There are lots of great tips out there for dealing with a crisis. One of the nicest, most succinct ones we’ve seen comes courtesy of Melissa Agnes and addresses the Top Ten Crisis Management Take-Aways from 2013. So, the team at Capstone decided our Christmas gift to you is the Ten Days of Crisis Management – You won’t find any maids a milking here, but you will find the Capstone team’s deeper dives on Melissa’s list. To read Melissa’s original list, click here.
#6. “Twitter is the leading social media platform when it comes to the dissemination of news, information and updates in a crisis.” – Melissa Agnes
Number six on Melissa’s list was the notion that Twitter is the leading social media platform when it comes to the dissemination of news, information and updates in a crisis. And we want to add, both positive and negative.
With both the Boston Marathon bombing, we saw how quickly news organizations, eyewitnesses and first responder agencies took to Twitter with updates and information. It was critical that the Boston Police Department be quick to respond with accurate information, which they did, via their own Twitter account.
However, careers, reputations and relationships have been shattered with just one errant tweet. Speaking to its power, a public misstep can spread like wildfire thanks to Twitter, as we saw with Paula Deen and well-established brands like Chick-Fil-A. Even WikiLeaks saw the power of Twitter, releasing tens of thousand of unpublished diplomatic cables to the public via the social media tool.
Twitter Realities According to Capstone.
— When news occurs it will break on Twitter.
— 50% of those breaking tweets are probably wrong.
— Tweets are forever. See: “Screen grab.”
— Bad behavior can be forgiven but not forgotten.
Joyce Rubenstein is a partner at Capstone National Partners.
To contact her – jrubenstein@capstonenp.com
The views in this blog post represent the viewpoints of individual team members, not Capstone National Partners as a whole.
