City spreading the word about snow emergencies through social, traditional media

Some drivers are well versed at finding out whether a Snow Emergency has been declared, and they know where to park. Others have learned this the hard way. Many folks out there are good about telling their friends whenever a Snow Emergency is declared. Do any of these people sound like you?

This Snow Emergency season, the City of Minneapolis is asking folks on Facebook to find out what type of Snow Emergency person they are and come up with a profile image that reflects that. When a Snow Emergency is declared, we want them to swap out their regular profile picture to that special Snow Emergency image. That way, their friends and families will also be alerted that a Snow Emergency is in effect so they can and avoid parking in the way of the snow plows. If folks don’t want to create their own, the City’s Web site has even more examples.

Snow Emergencies are declared whenever there’s enough snowfall to warrant a complete plowing of our 1,500 miles of streets, parkways and alleys.

There are already close to 7,000 “fans” of the Minneapolis Snow Emergency page on Facebook. These fans automatically get notifications on their own Facebook news feeds whenever a Snow Emergency is declared. Having them share that information with their own lists of Facebook friends will help us reach even more drivers than ever before.

It’s easy for folks on Facebook to tell their friends that a Snow Emergency is in effect:

Come up with a Snow Emergency profile picture: This picture should reflect the person’s Snow Emergency personality. It also should include the Snow Emergency logo (or a slight variation of it) so friends will know that a Snow Emergency is declared. More information, the Snow Emergency logo and some ready-made profile pictures can be found at the City’s Snow Emergency web page.
Tell your Facebook friends: Once a Snow Emergency is declared, people should change their Facebook profile pictures to their special Snow Emergency profile pictures to let their friends know a Snow Emergency is in effect.
Share your images with the City: We want to see the many different Facebook profile pictures people create. They can be e-mailed to ProfilePic@ci.minneapolis.mn.us. We’ll add the best ones to the Snow Emergency page on Facebook for all to see.

There are many additional ways you can learn about Snow Emergencies and find out whether one is in effect:

Call 348-SNOW. The hotline includes information in English, Spanish, Somali, and Hmong.
Check out the City’s Web site to find out whether a Snow Emergency has been declared, and for a wealth of information on Snow Emergencies in many languages. Also, check out the street lookup, which lets you put in an address or a neighborhood to see what streets you can park on during a Snow Emergency.
Mail - Every fall, Snow Emergency information is mailed to every household in Minneapolis.
Phone alerts - Minneapolis uses a phone alert system to notify residents when Snow Emergencies are declared. It is an automated notification system that can place thousands of calls per hour.
E-mail alerts - You can sign up to get Snow Emergency alerts automatically e-mailed to you. Go to for more details.
The media: News releases are sent to the media so TV and radio stations can inform their viewers and listeners that a Snow Emergency is in effect.
On Cable - Tune in to cable channels 14 and 79. These channels will have information in several languages when a Snow Emergency is declared.
Facebook - Become a fan of Snow Emergency on Facebook. Go to www.facebook.com/MinneapolisSnowEmergency.
Twitter - New this year is a Snow Emergency Twitter page. If you have a Twitter account, just follow us. Both the Twitter and Facebook pages will tell fans and followers when a Snow Emergency is declared.

Dec. 02, 2009