FEMA is the latest agency turning to social media when disasters strike. The department has launched an initiative to monitor social media when emergency situations arise in hopes of helping those affected.

While the Department of Homeland Security has been monitoring social media for years, this new initiative can help the department identify where helps is needed most in an efficient manner. This comes on the heels of Facebook launching their Safety Check feature last year, that goes live when a natural disaster strikes – it allows users in the affected area to notify family and friends through the social site if they’re safe or not in the area. It’s content like this, along with general social media posts, such as “My brother lives in xxx and says his neighborhood is underwater.”

This information can be easily collected and corroborated against other publicly generated data to to ensure accuracy before dispatching help. By incorporating this type of monitoring with location based social monitoring, the department could gain benefit and speed in assisting those in an emergency situation.

Of note, this type of monitoring, as is the case with the majority of programs, can only collect public facing data – that is, content that is posted on public sites. If your social accounts are set to private, then there is no concern over your content being picked up in monitoring programs.

Social media data collection has proven to be a useful component in many industries, and emergency relief programs are realizing the benefit it can have when a disaster strikes.