Bringing in together social media experts and crisis communication professionals is absolutely key to success in handling a crisis. The first CrisisCongress was held this past week in Washington D.C. where 80 plus professionals got together to discuss how to strategically implement social media in handling various crises from disasters (like the Haiti Earthquake) to other potential crises and issues that may arise for businesses, governments, and other entities. This event also focused on the current crisis that we are currently facing with the BP Oil Spill, and CrisisComm has developed their own Deepwater Oil Reporter application for people to download and share information regarding the oil crisis. What is interesting about this is the fact that there is a level of encouragement from this organization that wants people to share information, discuss what is going on, and being in control of what information they are receiving and passing along. This is a new trend that crisis communication professionals are seeing when it comes to social media, and we have to make sure to adapt our best practices and make sure that we include this in our traditional crisis communication plans.
The CrisisCongress sessions can be viewed online as well – which is very neat for those of us who are not able to attend the conference and meeting. What makes this particular event so interesting is the fact that you are having a collaborative effort among professionals who are working together to solve problems with the technology and figure out together how to best implement social media into traditional crisis communication scenarios.
However, I do think that it should be noted that it is important to not be 100% dazzled by the technology because it might either not be appropriate to handle the crisis, or the individuals that need the information are not using the particular sites or devices in getting their crisis communication messages. This is why it is absolutely necessary to conduct research way before to determine where people are getting their information, what type of format do they want the information, and what are their overall needs in reducing their levels of uncertainty. Each target public is different – and crisis communication professionals have to be aware of this and tailor their actions and strategies to fit these needs.
In summary, it is very exciting to see how social media is being embraced by various disciplines, including crisis communications. These are two areas that I am particularly interested not only for public relations consulting, but also in my research agenda. It will continue to change and evolve – for those crisis communication professionals that are up to the task in adapting and continue to learn and grow in their knowledge about new technology, they will always be successful.
Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
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