Crisis Communications Management On The Web

Crisis Communications
Management on the Web:

How Internet-Based Technologies
are Changing the Way Public
Relations Professionals Handle
Business Crises
Alfonso Gonzalez-Herrero* and Suzanne Smith**
*Department of Communications, IBM Spain, Santa Hortensia 26, 28002 Madrid, Spain.
E-mail: alfonso_gonzalez@es.ibm.com
**Text 100 EMEA, Plaza de Colo n, 2, Torre 1 Planta 17, 28046 Madrid, Spain.
E-mail: suzanne.smith@text100.es
This article analyses how Internet-based technologies can help companies to: monitor
their business environment online in search of potentially conictive issues that need to
be managed (issues management); to prepare a crisis communications plan that
considers the Internet side of todays business landscape (crisis communications plan-
ning); to respond adequately to crises should they arise by using all available online tools
(crisis response); and to establish appropriate Internet-based actions once the crisis dies
down (post-crisis). The article also questions whether the traditional one-way corporate
approach and tone is still suitable in the new, more participative, online business
environment, or whether companies should use a different tone, language, and attitude
when engaging with their audiences on the Internet in a crisis situation.
1. Introduction
F
ew phenomena have had the social impact that the
Internet has had in only a decade.
1
Today, about 19%
of the Worlds population or more than one billion
people have Internet access, (Internet World Stats,
2007), which represents 244% more than in the year
2000. Regions like North America and Europe are well
above those gures, with 70% and 42% of the popula-
tion having Internet access, respectively.
The Internet has radically changed the way business
and communications are managed today compared
with how they were managed just a decade ago. In only
a few years the Internet has evolved to become the
most popular way to communicate with customers,
investors, analysts, employees, the media, and the many
other stakeholders any company has, transforming the
practice of corporate communicators and public rela-
tions (PR)
2
professionals.
How people use the Internet is also changing and this
is reected in the huge increase in use of social media
that allow the public to publish content and connect to
each other. For example, in March 2007 there were 70
million blogs, increasing at a rate of 120,000 per day.
These blogs are updated with 1.5 million posts per day
or 17 updates per second (Technorati, 2007).
& 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation & 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main St., Malden, MA, 02148, USA
Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management Volume 16 Number 3 September 2008
The use of the Internet in the communication
process between organizations and their audiences is
a topic that has been receiving increasing attention by
PR professionals and students. Some studies have
examined the way in which these new corporate
communications techniques and tools can be used
from a theoretical standpoint (Kent, Taylor, & White,
2003; Settles, 1996; Witmer, 2000). And several other
studies have attempted to establish leading-edge use of
such technologies (Gonzalez-Herrero, Ruiz de Val-
buena, & Ruiz San Roman, 2005; Ha & Pratt, 2000;
Taylor, Kent, & White, 2001), or to analyse and predict
future trends in specic geographic environments or
countries (Ayish, 2005; Naude`, Froneman, & Atwood,
2004).
Various authors have also looked partially at the
role that the Internet plays in a crisis (Neil, 2000; Perry,
Taylor, & Doerfel, 2003; Taylor & Perry, 2005; West,
2003), while others have analysed how the use of digital
technologies has facilitated the emergence of new tools
in crisis communications, such as the use of interactive
chats, real-time video, or audio les (Hearit, 1999;
Witmer, 2000; Van Vark, 2004).
Most of this literature has covered from different
angles how some Internet technologies have impacted
current communication professional practices and how
practitioners can use technology more efciently.
We believe, however, that none of the previous
works have brought together all the aspects mentioned
above in an integrated manner, this is, how Internet-
based technologies can (1) impact or help companies
depending on their ignorance or adoption, respectively
to scan their business environment in search for
potential issues (issues management), (2) to prepare
a crisis plan that considers the virtual side of
todays business landscape (crisis planning), and (3) to
respond adequately to crises should they arise (crisis
response).
Likewise, little has been said about the different
attitude, tone, and/or language that companies must
use in todays Internet-based environment.
Consequently, this article adopts a fresh approach to
analysing how Internet-based technologies are impact-
ing corporations in their efforts to monitor issues, plan
for and respond to crises effectively, and to minimize
negative consequences for their audiences. It does so
by providing a clear set of considerations based on
todays media landscape, which includes a wide range of
social or peer media that has become more prominent
in the last four years. Finally, it looks at the importance
of a new approach, tone, and corporate language on the
Internet and outlines actions that can be followed in
each of the four stages identied in the work of
Gonzalez-Herrero (1994) and Gonzalez-Herrero and
Pratt (1995, 1996): (1) issues management; (2) planning-
prevention; (3) the crisis; and (4) the post-crisis.
2. A new digital environment for crisis
management
Up until very recently, companies used PR to address
their audiences through mass media such as TV, radio,
newspapers, and magazines (Figure 1). Under this one-
to-many model, the media determined whether the
information it received was newsworthy and credible
and, if it was published, the audience had little oppor-
tunity to respond. The Internet, however, has changed
that model and today peer media platforms such as
blogs, social networking sites, and virtual worlds mean
that group discussion is replacing one-to-many broad-
casting. In this environment, trust is the new currency
and people expect authentic, transparent conversation
in a human voice, not company messages delivered in a
corporate tone. Mainstream media still have an impor-
tant voice in that discussion in what we can call the
many-to-many model but they do not dominate the
discussion to the extent they used to (Figure 2).
Companies must take into consideration that their
audiences are now highly fragmented thanks to the
huge choice of media available online and that they are
using new technologies such as RSS (Really Simple
Syndication, an alternative way to receive information
by subscription) to pull the information they want,
rather than lter through what is being pushed at
them through mainstream media.
Increasingly, their audiences are also using their own
voices to express their opinions to their peers through
peer media such as blogs and social networks. These
huge changes result in a new, more dynamic commu-
nications ecosystem where information changes hands
at record speed and local issues can become global in a
matter of seconds.
How companies approach this new ecosystem can
dramatically change the outcome of a corporate crisis
as we shall examine in later examples.
But how are PR and communications professionals
reacting to these developments? Rapaport (1997,
p. 101) already indicated how the PR profession was
Figure 1. One-to-Many Model of Public Relations.
144
Alfonso Gonzalez-Herrero and Suzanne Smith
Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management
Volume 16 Number 3 September 2008
& 2008 The Authors
Journal compilation & 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
under an important shift: From an art devoted primar-
ily to persuading journalists to write positive stories,
the paradigm shift is moving PR to a more heteroge-
neous model that requires a targeted approach aimed
directly at vast new online communities (. . .).
And while ndings by Perry et al. (2003) and Taylor
and Perry (2005) indicate how most organizations
especially those facing an ongoing crisis are turning to
the Internet to communicate with the audience and the
news media during a crisis, it is also true that these
studies show, nevertheless, that there is still a prefer-
ence for the one-to-many approach, using more
traditional channels and tactics. In fact, PR agency
professionals admit that facilitating traditional media
relations is the primary purpose for which they use the
Internet on behalf of their clients (Gower & Cho, 2001).
3. The Internet: trigger or facilitator
of crises?
It has been pointed out by some authors (e.g., Neil, 2000)
how the Internet can act as the trigger of business crises.
We think, however, that such a statement deserves some
clarication because the role the Internet plays could be
twofold:
3.1. Internet as a facilitator of crises
Sometimes the Internet merely acts as an agent that
accelerates the crises news cycle and breaks geographic
boundaries. That is, the Internet becomes just an
additional channel for discussion of events that already
occur in the real world.
Under these circumstances, the Internet would act
just like the mainstream media (print, radio, television)
merely reecting reality, although obviously in a much
faster and viral way. The Internet accelerates crises
extraordinarily and gives them a new dimension,
although the same crises would most probably occur
at a slower pace without the existence of the Internet.
A good example (and perhaps the rst) of the
Internet acting as a facilitator was the Intel crisis back
in 1994, when the company had to replace thousands of
its Pentium chips due to a aw rst discovered by a
maths professor, who shared his ndings with other
colleagues in a specialized forum on the Internet.
Ten years later another example occurred when a
posting on a small blog, http://www.Bike-Forums.net,
stated that one of Kryptonites high-end bike locks
could be opened with a ballpoint pen. The company
largely ignored the blogosphere, issuing only a state-
ment saying that their locks were completely theft-
deterrent. Within ve days of the rst mention, there
was a posting in the popular blog Engadget. By the time
the news hit mainstream media that Kryptonite locks
were easily overcome with a simple ofce implement,
Kryptonite had a crisis on their hands. The problem
cost the company $10 million (Patrick, 2005), which
was nearly half of its $25 million annual revenue.
3.2. Internet as a trigger of crises
But the Internet may also be a triggering factor that can
cause a problem important enough to be considered a
crisis if not handled appropriately. This would be the
case of crises ignited by rumours, hacking, shadow or
copy-cat web sites, web security breaks, and all forms
of cyber-terrorism. It is the existence of the Internet
that makes these crises possible. Without the web
there would be no such crises.
Figure 2. Many-to-Many Model of Public Relations.
Crisis Communications Management on the Web
145
& 2008 The Authors
For example, spoof copy-cat web sites targeting
companies such as Mercedes-Benz (http://www.merce
desproblems.com), United Airlines (http://www.untied.
com), Intel (http://www.intelsecrets.com), McDonalds
(http://www.mcspotlight.org), Ford (http://www.aming
fords.info), or Wall Mart (http://community.livejournal.
com/walmartsucks/), among many others, can be more
than just an annoyance and could pose serious problems
to companies because they can reach audiences of
hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
A few authors (e.g., Turnbull, 2000) argue, however,
that technological change only accentuates issues and
crises rather than creating new forms of crises. Cer-
tainly in some situations, it is difcult to distinguish
whether the Internet is being a facilitator or a trigger
of the crisis. And probably, from a professional point of
view, it makes little difference. Whatever the theore-
tical role of the Internet, PR professionals must take
into account that rumours may well appear rst on the
Internet (in discussion forums, individual blogs, and
virtual worlds such as Second Life. . .) and remain there,
or might also jump to the real world being considered
as truthful by the mainstream media, which would
thereby multiply the negative impact of the crisis.
All of the above gives us some clues as to how
companies must plan to prevent Internet-triggered crises
and act on more traditional scenarios where the Internet
simply plays the role of a new media or facilitator.
For example, on the one hand, crisis managers will
have now to reect in their crisis plans (and simula-
tions) scenarios that consider hacking, rumours, nega-
tive blogging movements, and other types of Internet-
based problems, as well as instructions and guidance to
act under those circumstances. As with other crisis
planning activities, this must be done well in advance to
a crisis situation because there is limited time to react
otherwise. But also, crisis managers will have to develop
an Internet plan for the more traditional crisis scenar-
ios considered in the companys crisis plan. That is, they
will need to plan and determine how the company will
use the Internet to interact and exchange information
with its constituencies should a more traditional crisis
occur. In both cases, managers and members of the
crisis management team must be acquainted with using
Internet-based technologies and understanding the
social dynamics of the online world that require greater
openness and a more human voice.
4. A model for crisis management in
the virtual world
Gonzalez-Herrero (1994) and Gonzalez-Herrero and
Pratt (1995, 1996) illustrated a four-stage model for
crisis management, suggesting a correspondence of crises
with the biological model in which an organism passes
Figure 3. Phases of the Crisis Management Model and Implications for the New Digital Ecosystem.
146
& 2008 The Authors
sequentially through phases of birth, growth, maturity,
and decline (death). The four phases described in this
crisis management model are: issues management, plan-
ning-prevention, the crisis, and the post-crisis (Figure 3).
The following pages of this article will analyse the
implications of the new digital ecosystem for the four-
stage model and will focus on the actions related to
the new Internet technologies that a communications
professional can undertake in each of these phases.
4.1. Issues management
The core of any issues management practice is to
identify, track, and manage potentially conicting issues
by inuencing their course. The Internet has important
implications for the practice of issues management and
vigilant monitoring in the age of the Internet is now a
critical part of corporate communication.
The use of new technologies and, specically, the
Internet as a monitoring and issues management tool
has been studied since the mid-1990s. Thomsen (1995),
Heath (1997, 1998), and Hearit (1999) have all indicated
how online databases, web pages, and other online
resources can be useful when looking for emerging
issues and problems, and can help corporations to
adjust policies and actions before a crisis occurs.
The environment in which crises occur today is
increasingly virtual, because many activists use online
communications to foster their campaigns against cor-
porations. Hearit (1999, p. 303) pointed out how new
technology enables audiences to move from a passive
stage to an active one, playing, therefore, a dynamic role
and allowing public controversies and crises that would
have been unlikely just a decade ago. The new technol-
ogies have removed many of the barriers to locating
others with the same problem and today it is much more
likely that individuals who share a problem recognize each
other and are able to organize and communicate to
coordinate actions even if they are based in different
countries or regions. NGOs are an example of how some
organizations are using this to their advantage.
Also, Hearit (1999), referencing newsgroups, thinks
that the Internet has facilitated the rise of single-issue
audiences, who are more active and technically sophis-
ticated on that single issue.
This is why while individual blogs can be harmless,
they have the power to disrupt through aggregation
(Crush, 2006). An individual writing a blog that has
several links to other sites can have as much inuence
as a communications department of a major rm.
Blogs and newsgroups are just two examples but
people are connecting with each over a huge number of
other peer-to-peer platforms such as social networks
(e.g., Facebook and MySpace), video-sharing sites (e.g.,
YouTube), and user review portals (e.g., Tryp Advisor),
drawn together by the same interests. Faced with these
fragmented, empowered audiences, it is clear that early
identication of issues and a quick, clear, honest re-
sponse is essential to prevent issues from becoming
crises and facts from becoming distorted by rumours.
An early analysis of web-based content might provide
the early warning needed to develop appropriate
corporate plans and responses and enable companies
to avoid the situation in which Kryptonite found itself.
When specically considering the impact of Internet-
based media, part of the issues management and pre-
crisis preparation should also involve a good look at the
type of audience the companys products or services
are aimed at. A manufacturer of professional building
equipment is unlikely to have as net savvy an audience
as a gaming software company. For the latter, whose
customers are known to be users of social media,
monitoring blogs is essential as demonstrated by Sonys
experience in 2006. A few days before Sony announced
a delay in the launch of Playstation 3, some blogs were
already commenting on it and the company was faced
with criticism. By monitoring the blogosphere and
quickly correcting rumours that could be perceived as
facts, they were able to prevent the crisis from escalat-
ing to mainstream media (Crush, 2006).
Today, there is a diverse array of monitoring and
information services provided by companies like PR
Newswire, Cymfony, Intelliseek, and Biz360, which
analyse hundreds of newsgroups and blogs, and lter
millions of messages daily. Some of these services also
track print and online media coverage in search for
commentary about a specic organization. Many pro-
fessionals see newsgroups as a modern online version
of focus groups, but allowing quicker gathering of
information at virtually no cost. Monitoring them allows
companies to quickly decide how to act to adverse
information, recognizing potential problems.
Advanced research and measurement tools can even
draw a full map of online inuencers showing issues of
interest or concern (Figure 4).
Having access to this type of detailed information is a
rst step to being prepared for a crisis but monitoring
is not enough. As we mentioned previously, todays
audiences expect a company to listen to and engage
with them and this needs to happen before the issue
evolves any further should the company want to avoid
an ongoing crisis situation.
For companies used to one-way communication,
dynamic many-to-many dialogue may seem a huge step
forward, but building open and honest relationships with
key inuencers establishes a companys credibility and may
help prevent crises or at least minimize the damage they
can do. As Perry et al. (2003, p. 231) put it an organiza-
tions attempt to maintain relationships with its various
audiences via the Internet while under intense scrutiny
may minimize the potential damage of a crisis with its
stakeholders and maximize recovery.
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& 2008 The Authors
In addition to engaging inuential bloggers by re-
sponding to their postings, companies from Microsoft
to GM are interacting with their audiences via external
corporate blogs on a range of topics. As a rst step,
companies often launch an internal blog rst and
encourage their employees to do the same.
Other peer-to-peer platforms can be used internally.
Newsgroups can also be used as the 21st-century
version of the coffee break. That is, employees can
meet on internal web sites to discuss and chat about
issues related to their company. If promoted by man-
agement, these sites could be monitored to identify
possible problems, ranging from labour disputes to
moral issues, and moderators acting as information
brokers could try to appease disgruntled employees.
Central to the success of peer media initiatives are
corporate policies that recognize that employees will
use their voices, encourage them to do so but provide
them with clear guidelines and a structure to do so.
A good example of this are the IBM Social Computing
Guidelines, where the company expresses its belief in
the importance of open exchange and learning
between IBM and its clients, and among the many
constituents of the emerging business and societal
ecosystem and promotes employees responsible
participation in blogs, wikis, social networks, and virtual
worlds.
Specic issues management actions that should be
taken at this phase include:
1. Assign resources human and economic to issues
management tasks. Consider whether an external
agency or service can be of help.
2. Establish an efcient online monitoring alert system
that includes monitoring of web sites, blogs, news-
groups, etc.
3. Train the team. Become familiar with how things
develop in the virtual world.
4. Draw a full map of online inuencers showing issues
of interest or concern.
5. Prioritize your actions on issues based on their
probability of occurrence and its possible impact
on the organization.
6. Consider starting a corporate blog to engage with
the online community well before a crisis situation
arises.
7. Think globally. Any local issue in the Internet can
today easily evolve into a regional or a global crisis.
8. Draw up guidelines on the approach, tone, and
language that is appropriate for dialogue in a dy-
namic, online environment. This will be quite differ-
ent from the more formal and distant corporate
tone and language used in traditional communica-
tions.
Figure 4. Map of Online Inuencers.
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& 2008 The Authors
4.2. Planning-prevention
The Planning-prevention phase shares online monitor-
ing with the issues management stage, but it adds a new
element: prevention. In the previous phase, the issue
had been detected and actions had been taken to
inuence its development. Now, in the planning-
prevention stage the organization should brace itself
for the possible crisis and plan for other potential
scenarios. This requires not only monitoring the en-
vironment in search of warning signs but also preparing
for a possible negative impact of an issue.
In other words, at this stage, the organization should
ask itself: What can we proactively do in advance of a
possible crisis? How can we use Internet-based tech-
nologies to help us minimize the potential negative
consequences of a crisis?
Although the advantages of using the Internet as an
information resource during a crisis seem obvious, it is
important not to forget what Perry et al. (2003) have
labelled as stakeholder needs. Companies need to
evaluate whether different audiences are likely to turn
to the Internet for information during a crisis and make
sure the organization responds accordingly as shown
previously in the Sony Playstation example. Not all
audiences are equally familiar with social media and
traditional channels of communication could be more
adequate in some instances.
The same consideration must be made regarding
resources. Crisis management planning must consider
not only the money and people required to design an
Internet plan should a crisis occur but also the re-
sources that would be needed and their availability
to implement such a plan, including response through
web-based resources as well as follow-up responses.
Otherwise, companies are in danger of carrying out a
nice- but na ve- intellectual exercise.
During the planning-prevention phase, the company
should:
1. Consider developing the crisis manual online: it is
easier to update and maintain than hard-copy, and it
offers the possibility to include links to multiple
sources of information and databases. It also allows
communications actions such as e-mail distribution
and point-and-click distribution of press materials.
2. Update e-mailing lists and contact databases.
3. Check whether the regular media monitoring
service is fast enough to follow the crisis, especially
for online media outlets.
4. Register all possible domain names, including those
with negative connotations, to prevent registration
and use by activists groups.
5. Draft guidelines to respond quickly to web-based
rumours.
6. Consider the creation of an extranet or a web-
based wiki or team-room that could be used by
crisis management team members to obtain inter-
nal information related to the crisis, guidelines,
plans, news reports, statements, contact informa-
tion, etc.
7. Provide guidelines to using the companys intranet
to keep employees informed.
8. Create a hidden or a dark web site that could be
used externally in case of a crisis to update all
constituencies about the issue.
9. Prepare links to be used on the companys web site,
connecting visitors to other relevant sites, addi-
tional information, or useful resources.
10. Identify relevant third-party organizations and
individuals (e.g., some bloggers) that could act as
allies and can provide a balanced view in the case of
a negative audience debate. Engage with them in
advance.
11. Include a web expert and/or a blogger in the crisis
team.
12. Evaluate your in-house capabilities to develop
graphic, video, and audio les that could be quickly
distributed online, whether they are simple digital
pictures or more elaborate podcasts. Purchase the
necessary equipment or think about outsourcing
these services.
13. Consider whether you need your traditional PR
rm to do online PR or you need to hire a separate
PR rm or partner that specializes in online PR.
14. Test the online crisis plan.
4.3. The crisis
The crisis phase encompasses all the actions that an
organization needs to implement once the situation has
already arisen. Many of these actions should have been
put in place in advance, during the planning-prevention
stage.
Some of the basics of crisis management have not
changed despite the introduction of new technologies
and the emergence of Internet-based interactive plat-
forms such as newsgroups, blogs, etc. Even with the
huge changes already introduced in crisis management
by these Internet-based media, one trend remains the
same and it is that for most issues on the Internet to
develop into serious crises, they still need to be picked
up by the mainstream media. This is clearly demon-
strated by the Kryptonite example, where the number
of people reading about the company on blogs went
from 550,000 to 1,800,000 in two days following the
publication of the story in the New York Times.
However, what has dramatically changed is the speed
and type of response expected today and the tools
available. The organizations reaction must be extre-
mely fast if it does not want to lose control of the
information to some other source or be perceived as
149
& 2008 The Authors
an informatively obscure company, because as Taylor
and Perry (2005, p. 216) say, no response online may
become synonymous of no comment.
But for all the challenges the Internet is enabling or
triggering, it is also opening up new opportunities and
ways of dealing with crises. Two-way interactive com-
munication, the use of Internet links, real-time mon-
itoring, and the use of digital video and audio les have
been identied as four new media tactics with the
unique features of online communication (Perry et al.,
2003, p. 215).
In a 2005 study, Taylor and Perry (2005) showed how
54% of companies analysed in a ve-year period re-
sponded to crises by using their organizations web site,
press releases being the tool most frequently used to
inform the media and the public. Eighty per cent of the
companies that used the Internet to respond to a crisis
posted a press release on their site within the rst 24
hours. Other tools, such as fact-sheets or letters to the
shareholders, were also used, although in smaller
percentages.
The same study also examined the use of innovative
media tactics (i.e., those that exist thanks to the
Internet) and identied that companies that used the
Internet to inform the audience during a crisis used
links (46%), two-way communication tools (44%), and
multimedia effects (34%), although only one company
used online chats.
However, these authors also found in their ve years
of analysing crisis situations in the United States that
organizations are not increasing their use of the Inter-
net in response to crisis overtime as we might think.
Unsurprisingly, it is nancial organizations, high-tech
rms and consumer groups that take advantage of the
Internet the most in crisis situations (Perry et al., 2003).
New technologies have also dramatically changed the
way companies collect time-critical data when a crisis
occurs. Reliable, front-line information about what is
happening, why, and to whom is essential to execute
any crisis management plan, both from the operations
and the communications point of view.
Several companies have emerged in recent years that
specialize in helping organizations with their emergency-
management needs (West, 2003). Companies, such as
E-Team (http://www.eteam.com), Alert Technologies
(http://www.alerttech.com), Emergency Services Integra-
tors (http://www.esi911.com/esi), and E811 (http://www.
e811.com), have developed Crisis Information Manage-
ment Software (known generically as CIMS). IBM, in
alliance with several business partners, including
E-Team, has also developed its own system for some of
its clients, mostly government organizations, allowing
people who have to respond rst to a crisis situation
such as law enforcement, emergency response, and
transportation management agencies to have access to
the right information at the right time thanks to a
comprehensive set of tools for information sharing,
situation analysis, and remote, web-based communication.
And, while CIMS has typically been introduced into
organizations via information technology departments,
PR managers can play a key role for management in
identifying the need for such resources and customizing
information capabilities for diverse communication
needs (West, 2003, p. 30).
Todays technology also allows companies to analyse
web-site trafc to identify which journalists from which
countries/cities are navigating ones site, which would
make it possible to tailor the companys information
more easily, although many companies already prohibit
or limit such analysis to protect individual data privacy.
There are several other aspects to be considered
when analysing crisis response in a digital environment.
One important consideration is how a company should
address their audience on the Internet, because some
studies suggest that the most credible spokespeople are
rank and le employees, not the CEO (Edelman Trust
Barometer, 2007).
People want companies to take part in a conversation
as human beings with names, points of views, and an ability
to listen. This is why employees have the ability to turn
around negative opinions expressed about a company.
Some companies are naturally worried about allow-
ing this degree of openness but trying to stop it can
have very negative results as United Airlines discovered
when its communications department tried to stop the
participation of one of its workers in an inuential travel
forum. There was such outrage from the online com-
munity who had been helped by the United Airlines
employee that he was eventually allowed to continue
participating, thus preventing a crisis (Levine, Locke,
Searls, & Weinberger, 2000). Companies need to under-
stand that thanks to the Internet their employees can
and will talk internally and externally during a crisis
whether they like it or not. Belonging to communities
and understanding the concerns of the communities
will help them build relationships, spot opportunities,
and prevent crises.
Another aspect to consider is how to deal with copy-
cat web pages, sometimes also called rogue sites, sucks
sites, or simply anti-web sites that are normally created
and maintained by disgruntled clients or employees. It is
never easy and there is no consensus on the right
approach. Options include starting a blog or enlisting
the help of other bloggers, an online information cam-
paign, responding with a sense of humour or legal action
depending on the specic situation. In some cases when a
domain name is being infringed, companies may appeal to
the ICANN (http://www.Icann.org, Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers), the arbitration body
that can settle domain-name disputes.
As tempting as the last option may appear to a
company facing a crisis, the problem with legal action
150
& 2008 The Authors
is, rst, it is hard to nd who is responsible and, second,
if you do nd them it becomes an issue of big companies
picking on the little innocent. It can become a news
story, even if the little company is dishonest (Krauss,
2000). Furthermore, legal action does not necessarily
make the problem go away as demonstrated by the
following example of Dunkin Donuts: a dissatised
customer made fun of the company on his blog and
turned http://www.dunkindonuts.org into an audience
comment board. After being sued by Dunkin Donuts,
the customer sold the site to the Company but http://
www.dunkindonutssucks.com was registered shortly
afterwards. The lesson is that the audience will always
nd a site where they can speak and so companies may
wish to consider hosting an audience comment site on
their own web sites (Levine et al., 2000).
Besides putting in place many of the measures that
should have been planned in the previous phase,
organizations can implement some more additional
actions during the crisis stage:
1. Ensure your mainstream media and online mon-
itoring services are aware of the crisis situation and
that they report electronically all outcomes as they
appear.
2. Use search engine optimization to make the com-
panys web site appear at the top of a search.
3. Place an obvious link to crisis information (or your
previously hidden site) on your home page as soon
as possible.
4. Use links to reputable third-party endorsements or
to web sites that have favourably covered the issue.
5. Use the Net as a third-party information resource
that reinforces your companys view. For example,
you can take advantage of online tools like blogging.
6. Use the web for further information or instructions
to consumers and the audience (e.g., In the case of
a product recall, etc.). Make sure announcements
are clearly seen from the home page.
7. Use interactive tools such as mini surveys to
understand the audiences perception, including
questions or comments such as whats your opi-
nion?, we appreciate your view. . . although take
into account that such messages will need a re-
sponse.
8. Consider whether chat tools should be used to
foster dialogue or suspended, due to the delicate
nature of such situations and the anonymity that
most of these tools allow.
9. Get CEOs to use the Internet to personally
address stakeholders, something few of them do,
according to Stock (2003).
10. Combine the use of online media with traditional
media. Certain traditional media gatekeepers still
confer a certain degree of credibility to a message
that many online media do not yet have.
4.4. The post-crisis
Once the most acute phase the crisis has passed,
there are still many actions that a company needs to
take. Specically, companies should:
1. Continue tracking the issue by monitoring blogs,
online media, etc. during the months and even
years to come.
2. Thank those who helped the company during the
crisis. From an online point of view, this could
include thank you e-mail messages or a thank
you message on the companys web site.
3. Update the companys online newsroom appropri-
ately.
4. Dene the strategies and tactics at play to rebuild
the companys reputation: from in-depth analysis of
Internet content and opinion leaders, to online chats
with the most active bloggers.
5. Evaluate what happened and how the organization
responded, so that the crisis plan and all the online-
related measures could be properly adapted.
The Internet has also introduced new considerations
about the long-lasting effects of a crisis. Today, compa-
nies should accept that it is almost impossible to
eradicate negative publicity from the Internet, even
when a crisis is over. The web perpetuates bad news.
It is no longer the one-day story it used to be in
traditional mass media. Video-sharing web sites like
YouTube mean that footage that sparks a crisis (e.g., the
video showing how to pick a high-end Kryptonite bike
lock with a ballpoint pen) can be viewed again and again.
However, companies who clearly show they have
learnt from their mistakes and changed their commu-
nications strategy and even their company culture will
be in a stronger position to prevent future crises. When
Shell tried unsuccessfully to sink the Brent Spar oil
platform in 1995, resulting in highly negative interna-
tional media coverage, it went on to publicly admit its
mistakes and to align its internal culture more closely to
corporate communications needs. The result included
initiatives such as a project planning process called the
Spar Test designed to understand how employees feel
about something, not simply what they think about it.
Two years after the crisis, the company also launched an
uncensored space on the Internet, TellShell, which
allowed totally transparent communication (Moore &
Seymour, 2007).
5. Conclusion
Although most of the basics of crisis management
remain the same, the tools to apply them need to be
revised and adapted to todays digital environment.
Yesterdays principles of monitoring issues, preventive
151
& 2008 The Authors
and advance planning, and quick, credible crisis re-
sponse are still valid in the 21st century.
However, the Internet has introduced and continues to
introduce major changes in the way businesses and
communicators should respond to crisis situations. The
absence of geographic and time barriers introduced by
the Internet, the appearance of peer media such as blogs
and social networks, todays instant access to information
by the companys audiences as well as the increasing
demand by these audiences to engage in a two-way
conversation with organizations are provoking a major
review of how enterprises of all sizes and sectors must
approach crisis communications management.
Internet-based technologies can act either as a trigger
of crises or as a simple enabler of them, as a new cause
for crises, or as an additional channel through which the
companys stakeholders obtain their information. In
either case, the Internet has major implications for
companies: on the one hand, existing crisis plans need
to be adapted to reect how online communications
could be used to prevent a conicting scenario or how to
act should a crisis occurs; on the other, organizations
need to consider some of the new crisis scenarios (such
as copy-cat web pages, cyber-attacks, phishing,
3
etc.) that
they might encounter under this new digital environment.
Being able to cope with this could make the difference
between success and failure in a crisis situation, some-
thing that will be even more apparent in the years to
come, in parallel to the development of the Internet.
Online crisis management is not as easy as designing a
nice online newsroom and sending e-mails to journalists
instead of faxes. As we have seen in this article, it is far
more complex and it involves an important change of
mentality both in communicators and their management,
because some of the decisions that need to be made
affect the core of traditional corporate cultures.
Crisis communications has never been as important
as it is today because there has never been so much
information available to so many people at the touch of
a button. Nor, until now, have people ever had so much
power to share their opinions so widely as they now do
thanks to peer media such as blogs and social networks.
Audiences are demanding high responsiveness, trans-
parency, and authenticity from companies and those that
fail to deliver it quickly leave themselves vulnerable to
attack. As a result, corporate approaches to crisis com-
munications have to change radically. The good news for
companies is that the very tools that trigger or enable
crises can also provide the solutions to resolving them.
Acknowledgement
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the
authors own and do not necessarily represent their
companies positions, strategies, or opinions.
Notes
1. From the mid-1990s to today. Although the origins of the
Internet can be traced back to the 1960s and govern-
mental programmes such as ARPANET, it would be only
in the 1990s when the invention of the World Wide Web
made most information available online with a point-and-
click interface that anyone could use.
2. Public relations is the discipline which looks after reputa-
tion, with the aim of earning understanding and support
and inuencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and
sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and
mutual understanding between an organisation and its
publics (The Chartered Institute of Public Relations, 2008).
3. An attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensi-
tive information, such as usernames, passwords, and
credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy
entity in an electronic communication (Wikipedia: The
Free Encyclopedia, 2007).
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