It is interesting how one tweet, status update, or false statement is made by one person, and it spreads immediately all of the Internet. This is what happened with American Airlines right after the Haiti Earthquake. The airline company had to deal with a false statement, or rumor, about whether or not they were going to be offering free flights to Haiti for doctors and nurses for the relief effort. This first appeared as a Tweet on Twitter, and immediately was picked up by the media and other key influencers and their followers. Rumors are definitely a huge issue for businesses, individuals, and organizations to handle in crisis communication. According to Coombs and Holladay (2006), a rumor is when an “untruthful statement about an organization is circulated” (p.146). AA spokesperson Tim Smith released a statement to CNN that stated:
“Last night’s hoax on Twitter about American and JetBlue flying doctors and nurses to Haiti for free was just that — a hoax. We don’t know who is responsible, but it’s a very low thing to do.”
The strategies that American Airlines implemented to address this situation was immediately went on their own Twitter account (AAirwaves) to state that this was not true and to provide their side of the story. This case show several key lessons for public relations and crisis communicators to be aware of when operating on social media. First, they have to be actively aware of what is being said about their company. Whether it is monitoring Tweets on Twitter or having a platform dedicated to looking at all of the mentions associated with the brand name, companies have to be many steps ahead to address any issues that may come their way and evolve into a crisis. Second, this case shows the power of a rumor and its potential damage to a reputation of a brand. It only takes one influencer to start a false statement before it spreads virally. Lastly, this does show that companies need to be actively on social media. We have to not only make sure that we handle rumors in the traditional media, but in the non-traditional media as well.
In my opinion, American Airlines handled this situation professionally and definitely survived what could have been a huge reputation crisis for them.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
Reference
Coombs, W.T. (2007). Ongoing crisis communication: planning, managing, and responding. Sage Publications.
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