LIers connect with LIPA on social networks

Vanessa Baird-Streeter has had several people wish her dead on Facebook and Twitter since Tropical Storm Irene hit Long Island, but she doesn't take it personally.

As the executive director of communications for the Long Island Power Authority and the voice behind the company's Facebook and Twitter accounts, Baird-Streeter said she understands customers' need to vent.

"One person said: 'Still no power. LIPA, I will kill every one of you,' " she read off the company's Twitter account. "But they are just frustrated, and we understand our customers' frustrations."

LIPA chief Michael Hervey on Wednesday acknowledged that the company had failed to provide customers with as much information as they wanted.

Though Baird-Streeter said LIPA has received more negative feedback than positive on social media, she believes social media is one good way to stay in touch with customers who have lost power and are looking for answers.

"They tweet or send us their address, and we try to provide some assessment of the extent of the damage in their area," Baird-Streeter said. "But we can't answer everyone."

This may be because LIPA's following on social media sites has grown rapidly since the storm.

From Sunday to Wednesday, LIPA's Facebook fans on its Efficiency Long Island account more than quadrupled, from 477 fans to 2,282 fans, according to Wildfire Interactive Inc. LIPA saw similar activity on its Twitter account, which grew to more than 3,500 followers.

And those new voices are not staying quiet. The amount of times the name of LIPA's Twitter account, @LIPAnews, was mentioned in user tweets grew from 46 on Saturday to 1,521 on Tuesday, according to PeopleBrowsr, a social analytics provider.

Because new fans and followers are reaching out to LIPA frequently, Baird-Streeter said the company had to deploy extra employees to work with its social media team, which consists of just a few LIPA employees.

"We're tweeting on the minute from about 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.," she said. "We're providing them with as much information as we have."

Though not often, she said, once in a while the customers appreciate it: "I had one person say: 'As annoyed as I have been with LIPA this week, I am impressed with their attentiveness to @LIPAnews,' " she said. "It's nice to get a thank-you."

CHARTS (All data provided by PeopleBrowsr, a San Francisco-based social analytics company)

CHART 1: The number of daily tweets from Aug. 1 to Aug. 31 that mention LIPA's Twitter handle, @LIPANews.

Twitter Volume

CHART 2: Words used in tweets that mention LIPA's Twitter handle, @LIPANews, from Aug. 27 to Aug. 31. Word size reflects the frequency of the word usage.

Word Cloud 8.27 to 8.31

CHART 3: Names of places used in tweets that mention LIPA's Twitter handle, @LIPANews, from Aug. 27 to Aug. 31. Word size reflects the frequency of the word usage.

Word Cloud Places