It appears wherever you look – whether it is online or reading about it in the newspaper, or listening to a news report – the Wikileaks crisis is on everyone’s minds. There are many issues that people are focusing on which are definitely important to consider with using and implementing new technologies. Privacy. Transparency. Cyber attacks and how to address them. Crisis communication message strategies.
In crisis communications, we are told that there are certain message strategies that can be implemented in a crisis situation. Some may choose to attack the accuser, deny that there is even a crisis at hand, make excuses, or justify their participation or role in the crisis to name a few. There are also some message strategies where people can take full responsibility for their actions, or take corrective actions to make sure that this does not happen again.
From looking at this case from a PR and crisis communications perspective, it appears that there is a lot of attacking on multiple sides going on, blaming others for what happened, or denying that there is even a crisis.
There are certainly many lessons that we as public relations (and crisis communication professionals) can take away from the Wikileaks case.
First, if you do not want something to be presented to the world for everyone to see – both online and in print – then don’t write it!
- With the emerging technologies, some of the same issues that we have been dealing with on a regular basis with traditional media seems to keep resurfacing.
Second, honesty is the best policy.
- Transparency and being willing to take responsibility and discuss how we can all move forward on this is key – there needs to be actions and decisions to be made. New technology allows people other than organizations or others control of the message and information – which for some think that this is new with emerging technology platforms like social media and mobile applications. This is why it is very important to not only be aware of the new technologies, but also monitor and listen to what is going on. We can be part of the conversation, but we can not control it.
Third, you have to not only look at the message – but you also have to be understand the source completely.
- Research is absolutely key in finding this out – and one way to do this is through interviews. We have to understand not only what has happened, but how and why this happened? Why are people listen to this person? What personality characteristics are they emphasizing in their website and social media presence? How did this trigger the crisis at hand? These are just some of the things that we have to consider in learning more about from this particular case, and evolve as a profession from the lessons learned.
These are just a few of my thoughts on this particular case. So, I imagine that we will continue to read about the Wikileaks case from not only a crisis communications perspective, but also one from a social media or emerging technologies perspective.
Hope you all are having a wonderful day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
0 Comments