I remember a time when if you wanted to interact with people you actually had to write, phone or visit them. Relationships began in the supermarket, gym or in classes. This isn't the case anymore. With the development and increased use of the internet, people can visit with each other in a whole new way. The popularity of social networking via the web crosses all demographic and geographic lines. Every one from school-aged children to those in their golden years to business and academic professionals are accessing their computers (laptop and desktop), wireless hand-held devices (BlackBerry) and mobile phones and connecting with each other.
History of Social Networking
Social networking service (SNS) began as a means of building an online community of people with shared interests or activities. Most are web-based and provide different ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging (IM). With its advent, people were able to communicate and share information with each other. In the beginning, communication often occurred through bulletin board services (BBS), and bulk e-mail protocols, such as LISTSERV. Next, early communities interacted through chat rooms, personal homepage publishing tools and sites which linked people via e-mail, such as Classmates.com. In the first part of this century, social networking expanded into its most popular form and became mainstream with sites including MySpace, YouTube and Facebook. As time and technology advanced, SNS sites incorporated the ability to upload photographs and video. Currently, the possible SNS a person can belong to seems endless with Twitter and Tagged among them.
The What of SNS
I am not a computer guru and sometimes just the shear number of acronyms makes me want to run for cover. SNS sites basically took networking tools, such as e-mail and websites and kept in one place (In computer terms, this is propriety encapsulated service). Social networking comes in two categories: Internal social networking (ISN) and external social networking (ESN). ISN is a closed/private service usually within a company or an organization. ESN is an open/public service available to all web users and designed to attract advertisers (The money part of the business). Typically, to qualify as a SNS several features must exist:
- "Profile" set-up and customize ability
- Member comment ability
- Privacy settings
- Ability to block unwanted users
- Personal entry ability, such as picture uploads and blog-like narratives
- Ability to form and participate as a member of a group
The general approach within most SNS is a person uploads a picture, sets up their Profile and becomes Friends with other users. Although originally designed for interaction between family and friends, business professionals are turning to SNS to share information with each other and potential clients. Currently, there is no easier way to reach more people and develop customer relationships.
Law Enforcement Use
With the popularity of SNS, even law enforcement agencies have jumped in. "As the Communications Director of the Milwaukee Police Department, I want to know new ways to communicate with people," says Anne E. Schwartz. "I need to go where they are, especially the young people. They are on these social networking sites." Milwaukee PD has profiles on YouTube and Twitter and is looking into Facebook and MySpace. "There is an interest nationwide to find ways to communicate directly with the masses."
Agencies use SNS to post information about the department, such as employment opportunities and upcoming events. Most direct people back to the department web-site, increasing their views. Twitter, which is unique from sites such as MySpace, allows users to send out a "what are you doing?" blurb of less than 140 characters. Agencies tweet about a variety of things, including traffic and safety updates, descriptions of missing children and vulnerable adults and crime information like suspect descriptions.
Toronto (Ontario) PD uses Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Blogger. Sergeant Tim Burrows, Toronto PD Traffic Services Communication and Media Relations Officer, believes using a variety of SNS allows the department to reach as many people as possible. "I found a need, in some cases, where a visual text was really valuable through YouTube. Facebook allows us to give out events, such as car seat safety. Twitter has been an absolute blessing for reaching out to our followers in 140 characters. It's a fun way to reiterate information."
Unfortunately, law enforcement use of SNS has come with its share of problems. The Texas Attorney General had to shut down a phony Austin PD Twitter profile in March. Live for almost a year, it had over 400 followers before it was discovered by the department. "A reporter called my office and said, 'Hey, I'm following you on Twitter,'" explains Sergeant Richard Stresing, Austin PD Public Information Officer. "I asked, 'How can you follow us on Twitter? We don't have a Twitter account.' They sent me the link and I logged on and was able to read some of these posts." Although, the posts appeared to be joking and harmless, a phony law enforcement site could create numerous problems for the department and the community. "I would recommend for people who are thinking of making a fake site not to do it because you're going to possibly cause a panic depending on what you say," Stresing explains. "(Also,) people already don't like us and to have a fake site undermines us that much more." Austin PD has never had a Twitter account, but is in the process of creating a profile on Citizen Observer, a similar site.
Security Concerns
Due to rising security concerns, many departments are opting for a new service which offers the same benefits as Twitter. Nixle's Municipal Wire is the first standardized, secure and certified communications platform. Nixle CEO Craig Mitnick explains this new system, "We get questions, 'Are you authenticated Twitter? Are you a social networking site?' Absolutely not. Social networking is an open-network platform to notify family and friends. Those platforms were not built for authenticated information. So, when you have agencies, such as police departments, that want to put out municipal information, they can not do so in a trusted way. We have built our system as the first authenticated, closed-network system."
Although not strictly for law enforcement, approximately 700 agencies have applied and around 100 have launched, including Chicago, Minneapolis and Scottsdale (Arizona) police departments. Nixle's Authorized Service Center verifies user information prior to allowing them to utilize the site. Along with verification, Municipal Wire contains no single points of failure, automatically switches to a redundancy datacenter in case of attack, has performance 10-15 times faster than typical SMS distribution networks and supports a range of priority levels. All for free. Nixle does have one disadvantage according to Wellesley PD Sergeant Scott Whittemore. "The problem with Nixle is you can't do it from the street. A sergeant out on the street can't send a message from their BlackBerry or their phone." Messages must be sent from a verified, internet-capable computer. "That's why we're expanding it to our communications staff," says Whitmore. "They have a computer right in front of them."
Communications
Wellesley Communications will use Municipal Wire much like a teletype. After getting approval from a supervisor, communications operators can send out important information to the community. Because this service uses precise geographic targeting, real-time information can be sent to any point or address within a desired geographic radius. "It allows the police department to send a message to an epicenter," states Mitnick, "Whether that's a one mile radius or a five mile or ten mile radius. So, only people that the information is relevant to will get it. (For example,) it could have been used during 9-11. If people in the towers had signed up, they would have gotten trusted information to evacuate immediately."
It seems everyone has a profile on a social networking site and law enforcement agencies are embracing the public safety and public relations aspects of them. As technology advances, the use of sites such as Twitter and Nixle will continue to increase. Communications operators will find themselves more involved in sending out information to the community. As this happens, law enforcement will need to address security concerns, as well as, develop guidelines for use. "It's so new," explains Whittemore. "It gives us great PR. When we have this (Twitter, Nixle, etc), we put stuff out. The first real test came yesterday when we had a missing kid. We put out a Twitter and Nixle alert and we found him within a few hours. It has a lot of positive application for the department."
Michelle Perin
Michelle Perin has been a freelance writer since 2000. In December 2010, she earned her Master’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Indiana State University.
