"The idea is fairly simple: Deploy a trusted team of social media-savvy individuals to monitor public social media feeds for anything that could help a responding agency better manage a situation.

For agencies used to handling these crises — the likes of emergency services and public safety organizations — a relatively young tool has been gaining traction and changing the dynamics of how they are able to respond. It’s called a Virtual Operations Support Team, and can be used to handle all sorts of situations.

Through the delivery of a “listening report” the teams are able to provide a glimpse into the public’s feelings toward a response effort, emergency response needs and the development of a progressive strategy.