Dealing with disaster: A contingency plan

Hurricane Sandy walloped the media world last week, striking at the height of event season and forcing office shutdowns and many trade shows to cancel or postpone (such as Folio:’s rebranded MediaNext show). Many offices closed for much of the week.

The ability to work remotely prevented Sandy from causing a complete shutdown, with edit, sales, operations, etc. able to connect with customers and co-workers thanks to cloud-based systems and mobile devices (SourceMedia, headquartered below Wall Street in lower Manhattan, continues to operate remotely).

Many media organizations were able to provide live coverage of the storm, as well as their usual beats, through social media and alternate channels.  eMedia Vitals notes that Hurricane Sandy may have validated Instagram, with users posting more than 10 pictures per second at the height of the storm, and major media brands such as Time  curating an Instagram slideshow from photographers witnessing the storm. The Wall Street Journal created a live stream of Sandy coverage, including compilations of tweets, photos, slideshows, blogs and wire and staff reports.