Crisis Communication

http://adage.com/article/agency-news/penn-state-enlists-ketchum-crisis-communications/231016/

Pennsylvania State University, in the wake of a damning sexual assault scandal involving football coaches and children, has obtained Ketchum to handle their crisis communication plan. Although I think its great that Penn State leaders finally took some responsibility and admitted that they had a problem, I have to wonder why an organization, as large as Penn State, did not have a plan in place and allowed for a PR disaster to spiral down hill even after all the sexual assault allegations were out in the open.

Crisis communication is so important and can effectively help you overcome a crisis when it is done properly and thoughtfully. However, having a plan in place before or emergency blows up is key to containing the crisis. While you may not be able to plan for exact emergencies or crises, you can have a general plan that can be easily adapted to the specific circumstances. It seems to me that Penn State dropped the ball in so many ways. The circumstances are awful, but maybe, if a proper crisis communication plan in place that was executed in a timely manner, they wouldn’t have had to bring down the entire University. 

Reaction to Social Media Governance Workshop

The Social Media Governance workshop brought many interesting and diverse voices to what the current state of social media governance is and how it might evolve in the future, delving deeply into several specific subject areas. The speakers addressed laws and regulations that are or are not in place to govern the use of social media and why or why not they are in existence and the result. The final speaker from Saturday’s session from Penn State University opened his presentation with a simple, straightforward question: “What is social media?”

This is a question that I find myself thinking about often. Something may fall under the umbrella of social media, but is it really? The speaker said simply, “all media is social.” Further, he explained that the purpose of social media is to add a level of sophistication to the way we communication with one another. It enables greater richness by encouraging interactive two-way communication. The speaker went on to discuss implications and other technicalities of the use of social media, but to me, his opening remarks were by far the most interesting and thought provoking.

Social media allows for a meaningful conversation between two or more parties. In my opinion, this needs to be taken into consideration when thinking about ways to govern social media. Social media has allowed for, in may cases, a new level of transparency and openness between organizations and individuals. Although some governance is needed to protect the rights and privacy of individuals and organizations, over governance can just as well detract from the purpose of social media.