Tag Archives: crisis communication
FBI Investigating NBC Twitter Hack
This past weekend, 9/11 chatter online was almost inescapable. The memories were on everyone’s minds, and the Internet became a common space to share experiences. But NBC had a different issue on their mind. Their Twitter account was hacked Friday and was falsely reporting attacks at ground zero.
The group responsible for the hacking, The Script Kiddies, is an offshoot of hacker group Anonymous and this is not their first offense. The “Kiddies” are also responsible for the Fox News hacking in July, which falsely reported President Obama’s death. The FBI is now investigating the case but with the nation’s increased attention to news last week, the hack was very widely publicized. It caused panic and confusion when it first happened, and in turn, anger and shock when uncovered as a hack. It has also brought up the issue of crisis management in social media yet again. Shortly after the hack occurred, the NBC News account was deactivated by Twitter, as was The Script Kiddies.
Crisis management in social media is a widely discussed issue, because frankly, every community moderator has dealt with it. Every community can get a little sticky at times. On the smallest level, a moderator must jump to action to appease an upset community member at any time. On the largest scale, it’s important to know what to do if your account were to get hacked like NBC.
Read More
COMMUNITIES
How Businesses Can Survive a Product Recall Using Social Media
Every community has its ups and downs. But it’s always a good idea to have a crisis management plan in place for when those down moments hit. One of the biggest crises for a brand and a community can be when a recall is announced on a product. But should this happen, have no fear, social media can help turn this situation around. As this article lies out, social media becomes a place to vent and find information when situations like this arise, so it is crucially important to preempt consumer questions. Communities need to be on their A-game when recalls occur. It’s equally as important to control sources of consumer information. When people go into panic mode about their recalls, it is likely that rumors will confuse the situation even more. To find out more great ways to control a recall crisis, check out this article.
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
Five Things Facebook Should Fix Immediately
Usually articles regarding new tools and technologies are relatively positive. New technology announcements or upgrades of existing tools seem to be the usual theme of this section. However, today we are going to indulge a recent rant about what Facebook could and should be doing better. Facebook is clearly one of the most successful feats on the web today, but according to this article, there are a few things Facebook could pick up the slack on. The author of this article takes up issue with the following: Groups, Photo Viewer, Places, Messaging and Tabs. Take a look at this article and let us know, do you agree? What do you think Facebook should be doing better?
Read More
Toyota reminds me of a guy who buys flood insurance the day after the big rain.
In a recent post on my personal blog, I proposed that an effective ethical strategy required speaking to the emotions of your audience. Watching this car maker’s mounting mistakes and the continuing ethical violations still coming to light, I’m reminded about one of the keys to a successful crisis management strategy:
Crisis management begins before the crisis.
In January (the same month the Toyota debacle really hit the fan, incidentally), clothing retailer H&M was hit with a story claiming that their employees were slashing up clothes before they were discarded. While some brand protection can be understood by some, it looked dastardly in the midst of a recession.
H&M responded to the hubbub immediately, issuing a 5-tweet salvo that concisely stated their case: They gave their brand statement, contact information, a promise to resolve the problem, and a link to a robust corporate social responsibility page. (Here is a history of the incident and the Twitter effect.)
You’d be forgiven if you missed this story. At the time, H&M’s 30K Twitter followers got out the message, mostly defended the brand (or at least stopped disparaging it), and pretty much quashed the story. Compare this to Toyota’s handling of their ethical crisis.
Toyota Goes The Old Route: Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems
Toyota spent a lot of money on ads in newspapers (yes, they still exist) and on television. They had very few Twitter followers. They have no blog that I know of (and certainly not one I heard about developed after the story broke).
No customer communication channels. No tools for dialogue. No presence in a community where fans could defend them.
Consider Joseph Jaffe’s admonition of Toyota:
“Toyota did not have a direct line…with their customers, with their advocates, with their loyalists, with their influencers. They weren’t able to go to their community and say, ‘Help us, we need your help, we need your advice…’
You can’t expect to miraculously turn to your customers if you haven’t been building up that relationship with them in advance… You’ve got to anticipate this stuff because it’s going to happen.”
