"Stormy Weather: Lightning" by Sabrina Campagna on Flickr."
EDIT: A direct message from MLGW on Twitter requested that we change the headline to reflect that they weren’t aiming for attention, but rather that they were just trying to help. That’s the main point of this story, so we’re happy to comply. (Once again, thanks for the good work, MLGW!)
Severe weather tore through Memphis Friday, June 12. The weather knocked out the transmitter for the local public radio station, and the digital television switch ensured that anyone left without a converter box couldn’t rely on local television for breaking weather news (and several thousand Memphians were left without power anyway). So where did people turn for the news?
They turned to cell phone-friendly microblogging service Twitter.
When the storms hit, even local news turned to Twitter for information about how people were faring. The Commercial Appeal was the only news source actively tweeting during the event, though its news was scant at first (it’s hard to tweet from a cell phone in a basement with neither WiFi nor cell service), but once they got out of the basement, the main source that the CA was using was the suddenly very active Twitter stream of Memphis Light, Gas, and Water.
MLGW, over the course of about 72 hours from early Friday evening to mid-morning Monday, sent out over 880 tweets, mostly either @replies or information directly relating to the outages. Only the people at MLGW know how many direct messages they sent, but judging from how many times they told people to check their DMs, it’s up there around that 880 mark.
And though their followers have drastically increased (1,265, up from around 400 early Friday evening), what really sets their tweeting apart is that they haven’t changed their tactic: responding to every customer question possible.
For any business to pull this off in a time of emergency is remarkable – and admirable. With Memphis’ summer heat kicking in, a lack of power for fans and air conditioning really is an emergency situation, and MLGW’s willingness to connect with customers through social media (especially via a service that can function as SMS text messages) has truly shown their respect for their community, and their eagerness to help that community get back to normal as quickly as possible.
That respect extends all the way up MLGW’s totem pole, too. Jerry Collins, president of MLGW, took a few minutes to answer customer questions, in what amounts to a grassroots press conference.
It wasn’t just homes without power, either. Many local businesses (ourselves included) were affected by the outages as well. Our own Dave Barger, who had been following MLGW for the better part of a year, noticed on Friday how their updates begin showing up more and more.
It started with some updates about the service status, letting their customers know how many people were without power and how long it would be out. Then they posted some phone numbers, both for emergencies and simple outage reporting. Barger immediately took advantage of the phone numbers.
“I called the number,” he said. “I don’t think the automatic system gave me an option for business, so then I tweeted my report. I got a pretty quick response. They were very responsive.”
Susan Mealer, of Answering Advantage, found a similar situation. Because she is not the building manager at her office, she wasn’t sure if she had the appropriate information for reporting an outage over the phone. So she tweeted it. She too, got a very quick response. Though MLGW said they passed the information on, Mealer said that she was pleased just “knowing that [report] was heard.”
Having that online communication with her local power company was convenient for Mealer, too – she was on vacation at Disneyland when the storms hit. When she found out about the storms, she was naturally concerned about her employees and customers. She said it was comforting to know that MLGW was there and taking care of the electricity situation.
Which is exactly what MLGW wanted. Richard Thompson, who runs the MLGW Twitter account, says that the real focus this weekend has been “getting people information about what’s going on and when power can be restored. That’s what’s most important to us right now.”
For Thompson, the decision to tweet MLGW updates was merely a practical one. “Hopefully we’ll continue to integrate Twitter into our communications, but we’re not there yet.”
Mealer had kind words for MLGW’s use of Twitter during the outages. “The buzzword here is ‘transparency,’” she said. “We can all see how they respond to everyone. It really allowed them to shine. It really showed that they heard their customers and that they were responding.”
Barger had high compliments for the sense of community that MLGW’s transparency instilled in him. “You definitely feel part of a community which is going through the same sort of problems. There’s this camaraderie sort of thing that kicks in. You know that the guy across the street has limbs down, that his power’s out.”
For the record, chances are quickly diminishing that you or the guy across the street have their power out. MLGW is working around the clock to get power restored, and as of 4 p.m. Monday, only 32,285 customers are still affected by outages. This is down from a peak of over 130,000 Friday evening.
