The recent vast increase in the use of social media in many countries poses significant challenges for EMBs. Rather than being published through a limited number of relatively easily monitored nodes (mainly newspapers, radio and television stations), information is conveyed almost instantaneously between social media users, in a way that makes comprehensive monitoring virtually impossible. Material may be published via Internet sites hosted in another country, making the enforcement of laws relating to content difficult if not impossible. Many EMB stakeholders use social media to gather or share information, and will expect the EMB to be represented there, and to respond rapidly and concisely to questions and emerging issues. Social media users will increasingly be accessing the Internet using mobile rather than fixed devices.
In such an environment, it is not feasible to channel all media communication through a dedicated spokesperson who represents the EMB at press conferences and issues carefully crafted media releases. The EMB will need to be prepared to have a presence in multiple media channels (e.g. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.); to provide information in the restrictive format that such channels permit; and to delegate responsibility for communicating through such channels to staff who can respond very quickly in a tone that is communicative rather than bureaucratic, without having to clear most messages through a chain of command.
