Submit the crisis topic that you have selected for your final project. Specifically, identify the organization whose crisis communication strategy you are planning to evaluate. Briefly describe an actual crisis that the organization has encountered, and p

h a n d s o n HOW-TO ADVICE FOR PRACTITIONERS >crisis management

Social media in crisis communication: Start witii a driil By Gerald Baron and Dr. Jolm "Pat" Philbm,APR

When the wildfires raged through Southern California in October, thou- sands heard the latest news on evacua- tions and conditions via Twitter. When Hurricane [ke devastated Galveston, people received a continuous stream of he^idlines from an on-the-scene reporter viaTwitter. When US Airways Flight 1549 splashed into the Hudson River, the ñrst photo the world saw of it caine through Twitter. After a major event, the first news will often come through social media — particularly the platforms focused on instant distribution such as blogs and microblogs.

Twitter is one ofthe latest social media phenomena to attract the interest of communicators and public affairs pro- fessionaLs. This microbloi^ing tool fol- lows blogs, social networking sites (MySpace and Facebook),photo and video sharing sites (Flickr andYouTube) and topic discussion sites (I )igg and Newsvine). At a November 2008 con- ference for government communicators in Washington, D.C, organized by strate- gy and technology consulting firm liooz Allen Hamilton, FEM A introduced its newYouTube channel. Michael Dumlao of Booz Allen Hamilton mentioned three organizations he sees as "champions of social media"— the Los Angeles Fire Department, the American Red Cross and the U.S. Coa.st Guard.

The Coast Guard has been a ^ r e s - sively employing social media tools to distribute public information,including the addition ofblogs to the agency s pub- lic information Web sites.This follows the agency's long-standing use of images, videos andYouTube for distributing sto- ries about rescues, responding to oil spills and conveying iniormation about law enforcement activities.The Coast Guard uses Twitter for instant updates (@coast- guard) and has many followers including the White House (@whitehouse) and major news organizations.

There is no question that social media continue to alter the landscape of public information. Following the VirginiaTech shooting in 2007, universi- ties s t r u t t e d to determine the best ways to notify students about emergencies. They realized that students often check their Facebook accounts more often than e-mail, and changed their communica- tion plans accordingly to keep up with the latest social media developments.

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Incorporating social media Crisis conunuiiicators and public

affairs professionals, like their PR coun- terparts, are struggling to incorporate social media into their plans. Perhaps the best way to do this is to incorporate social media into your next crisis drill or major communication e.xercise.When you plan for things that might go wrong, you also need to plan for the role that social media will play and how its involvement will impact your reputation.

Realistic drills are the bestiway of evaluating the readiness of an organiza- tion to respond to an actual crisis.An exercise like this provides an ideal oppor- tunity to test the technologies that will be used to aid communication. Because news (rotn mainstream and social media are technology-driven, using outdated tools is like marching into battle in a tight column directly into the muzzles of machine guns.

Communicators are already strug- gling to keep up with the technologies needed to manage instant Web updates, efficiently distribute thousands of e-mails to key stakeholders and communicate via text messaging to critical audiences — and now social media is thrown into the nux. It has become essential to use social media tools that facilitiite the dissemina- tion of information in multiple modes.

Hut how does your team work together to prepare your key messages and then quickly deliver them to multi- ple audiences?That s why drills are so important. Besides an actual crisis, there is no better way to find out if your team

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and the technologies they employ will be eiïcctive in meeting these information demands than a drill.

Three key elements Drills enable communicators to test

three essential parts of any response: poli- cies, plans and people. Using these ele- ments, how can you incorporate social media into a communication drill?

Policy —- Organizations such as Target formerly had policies that refused to engage bloggers or other social media outlets. However, when a controversy erupted with online complaints about the suitability of an ad showing a teenage girl with the company's bull's-eye logo on her underwear, they realized the poli- cy had a serious prtiblem.

It is important for organization lead- ers to understand that social media should be seen as an arena for conversa- tion rather than merely a channel for directing messagcs.When social media is approached fix>m a control perspective, the engagement is doomed to fail.There is only one decision to make regarding social media — and that is whether you choose to participate in the conversation or let it go on without you. Both have risks, but the consensus among commu- nication professionals seems to be that engagement is essential.

Planning — How do you incorpo- rate social media into your response plansPThis starts with an understanding of what social media is, considering your options and knowing what kind of impact each of these may have on your

organization. Social media impacB crisis communication in two distinct ways.

First, the conversation can affect your organization s perceptions during an event whether you are involved in the conversation or not. Second, social media outlets and formats provide new oppor- tunities to engage stakeholders and the media. Reporters are extensive users of social media during events.They track Twitter accounts, blogs,YouTube, etc. to gather first-hand accounts and gauge reactions.Third, many communicators are now adopting these tools to commu- nicate dfrectly with online audiences. More people are using these tools to sup- plement their traditional distribution methods.

Crisis communication planning today must incorporate monitoring, active engagement with relevant sites and the use of emerging forms of social media.

People —Are the people who will respond on behalf of your organization conversant with social media? Do they understand the social media culture? Are they capable of engaging in a way consis- tent with the values and priorities ofthat culture?

Many organizations, even those with astute PR leaders, have found that there can be a high cost to violating these cul- tural norms. A drill is an excellent oppor- tunity to evaluate the performance ofyour responders — but only if those doing the evaluating understand the role and culture ofthe medium. If the outside professionals who plan and manage crisis drills arc not conversant with social media and how it impacts public perception today, then the exercise will miss the mark.

In a tight economy, budgets are restricted and more worit is expected of fewer people. In these circumstances, it is hard to think of planning a major com- munication exercise. But disaster does not wait for good times, and neither should efforts to prepare for the worst. O

GeraM Baron i.< ilw foinider ¡md pn-fidiii! ofHiiroii i r (.Àaitpitiiy, a

foimdiT ¡ludformer Cl-.O of PIER Systems, a IVch-buH'd commiinkatioti imviiigemerii systein. He is a frequent Sjmikerai t'RSA toiifcreiiics aiulis the lUUhorofNoii' ¡tlbo Late 2: Survival iw an Em ofïnstant Neics. "

Dr.John"Pat"WiilWn,APR,,>r;k- senior rice president i<t PHiR Systcnisjonner head of external iiffiimfot FIii\t4 and former chief of pidilic affairs for the U.S. Coast Ctuafd. He has cxtertsiiv ex¡Krivtwe in crisis management.

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