Lessons Learnt in the area of

Communication Strategies

03 April 2009

Daniel Seet
Graduate Student
MA Communication Mgt
Emerson College
 Overview of Mayhem


Lessons Learnt

#1 – Acknowledging uncertainty in the crisis


‘golden hour’
#2 – Issue time-limited instructions early to


stem uncertainty
#3 – Have a lead agency to coordinate all


outgoing public messages

#4 – Have critical inter-agency messages


disseminated by the lead agency

#5 – Tap on Websites and New Media Platforms


as communication solutions
#6 – Promote normalcy and social unity as key


post-attack narratives

Recap

•Most devastating attack
since WWII

•3 bombs at the London

Underground around
8.50am

•1 bomb on board a bus

around 9.50am

•52 commuters killed,

more than 700 injured

• Suspension of city’s
transportation network

•Disruption to social
order (racial/religious
tension)

• Economic losses
 #1 – Acknowledging uncertainty
in the crisis ‘golden hour’

 60-120 minutes
 Lack of coordinated picture
 ‘Fast-food’ media culture
 Saying “we do not know?”
 #2– Issue time-limited
instructions early to
stem uncertainty

 “Go in, stay in, tune in”

 Frame and claim approach
 Time-stamp the advisories
 Institutionalized agreement
with media.
 #3– Have a lead agency to
coordinate all outgoing public
messages

 Pertinent for government

communication
 Countering misinformation
 Speed vs. accuracy
 Building a consistent narrative (control).
 #4 – Have critical
inter-agency messages
disseminated by the
lead agency

 Media space is scarce

 ‘Non priority’ agency
messages may get ‘lost’
 Getting the initial voice
heard
 Emergency planning
 #5– Tap on Websites and New
Media Platforms as
communication solutions

 New media technologies are fast

becoming mainstream
 Opportunities for crisis communication
monitoring
 Get engaged on blogs, forums and social
media.
 Monitor what people are saying about
your organization with Twitter
Search (search.twitter.com)

 Tweetbeep (tweetbeep.com) is
another great site for tracking
breaking developments. Keywords are
tracked on Twitter and instantly get
emailed when the keyword is tweeted.

 Other tools are Google Blog Search (

blogsearch.google.com) for tracking
blog mentions, and Board Tracker (
boardtracker.com), for monitoring
message boards.
 Public / Community

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#2 #3 #5
 Public / Community

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a
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Other
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s

Media Query

Feedback
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 Industry/
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 #6 – Promote
normalcy and social
unity as key post-
attack narratives

 Instilling fear as the main

motive
 Religious and social unity
as key narrative
 Powerful media imageries
 ‘Back-end’ community
support.
 Choose accuracy over speed anytime
 Don’t try to appear more informed than
we actually are
 Work closely with media in handling of
advisories
 Having a centralized information
coordination body helps with unified
narrative
 Utilize new media applications for
environmental monitoring
 Counter the message of fear with
About the author:
Daniel Seet is a graduate student with Emerson
College’s Communication Management (CM) program.
His interest is in the impact of socialized media and its
impact on modern communication (including crisis
management aspects) and community engagement.
For follow-up enquiries, please feel free to contact him
at daniel(dot)seet(at)gmail(dot)com. Or visit his blog at
http://promulgationrubiconpr.weebly.com.