I just noticed this status update from JetBlue, in my Facebook stream.

You can read the full story here, on the Jet Blue blog.

Here are Four Observations about Why Jet Blue’s Approach is Smart:

1. Jet Blue was prompt. The evacuation happened just before 1PM Pacific time and the blog post was up within an hour (give or take). Maybe sooner. If you’re going to engage in social media, it makes sense to use it promptly.
2. Jet Blue’s approach was integrated. The post went up on the blog, and then was tied into other forms of social media: Facebook (and I’m presuming Twitter but my Twitter account hasn’t been displaying well today for some reason?).
3. Jet Blue fans are joining in the conversation. On Facebook, there are comments of relief that everyone is OK, that the aircraft landed.
4. Jet Blue is turning lemons into lemonade (or beer). Jet Blue’s use of social media is helping them turn what could have been a very dire situation into a positive, at least partly. Some FB fans are making fun comments about giving passengers beer for their trouble. (*Update: By way of clarification, I’m not saying that Jet Blue gave beer to passengers for their trouble. My point was that fans were making fun comments. Sorry for any confusion!)

What do you think?
Is Jet Blue using social media well? What other observations do you have? And what can other companies/organizations learn?