1. Order from Chaos: Understanding the
Interplay of Social Media and Crisis
Communication
W. Timothy Coombs
University of Central Florida

2. Chaos

4. Driving questions
• What is a social media crisis?
– What does it mean to use social media in a crisis?
• What are tactical implications for crisis
communication?
• What are the strategic implications for crisis
communication?

5. Taxonomy of “Crises”
Crises
Organizational
Disasters
Crises

6. Central Concerns of
Organizational Crises
• Public safety (physical health)
• Public welfare (psychological health)
• Public perception (reputation)
• Operations (business continuity)

7. Taxonomy Part 2
Organizational
Crises
Traditional Social Media
Crises Crises

8. Traditional crisis
• Public safety and welfare

9. Social media crisis
• Public perception (Reputation)

10. a concern that arises in or is amplified
by social media resulting in negative
legacy media coverage, changes in
business operations, or threatens
financial loss
a rhetorical construction

11. Sources of social media crises
Organizational
Misuse
Dissatisfied
Challengers
Customers
Social
Media
Crisis

12. Taxonomy Part 3
Social Media
Crisis
Stakeholder Organizational
Actions Actions
Customer Misuse of
Challenges
Complaints Social Media

13. Organizational misuse
• Inappropriate use (competence)
– Apologize and correct
Crisis Connection
• Purposeful misuse (moral)

14. Dissatisfied Customers
• Customer relations, not a crisis
– Resolve the concern (opportunity & transparency)
Crisis Connection
• Warning of a product harm

15. Challenges
• Stakeholder claims organization is acting in
irresponsible manner
– Threat to CSR claims
– Threat to reputations

16. Social media as risk
• Stakeholders take control of organization’s
social media
– Planned
– Spontaneous
• Creates negative messages

17. Social media as risk

18. From social media crisis to
Use of social media in a
crisis

19. Implications for crisis communication
• Tactical (tools)
• Strategic (how to reach goals)

20. Tactics by Crisis phase
Pre-Crisis Crisis Post-Crisis
• Monitoring • Requisite • Updates
for threats response • Monitor for
• Anticipate • Consistency memorials
channels with
channels
• Monitor
reactions

21. Major impact on pre-crisis phase
New visibility
New Tools
New Choices

22. Increase public visibility
Pre-crisis
Crisis
Response

23. Increase public visibility
Pre-crisis
Crisis
Response

24. Publicly
• Resolve customer complaint
– Demonstrate skill and commitment
• Address organizational faux pas
• Response to challenge

25. Tactical: Pre-crisis
• Improve monitoring
• Anticipate channels

26. Monitoring
• Scan social media for warning signs/threats

27. Anticipate channels
• Control channels tied to brand, even if inactive
– EX: Twitter feeds
• Pre-prepared messages
• Be active if relevant

28. Tactical: Crisis Response
Requisite response
Consistency with channels

29. Same Channel: Fed-ex

30. Integration: KidCo

31. Tactics: Post-crisis
• Social media ideal for updating
• Identify online memorials

32. Visibility = Pressure
Challenge is the Nexus of
Tactics and Strategy

33. Paracrisis
• Publicly visible crisis threat that
charges an organization with
irresponsible or unethical behavior
• Associated with challenge crises

34. Strategy by Crisis phase
Pre-crisis Crisis Post-crisis
• Assess • Select • Relationship
threats Channel to
• Select memorials
response

35. Assessment: Origins of challenges
• Organic: values evolve and organization may
fall behind
• Expose: disconnect (deception) between
organizational words and deeds for
responsibility
• Villain: repeated efforts to attack a particular
organization or industry

36. Assessment: Nature of threat
Power
Legitimacy
Urgency

37. Response choices: Rhetoric
• Accommodation: incorporate challenge into
organizational operations
• Adaptation: incorporate some variation of the
challenge into the organization
• Rejection: maintain status quo with rationale
• Redemption: apologize for the deception and
validate new actions (expose only)

38. Channel selection
• Indiscriminant: wide dispersion (small seed)
– Low cost
– Fast and easy
– Overlap and repetition
• Selective
– Need for cognition by stakeholders
• Public safety driven (why useful in disasters)
– Channels used by stakeholders
– Focus monitoring on reactions in select social media

39. Online memorials
• Promote grieving and healing (public welfare)
• Should organization create one?
– Uni- or multi-vocal
• Should organization link to one?
– Contact creators first
• Informed by memory studies

40. Order?
• New channels = change
– Evolution NOT Revolution
• Are “social media” crises (paracrises)
• Existing theory appropriate platform
– Map tactical use of social media
– Understand strategic implications
– Add “new” theories and concepts as needed
• Effective strategy never goes out of style

43. Challenge dynamic: Strategy
Stakeholder
Challenge
Quiescence or
Stakeholder
Assessment
Support Reaction
Organizational
Response Constraints

44. Challenge protocol
• Challenger contacts the organization first with
demands—petition

45. Power
• Number of social media channels and ease of
use
• Communicative skills of challenger
• Past success of challengers

46. Legitimacy
• Challenge is viewed as acceptable
• Evidence others supporting challenge
• Legitimacy of the challengers

47. Urgency
• Challengers commitment to the concern
• Reflects threat is long term
• Promote need for action

48. Constraints
• Financial costs of change
• Consistency with organizational strategy
• Potential benefits from change
• Potential damage from status quo