Entry 3- Social media and crisis communication

 “We are in the midst of a communications upheaval more significant than the introduction of printing press” (R. Brown, 2009, p.1) society has been revolutionised by the use of social media. The PR industry has also been effected by the new use of social media tools especially when it comes to crisis communications. First of all it was newspapers and magazines giving “PR practitioners their first taste of evolving media” (R. Brown, 2009), however now the world has advanced even more with the use of social media, and in particular tools such as twitter and Facebook.

Crisis communication is the “transferring of information form significant persons to help prevent/avoid a crisis, recover from a crisis and maintain or enhance reputation” (K. Fearn Banks, 2009, ebook, p.1), nowadays this is massively influenced by social media channels such as twitter as news is now reported and broken on twitter as it happens. The news is already out there and will have reached many different public's before PR practitioners can get their hands on it due to the use of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook being instant. An example of this was the Hudson plane river crash, it was reported on twitter “15 minutes before the mainstream media alerted viewers and readers to the crash” (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/4269765/New-York-plane-crash-Twitter-breaks-the-news-again.html) and it was filmed on twitter as it was happening so it immediately reached the public. This could be seen as a negative factor for PR practice as tweets spread like wildfire so the public will know that a crisis has happened before PR practitioners have a chance to act on it. The public may not know the full story from only seeing it reported on twitter which is where rumors could be spread and reputations could be damaged.

However “the platforms (social media) and channels and contexts and their many applications for communication and relationship building affect practitioners, their community and organisation” (D. Phillips and P. Young, 2009, p.137) so by PR practitioners building relationships with these social media channels it will enable them to handle crises immediately. They can use social media in a positive way by enabling an organisation that has been hit by a crisis to respond as soon as they can using channels such as Twitter and Facebook. This again is a step in the right direction for PR practitioners as it allows them to access the public first hand and give them an instant explanation. This is backed up by a quote I came across on the institute of Public Relations website, as cited by Arapan and Rosko-Ewoldsen (2005), they “conducted a study that documented a quick and early response allows an organisation to generate greater credibility than a slow response” again highlighting the importance of using social media to react in a crisis.

Furthermore “social networks have evolved into online communities” (R. Brown, 2009, p.50) and they have “revolutionised the way we communicate and share information” (R. Brown, 2009, p.50) and they have changed the way that some PR is practiced. Social media is now a big tool in the public relations industry. With the recent Volkswagen crisis, social media played a big role in helping Volkswagen communicate with their customers. They used a speedy response using social media, releasing statements on Twitter and Facebook and setting up a crisis website for their customers (https://econsultancy.com/blog/66972-social-media-and-crisis-management-a-volkswagen-case-study ). This practiced good PR using social media to interact with customers and apologise. It was also a useful tool to help those affected direct customers to the right place to get help.

This demonstrates the increasingly growing influence and impact that social media has on PR practitioners. It may come with a few negatives but PR practitioners can reap in the benefits and use it to their advantage. 

References:

 

Arapan and Rosko-Ewoldsen (2005), cited in: W. Timothy Coombs, crisis management and communications [online] 30^th October 2007. Available at: http://www.instituteforpr.org/crisis-management-and-communications/ [Accessed on: 14^th December 2015]

B, Davis. (2015) Social media and crisis management: a Volkswagen case study [blog] 29^th September 2015. Available at: https://econsultancy.com/blog/66972-social-media-and-crisis-management-a-volkswagen-case-study/ [Accessed on: 14^th December 2015]

C, Beaumont. (2009) New York plane crash: Twitter breaks the news, again. The Telegraph [online] 16^th January 2009. Available at: www.telegraph.co.uk [Accessed on: 14^th December 2015]

D, Phillips and Y.Phillip. (2009), Online Public Relations, a practical guide to developing an online strategy in the world of social media, London, Kogan page, p.137

K, Fearn Banks. (2009) Crisis Communications, A Case Book Approach, [online], 3^rd ed. New Jersey: Lawernce Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Available through: www.books.google.co.uk [Accessed: 14^th December 2015]

R, Brown. (2009), Public relations and the social web, London, Kogan page, p.1, 4, 50