The article talks about the effects of social media on crisis communication from public relations practitioners’ views.
Social media is crucial for crisis communication as it tells how crises are reported and managed by organisations. Although many forms of media that are used are new, they also have their own implications and that has changed the landscape of corporate communication.
Today, real-world catastrophes play out on social media in real-time. Social media professionals help audiences come through hardship together.
Social Media Channels as Source of Information
These days, social media channels have become an important information source. The average person spends 147 minutes a day on apps like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Social media has even shaped where news journalists get their information. Social media platforms like Twitter are used by almost everyone and people can communicate by posting a ‘tweet’ on any issue.
Social media channels have both advantages and limitations for crisis communication compared to using traditional media platforms. This ubiquitous and instantaneous nature of social media has made it difficult to manage crisis communication.
Social Media- Conventional vs Modern
Social media is a broad term that includes several types of new media and communication practices. Social media is evolving in various forms. Social media is a place for humans to use the Internet and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information.
Nardi, Whittaker, and Schwarz (2000) called this age the “motto of the Information Age”.
Marchese distinguished traditional media from new media on the basis that the information is discovered, distributed and consumed. Traditional media is comparatively cheaper than new media and is easily accessible.
Important factors like openness, communication, engagement, and reciprocity are crucial for developing and maintaining a strong bond and a quality relationship. The same elements can be applied to organisations developing relationships with their stakeholders.
As Coombs stated, no organisation is immune to a crisis. Organisations should have good relations with their stakeholders.
The crisis is unpredictable, Coombs stated. The Internet gives access to all to publish news on any platform. Citizen journalism is on the rise, that is web users who are not professional journalists, contributing directly to the production of the daily news.
Participatory News Culture
The participatory news culture is the more difficult part of crisis communication. Social media has the power to spread misinformation which initiates a crisis or makes it even worse. Social media is no longer limited to only young people. individuals have become too comfortable in this online space.
This article also talks about the usage of social media mostly by older adults for marketing, recruitment, and business development and become useful business applications.
Social media has brought considerable change to the communication field, corporate crisis communication. Social media is becoming powerful for crisis communicators. Organisations are losing control over their brands, their reputations, and their messaging. With the Internet around, there is a lot of publication freedom, and people post on Twitter, Facebook and blog.
Social Media is Fast- Very Fast!
The speed of communication on social media is a double-edged sword. It allows negative information to spread very quickly that the company can’t control. Although the information related to the crisis might spread quickly, the information still stays on the internet. Information shared by crisis communicators might be misinterpreted by the people and might reach the target audience only.
The conclusion that comes out is that social media plays a crucial role in any communication. Corporations cannot ignore it as social media is embedded in our daily lives. Its presence is very significant. Social media offers both advantages and limitations for crisis communication.
Written by- Prabhveet Kaur
Edited by- Nidhi Jha
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