There is a great article in the April 2009 edition of Canadian Security Magazine on the use of Social Media for real time intelligence gathering during crisis situations. The article features commentary by Jeannette Sutton and Leysia Palen of University of Colorado Natural Hazards Center.

Are these tools the complete solution to crisis management? Probably not, but having multiple sources providing information on a given incident can only can only lead to better decision making in real time. Furthermore, although the article doesn’t address this, having multiple witness accounts of a given incident can help with post crisis investigation as well.