Crisis blogging and what it means to business

The disaster of Hurricane Katrina is mind-boggling. My heart goes out to all those affected. Like so many folks, I have a special feeling for the city of New Orleans. Inconceivable to think of 80 percent of the city being underwater.

Coincidentally, I'm writing a chapter in my book that considers the crossover of blogging from the realm of the personal to that of small business and corporate America.

One reason is human behaviour. In a crisis, people increasingly are turning to blogs to get an account of what's really happening. They expect a blog to tell them in an in-the-moment, ragged, authentic voice, typos and all. They expect to see photos and video, however raw and unedited. It seems more real than the packaged report of a reporter in a wind-whipped anorak.

That's what mainstream adoption of a new technology or phenomenon means. It's based on reflexive behaviour, not on a carefully planned marketing strategy.

The connection to business is obvious, don't you think?

Just as we turn to Google and an online search to answer almost any question these days ( ...when was the last time you trekked down to the public library?), so blogs and blogging are becoming a habit.

Useful Links for Hurricane Katrina disaster relief & information

KatrinaHelp wiki

Blog for Relief (courtesy of Paul Chaney)

NoLa.com blog (dozens of stories submitted by survivors)

List of disaster relief agencies

Update

Slogging, and Blogging, Through Katrina
Op-ed article on the topic of crisis blogging by Kaye Trammell (The Washington Post - Sept. 3, 2005)

Comments

[Paul Chaney]

Thanks for this post Debbie. It's "all hands on deck" for us bloggers to do what we can to generate relief support. On behalf of my fellow Mississippians so hard hit by this storm, I say thank you.

[Frank Weil]

This is really a mind "blogging" event so much bigger in human terms even than 911 and with just as hard to get at source. About the only thing most people can do is send some money when the biggest need would seem to be shelter because it is not like a river flooding which recedes and most people can go right home. Perhaps people with 2nd homes within driving distance of the disasters might think about making them available?? That would need a clearing house system and some reasonable quality controls but might provide temporary homes for a lot of people??

[Ex-Homeless Guy]

Some good came of Katrina (inspirated to help the best I can): I have made a customized search engine that links only to crisis situation type websites (like relief aide, evacuation planning, crisis management, etc), see http://www.CrisisSearch.com ... This niche portal was made after the Katrina devastation and hopefully it will assist humans in/during the next disaster....