Social Media: Double-edged sword for communicators during a crisis

Twit1: My brother is a cop in Atlanta. Just busted Home Depot CEO. DUI

Twit2: Just made huge donation to MADD, right?

Twit1: Man of the Year #HomeDepot

Twit3: Sister works there. Big on values and do the right thing

Twit2: Only applies to the little people

Twit1: Even used handcuffs #resisted

Twit4: Handcuffs? Resisted arrest? #HomeDepot

Twit 5: Home depot CEO resisted arrest for DUI? #HomeDepot

Twit1: My bad-busted someone in front of Home Depot CEO’s house #doublecheck

While the exchange above is completely fictitious and created only for the purposes of this blog entry, it demonstrates how a story can begin on social media and become a public relations practitioner’s worst nightmare in less than 90 seconds.

While television is still the top source for people finding out about breaking news stories, social media has become the third top source of breaking news, virtually tied with newspapers and surpassing radio and all other print publications.

The article touches on, and the exchange above demonstrates, that while social media has become a major source of breaking news information, the accuracy is not always as good as it could be. A number of people were wrongly identified after the Boston Marathon bombing, initially identified on social media and then broadcast to an even wider audience via traditional broadcast media.

In his 2011 thesis paper, Daniel A. Landau noted:

“Partly due to social media’s constant news cycle, this study found that nonstories can become big stories very easily and these stories can last longer then (sic) they would without social media. This finding is indicative of how social media has made crisis communication more difficult for organizations. At the same time though, in some instances, organizations can bypass traditional media entirely and manage a crisis completely with social media. Thus social media has also made crisis communication somewhat easier for crisis communicators.” (pg. 60)

Social media networks – depending on the strategic planning and implementation of a comprehensive communication plan – can be a huge help or an amazing thorn in the side of public relations practitioners.

Stories can appear from nowhere and go viral, completely beyond the control of the PR practitioner(s) if there is no system or process of monitoring various social media platforms. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Foursquare, Pheed, Tumblr, are just a few of the many social media networks connected to the internet. Citizen journalist blogs, activists’ blogs, websites – the list goes on and on. How can one practitioner or a even two hope to successfully monitor and build those relationships and connections via social media?

The opportunity lies in leveraging one of the biggest assets any company already has: its own workforce. A strategic communication professional knows one of the biggest and influential audience a company can have is it’s own employees. Their ability to spread information via word-of-mouth and “the grapevine” has only been enhanced by recent communication technology and the internet. Why not use that to the advantage of the company?

One of the goals of any strategic communication program is to improve and enhance the internal communication systems among the primary stakeholders: employees, shareholders and retirees. How is that accomplished? By keeping them informed, part of the planning process and engaged. They can serve as de-facto watchdogs among the various social media networks.

Encourage employees to participate on the company’s Facebook page, for example, is a great way to keep them not only engaged, but they will can also serve as a early warning system for communicators if there is an issue that pops up on the page. They may be able to actually address issues in real-time before a communicator even gets involved. The key is to keep employees aware and informed about new initiatives, how their role figures into the overall vision and mission of the company, etc., which is the goal of any internal communication program.

The same can be done with all the major social media networks, utilizing an existing network of stakeholders to ensure issues are identified early, addressed and resolved quickly, hopefully without damage to the company’s name, reputation or bottom line.

As Mr. Landau noted in his thesis, the internet and social media may have made control of a crisis situation impossible, but it has the potential for making it easier to manage providing the strategic communicator makes use of all the tools available to him or her.

About the Author: David is a dedicated husband and proud father of a strapping fourteen year-old son and twin five year-old daughters. He has twenty years of professional communication experience, working in the public relations field. He has worked for public relations firms in Metro Detroit, hospitals and a state-wide faith-based social service organization helping at-risk children and their families. He grew up on a mid-sized Michigan blueberry farm, spent two years in Texas and now resides with his family outside Tampa, Florida. An avid reader and photographer, David also enjoys building furniture using recycled/upcycled wooden pallets.