Virtual Operations Support Team 
Emergency 

Management 

Agency 

+ 

Trusted 

Agents 

----

What is a VOST? 

• Trusted agents organized and directed by Emergency 

Management agencies. 

• VOST will help expand the EM’s ability to engage with 

the public during emergencies, and as part of the 

recovery phase. 

Engaged 

Community 

Resources 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SMEM Landscape 

Social Media in Emergency Management 

• Emergency managers have started to realize the critical role 

social media can play in communicating with their community 

and the rest of the world in an emergency or disaster. 

• Communities have higher expectations around official 

emergency information being available, and this information 

provided to the public in a timely manner. 

• Public expect official use of social media streams, and they 

expect emergency managers to monitor and respond to 

requests for help over these streams as well. 

• However, few emergency management organizations are 

equipped to do this kind of social media monitoring and 

communication at scale. 
 

 

Are Here: Home ~ Markets By Country ~ Long-Haul • New Zealand 

New Zealand 

usage Patterns 

Total Online Population (000's) in 2011: 3,626 

Percentage of Population Online in 201 : 84.5% 

Demographics 

Perce 1age of P,opulation Online 

84.5% 

There were 3,625,553 internet users in New Zealand (representing 64.5%, of the population) in December 2011, according to 

Internet i/orld Stats. (Internet ~arid Stats, December 2011) 

Statistics: Social Media Use in NZ 

• Social networking ranks as the leading online activity in New Zealand, accounting 

for 1 of every 5 minutes spent online in May 2011, according to comScore's study 

on internet usage in New Zealand. 
 

 

 

 

Smartphone Use in NZ 

Are you listening? 

Of the over 4.5 m phones in market, it’s estimated: 

800,000 are smartphones. 

People will share photo’s, video, witness accounts, news, opinions and perceptions using social media about an emergency. 

Smartphone penetration UPDATE 27 January 2012 
 

EM 

Decision 

Maker 

Questions/ 

Tasks VOSr 

How will NZ VOST assist EM Agencies? 

• Listen 

• Filter 

• Aggregate 

Tasked 

• Information finding 

• Spot Trends 

• Information dissemination 

Autonomous 

• Monitoring public voice 

• Amplifying official message 
 

 

 

 

, -No~ --- _-. -:.- . . · . . 

. . 

i ) ~ 

I ,!I 

c::::::, 

et? 

An,er can 

Red Cross 

Using additional trained resources is 

NOT a new idea! 

In conjunction with the Digital Amateur Radio volunteers continue Operations Center, the Red Cross to support communication for the also announced the creation of a 

emergency operations center (EOC) Digital Volunteer Program. in the US. 
 

 

 

 

VOST Instance Cycle 

Disaster 

occurs/event 

selected 

Decision to activate 

team 

Activated by EOC or 

self activated to 

ensure data is collated 

asap 

Set tasks, priorities, 

schedule, 

tools/platforms 

VOST 

expands/contracts 

according to 

Incident command 

principles 

Deactivation, 

discussion, 

documentation, AAR 

Exercises between 

activations to stay 

current on 

tools/platforms 

Inspired by think disaster 
 

mandate 

and explore 

funding 

Scaffold 

practices 

and 

processes 

Build & 

strengthen 

working 

relationships 

Shepherded 

trial 

involvement 

. . 1n exercises 

Grow 

capacityInternal 

VOST 

How do we make it work? 
 

 

 

 

 

VOST and the recovery phase of an 

emergency or natural disaster 

VOST will become a critical additional resource for EM organisations in 

working to verify and curate BIG data during disasters. The concept bridges 

notions of professional, volunteer and community to support the emergency 

management effort in times of need. 
 

 

Sources / Reference Material 

• John Owen Butler - VOST at the National Severe Weather Workshop 

• iDisaster via Kim Stephens (Trial by Fire) 

• Gerald Baron: Crisis and emergency communication strategies 

• New Media Trend Watch (Social media in NZ analysis) 

• Get Smart - (Marketing Association event sponsored by Jericho). 

• Scott Reuter (VOST) think disaster 

• Jeff Phillips (VOST) 

• Vosg.us 
End of Presentation 

@NZVOST 

@mm4marketing 
BREAK - DISCUSSION 
 

 

 

 

Nv:IP I Join our mailiog Ual 

,cheek out the new look! 

TweetR,each for #e,qnz 

Reached 32,277 people via 50' tweets 

rs 

Tweet Types E:xpos1u11'ie. 491.4,25 lmpressio,ns 

____ - 1.4B9 4-7 T ta __,....__ 145;,, 7 T 

Eu, p sk s wa "' ny . , 

Example of Twitter Reach #EQNZ 

Magnitude 5.6, Tuesday, March 20 2012 at 8:25 pm (NZDT), 50 km north-west of Te 

Anau. (No damage, or injuries reported). 

Magnitude 3.5, Wednesday, March 21 2012 at 9:31 am (NZDT), 20 km south of 

Seddon. (No damage, or injuries reported). 
-~--,.,,.., _________ _ lilfil 

1±1 

I!! 

El 

,, .... --

Olllh 

- ,.,,,,c 

Ci!!Jft 

... .., ... 

Ocutt 

India 

Oc~an 

Enter Twitter Search Terms, and visualize tweet by a user location on a map 

INZVOST 500 meets .. I Search I 

l'iZVO T from.- New Zealand 

Civil Dcfsnc• officiri/J an warning NorthlandQn 10 brace/or wid(Upread ii-flooding. hup:/lt. co/37b7B0bK ;,_l\rzVOST t;NZ 

$01,,1/h 

P•c1f1c 

Oc1un 

..... -­, .,. 

8r.arl1 .... 

-

Nortfl 

Artanttc 

Oce-.tn 

..... 

-,, .... ..... -

, ..... 

,_ 

., ... 

·- - ,t 

Soulh 

Atlant,c 

0oe-an 

.... Salellita 

-

#NZVOST on a World Map