I had a chance to be interviewed for Melissa Agnes a few days ago on what were some of the major trends we are seeing both in crisis communications, but also in social media as well for the upcoming year.

We have learned a lot from what we have seen and experienced this past year in 2013. We had many cases to explore when it came to crisis communications – from scandals (Anthony Weiner and Rob Ford) to natural disasters (tornadoes and tsunamis) and of course manmade crises (Boston Bombing) this year.

However, there are still some lessons, as I shared with Melissa on her blog, that we still need to address. As crisis communication professionals, we still have to adapt to the mindset that social media has changed how we consume, disseminate, and create information to be shared with our respective communities. Education and training has to be at the forefront of this – there are so many programs (like Hootsuite University) that give some professionals the opportunity to educate themselves about social media from basics to more advanced topics.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udZAnh-TZ-w&feature=share&list=UUjjCZ9dHvqv4WughmytxZ4w[/youtube]

What’s next? I mentioned some of my thoughts for the upcoming year in 2014, and there are many areas to explore here. I would have to say that the area of wearable technology (as more Google Glass Explorers come out) will be apparent and present in society more so. I actually had a conversation on Glass and the implications this has for crisis communicators a few months ago with Melissa, and I think the same issues still apply now and will be present next year.

Hope you all are having a great day!

Best Wishes,

Karen