Why Use Social Media in a Crisis?

Social media has dynamically changed the landscape of effectively reacting to a crisis and this presentation a great perspective on what’s happening.  Even better, there’s specific tips on how you should react.  The Society for New Communications Research held a forum at the end of April and their closing speaker was a PR Professional Shel Holtz.  He explains why communications professionals should incorporate social media into the way we communicate and respond to a crisis.

“Using social media creates two-way communication and is generally seen as more credible. It accommodates the public’s emotional response.”

This is particularly timely as Shel talks about the social media context of recent cases:

• Motrin “Moms” commercial backfire and how offended people responded
• Amazon’s “fail” – LGBT censoring books and Amazon’s response
• Domino’s Pizza employees prank video & the fallout

You can listen to his presentation here.  I listened and flipped through his Powerpoint below:

• Download the audio file of his speech here (MP3, 31.8Mb, 1:09:21)

Related posts:

1. Trends: Top Social Media Sites
2. California Encourages Agencies to Use Social Media
3. 10 Free Social Media Monitoring Tools
4. Crisis 101: Put Yourself Onscene Within Seconds
5. What is Social Media?

Tagged as: crisis communication, shel holtz, social media