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Tweeting Through Disaster

Duke uses social media to check status of students, faculty in Japan

As word of a devastating
earthquake and tsunami filled news feeds of social media users around the globe
last week, people turned to sites like Facebook to learn more and track down
friends and loved ones.

At Duke, it was no
different.

With 49 members of the
Duke community in Japan during the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, faculty and
staff in Durham tapped into Facebook to ensure students and coworkers were safe
abroad. Because Japanese mobile phone carriers and phone networks were either
down or heavily restricting voice calls, sites such as Facebook and Twitter became
a convenient place to touch base.

"We always use email, but
it's a student's Duke email account and that might not always be the fastest
way to access a student," said Paul Paparella, assistant director of the Global
Education Office for Undergraduates. "We were able to use Facebook fairly
quickly, though, and sent messages to each student to check in with us."

Coordinating with Duke
administrators, Paparella first reached out by email to three students studying
abroad through the Global Education Office for Undergraduates. Realizing that
the students may have provided news about the earthquake through social media,
he then followed-up by searching for each student on Facebook.

Paparella learned through
Facebook that one of the three students had already posted a note to a friend
that they were relieved to not have been in Japan after leaving the country for
spring recess. The other two students responded through email that they were
safe in Japan.

"When communications
infrastructure gets damaged or destroyed, we try to use other means to open a
line of communication," said Chris Boroski, director of Duke's Corporate Risk
Management. "If we have a list of students abroad and something like this
happens, we can go to Facebook to see if we can find any Facebook entries about
the status of students, faculty or staff."

Mike Hemmerich, associate
dean for the Duke MBA-Daytime program at the Fuqua School of Business, also
plugged into Facebook, too. With a group of Fuqua students making an
independent trip to Japan to learn about the country, he used Facebook to see
if any of the students posted information about their trip online after the
earthquake struck. He also sent emails to the group's leaders.

Duke also used social
media sites to connect students and faculty in Japan with support resources
through a partnership with International SOS, Duke's travel assistance program.
A post on Facebook was "liked" by 78 people and produced 20 comments of support
and prayers. LaDonna Allison wrote "I
hope everyone is ok. Praying for everyone..."

On Sunday, Duke posted an
update on Facebook that all students and faculty were accounted for and safe,
which was "liked" by more than 800 followers.

Duke also used Twitter,
posting a note on the "DukeNews" feed, asking travelers in Japan to check-in
with their program directors. That message was then "retweeted," or shared, by
other Duke entities on Twitter such as the Duke Global Health Institute and Duke
Magazine.

Within an hour of the
8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan, more than 1,200 tweets a minute were coming
from Tokyo. In all, just over 246,000 Twitter posts with the word "earthquake"
had been logged by midnight Friday, Eastern Standard Time.

In addition to social
media, traditional communication methods such as an e-mail blast to all
managers at Duke also proved helpful. Since only four of Duke's 49 travelers in
Japan were listed in Duke's travel registry, a log of Duke community members
traveling abroad, there was work to be done to track down the remaining 45, who
all wound up safe.

Kyle Cavanaugh, vice
president for human resources and emergency coordinator for Duke, said that a
manager memo distributed Friday helped identify individuals in Japan not listed
in Duke's travel registry.

He said the event is a
valuable reminder of why Duke community members traveling abroad on
Duke-related business should use the travel registry. Currently, undergraduates
are required to add their names but graduate students, faculty and staff
aren't.

"Because the world is an
ever-changing place, it's important to utilize the program we have in place in
case Duke needs to find someone or provide evacuation," said Cavanaugh, noting
there were no emergencies in Japan related to Duke affiliates. "It's important
for us to know where people are in cases like this."