That is a question often asked by bloggers as they struggle to capture the attention of their readers and to hopefully engage them in a dialogue related to the topics posted by the blogger. This is a question I have often asked myself after having posted 85 blogs related to Emergency Preparedness since September 6, 2006.

This question is being used as the title to this blog because Adam Crowe used it a few days in connection with his “Disaster 2.0” blog – “Why it Matters in Emergency Preparedness.” He reports that, “according to a recent study by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Center for Marketing Research, that “corporate blogging has fallen over the last year with a general trending away from more mature tools (ex: blogs, message boards, online videos, and podcasting); and ends by asking, “So what does this mean for emergency management …?”
He admits that Emergency Management does not have a huge investment in marketing, but he does believe that many practitioners blog in order to “share unique (and hopefully interesting) perspectives on activities and trends in the field.” Some of these types of blogs are designed to “seek discourse and engagement one a one-to-one or one-to-community basis. This type of engagement is at the crux of emergency management and response. We have to to engage sometimes one to one with disaster survivors or one-to-many during community recovery. We have to be honest and true whenever possible.”

Since Adam Crowe is such a strong believer in blogging being “one of the best tools emergency managers have to be genuine and honest,” this community blogger will revive his own blogs devoted to this cause in hope that some of our local County and Municipal Emergency Preparedness managers will read them and consider them as “food for thought” that might motivate them to consider changes that will increase the effectiveness of their community’s Emergency Management plan.

Stay tuned as we search for other bloggers who are sharing their Emergency Preparedness thoughts online. We’re all in this together, and need all the help we can get.