BP leads with social media in Gulf of Mexico crisis

BP is using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & Flickr, ahead of traditional media, to publish updates on the Gulf of Mexico clean-up and organise press calls.

News that the massive containment dome to be placed over one of the leaks had arrived above the leak off the Louisiana shore appeared first on the popular social media sites. So did word that controlled burns of the oil slick would go ahead on Wednesday after a week of bad weather.

A Facebook page launched by the joint U.S. and BP spill response team, has more than 12,000 followers.

They have access to photos, spill-trajectory maps generated by the government, video on topics including the controlled burns by BP, and summaries of daily news briefings.

BP America’s Twitter site, has over 2,800 followers.

“We want to ensure that we can get out information about the response to this incident and spill as rapidly and widely as possible,” David Nicholas, a BP spokesman wrote in an email.

Last night, pictures of the containment chamber BP has developed to plug the spill, being lowered into the water, were released on their Deepwater Horizon Website.

(source: Reuters)