Have a detailed look at this screen shot from a COP-implementation in Virginia. This system for Common Operating Picture has perhaps not the most well-designed interface, but reveals a very interesting feature. The COP has a connection to Twitter. When the user clicks on the Twitter symbol, tweets (ie short messages from Twitter) from this area are presented.

This is a good example of how systems typically designed for professional response organizations could use data from social media applications in order to provide an updated and detailed view of what is going on in a specific geographical area. The process of providing meaningful connections between systems traditionally use by professional response organizations and user-generated content such as small and often fragmented tweets in social media apps has only started. [https://cop.vdem.virginia.gov/viper/]

A key question is, How could we design a process and architecture that enable system managers of COP-systems in a cost efficient way manage a large set of connectivity mechanisms between COP-systems and an increasing number of social media infrastructures?