Sunday, April 5, 2015

Crisis Management on Social Media


Crisis Management on Social Media


These days, information (and also rumor) is being spread so fast online. And it has been faster after the birth of social media. We find out the things happened through social media before we read the traditional media. Sometimes it is such a pain in the neck to the public agencies. Because just clicking a retweet or like, the complaints and negative messages travel so fast through the network like a skipping stone on a pond.

“Oh, look at this! A guy who talked with me on the phone half an hour ago posted about our conversation. And he’s blaming our ministry.” 2 years ago, my staff found the negative post after he received a complaint call. It was not a hot potato, so we just let it go at that time. But if these people gather together and raise their voices, it will be too late. As a result, it is becoming more and more important for public agencies to deal with mounting complaints about government service on social media before it turns out to be a real big trouble.

The organization often faces a dilemma between defending themselves and admitting the truth in the case of crisis. It was easy to block the truth from the people, and information traveled very slowly in the past. So the organization easily got tempted to hide the truth and defend until they found either the way to fix the problem hopefully or an acceptable excuse alternatively. However, things have changed. The intelligence capability has been improved, and social media is making it easy for the people who share the same interests to gather and speak out their opinions. At the same time, they expect the government to answer and deal with the issues immediately. If they find out that the government hid something, it will severely damage the reputation and credibility.

“I will deal in a different way if I face that issue again.” Danielle Cummings, Chancellor of the Diocese of Syracuse, said in the last guest speaker session while she was talking about the sexual abuse by priests which happened several years ago. “Admit the truth, and not (over-)defend.” Her answer was clear. Being overprotective of ourselves does not help solving the problems. Speed of reaction and smart solution is also required. But transparency should be the basic moral ethics on social media.

 

* For your information: 10 Tips For Reputation And Crisis Management In The Digital World


 

1 comment:

  1. The intelligence capability has been improved, and social media is making it easy for the people who share the same interests to gather and speak out their opinions. At the same time, they expect the government to answer and deal with the issues immediately. If they find out that the government hid something, it will severely damage the reputation and credibility. likes

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