Category Archives: social media

Defining the Roles of Traditional vs Social Media

Published on 15th May 2013 by Jonathan Bernstein. 6 Comments. Click to add yours.

Social media’s role should be to bring information to us quickly. Traditional media’s role should be to bring information to us accurately.

That distinction came to mind recently after I witnessed the horrendously inaccurate traditional media reporting about the Boston Marathon bombing, which was often fed by an apparent desire to keep up with social media rumors.

Chris Martin of The Poynter Institute, which trains traditional journalists on ethics, had this to say about news reporting from Boston:

“No one remembers who got this story first. They only remember who got it wrong.”

Sadly, newsrooms mired in traditions of the 20th Century are focused on avoiding being “scooped” and, in so doing, are no longer taking the time to fact-check properly. Ignoring the reality that they can’t have it both ways – and hence the need for a definitive distinction between their role and the role of social media.

And while I can talk all day from my bully pulpit, the only way the public will ever clearly understand that distinction is if social media influencers and highly respected traditional journalists (a) buy into the idea and (b) start walking that talk.

Journalists, in particular, need to stop putting speed before fact-checking. They need to return to making credibility their most important asset. In today’s world, a Walter Cronkite could not exist as a credible source, because he would be fed unverified information on a regular basis, information that would come back to bite him. And that’s just sad.

Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist and craigconnects and a strong supporter of the work of Poynter and others involved with improving journalistic ethics, is fond of saying “I want news I can trust again.”

Me too, Craig, me too.

Jonathan Bernstein
President
Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc.

[Author's Postscript: On a contracted basis, I am the Project Director for craigconnects, hence my knowledge of Craig's involvement with this topic. However, this blog post comes from my experience and my heart - it is not part of my responsibilities for this client.]

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Twitter Finally Talks Crisis Management

Published on 5th May 2013 by Erik Bernstein. Leave a Comment

Social media crisis management advice straight from the horse’s mouth

After the umpteenth Twitter hack of recent memory, in which a false report of explosions in the White House going out from the official Associated Press account actually caused the stock market to dip, the big blue bird is finally doing some crisis management of its own.

Going with the educational approach, at least while further security systems like two-step authentication are perfected, Twitter sent a memo to news organizations that was full of tips on account security:

Take these steps right now:

Change your Twitter account passwords. Never send passwords via e-mail, even internally. Ensure that passwords are strong- at least 20 characters long. Use either randomly-generated passwords (like “LauH6maicaza1Neez3zi”) or a random string of words (like “hewn cloths titles yachts refine”).

Keep your email accounts secure. Twitter uses email for password resets and official communication. If your email provider supports two-factor authentication, enable it. Change your e-mail passwords, and use a password different from your Twitter account password.

Review your authorized applications. Log in to Twitter and review the applications authorized to access your accounts. If you don’t recognize any of the applications, contact us immediately by emailing ______@twitter.com.

Help us protect you. We’re working to make sure we have the most updated information on our partners’ accounts. Please send us a complete list of all accounts affiliated with your organization, so that we can help keep them protected.

Build a plan. Create a formal incident response plan. If you suspect your organization is being targeted by a phishing campaign or has been compromised by a phishing attack, enact the plan.

Contact us immediately at ______@twitter.com with the word “Hacking” in the subject. Include copies of suspected phishing emails.

If you lose access to an account, file a Support ticket and email the ticket number to ______@twitter.com.

Moving Forward:

Review our security guidelines to help make sure your accounts are as secure as possible.

Talk with your security team about ensuring that your corporate email system is as safe as possible. A third-party provider that allows for two-factor authentication might be a safer solution.

Strong security practices will reduce your vulnerability to phishing. Consider the following suggestions:

Designate one computer to use for Twitter. This helps keep your Twitter password from being spread around. Don’t use this computer to read email or surf the web, to reduce the chances of malware infection.

Minimize the number of people that have access. Even if you use a third-party platform to avoid sharing the actual Twitter account password, each of these people is a possible avenue for phishing or other compromise.

Check for signs of compromise. Checking your email address and authorized apps weekly or monthly can help detect unauthorized access and address the problem before access is abused.

Double-check the email address associated with your Twitter accounts:

https://twitter.com/settings/account

Review the apps authorized to access your accounts:

https://twitter.com/settings/applications

Change your password regularly. Changing your Twitter password quarterly or yearly can reset the clock if a password has leaked.

Using a Password Manager integrated into your browser can help prevent successful phishing attacks.

Third-party solutions such as 1Password or LastPass, as well as the browser’s built-in password manager, will only auto-fill passwords on the correct website. If the password manager does not auto-fill, this might indicate a phishing attempt.

Password managers make it much easier to use a very strong password. Very difficult passwords will discourage memorization, which will
greatly reduce the chances of being phished.

Be certain to set a master password, since otherwise passwords may be stored unprotected.

Now, a lot of this is common (e-)sense but we’ve seen an awful lot of people from very brainy organizations hacked, and Twitter’s done the right thing by putting this memo out to the media, both because they are at high risk of being hacked, and because they’re bound, as we did, to republish the tips for others to see.

Yes, we need Twitter to do its part to secure our accounts, but in the end the responsibility lies with each user. It’s your reputation that goes in the line when your account is compromised, so take the proper precautions and lock down those precious social profiles today.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Hyundai’s Crisis Management for Suicide Video

Published on 4th May 2013 by Erik Bernstein. Leave a Comment

Always consider the feelings of your audience

When it comes to attempts at “edgy” marketing, it’s easy to go too far, creating a self-made crisis. Late last month, Hyundai raced into crisis management mode after an online video featuring its hydrogen fuel cell-powered Hyundai x35 literally brought many viewers to tears, and it wasn’t from laughing too hard.

What happened? Here’s a description, from a UK Telegraph article by Leo Wilkinson:

The film – called Pipe Job – was produced by Innocean Worldwide Europe, a marketing communications company, and was posted on Youtube last week. It shows a man sitting in a car with the windows taped up and a hose from the exhaust pipe into the cabin.

He is seen taking deep breaths as vapour enters the car. Night falls and the man is seen leaving the car, his suicide attempt unsuccessful.

The car in question is the hydrogen fuel cell-powered Hyundai ix35: the tagline at the end of the advert reads: “The ix35 with 100 per cent water emissions.”

This (quite understandably) struck a nerve with many whose friends or loved ones have claimed their own lives, and they flocked to social media to let their feelings be known.

The video was quickly pulled, and Hyundai released the following statement:

“Hyundai Motor UK had no involvement with this film and Hyundai Motor Company did not request the film to be made, nor was it asked to approve it.”

“Hyundai Motor deeply and sincerely apologizes for the offensive viral film. The film runs counter to our values as a company and as members of the community. We are very sorry for any offense or distress the video caused.”

As the creating agency, Innocean’s reputation was at just as much risk, and a statement quickly came from that side as well:

“Innocean Worldwide deeply and sincerely apologizes for any offense or distress that the posting of the viral film may have caused.

“This viral film was created and posted on Youtube for one day by Innocean Worldwide Europe to get consumers’ feedback on creative idea employing hyperbole to dramatize a product advantage without any other commercial purpose.”

“Nevertheless, as a company that espouses strong family values, Innocean would never intentionally set out to cause distress. More to the point, Innocean apologizes to those who have been personally impacted by tragedy.”

Both apologies were strong, although we would give the edge to Hyundai’s as a result of its compassion for those impacted coming through a bit more clearly.

In the midst of the push to create viral content, don’t forget your due diligence. Put yourself in the shoes of your audience and think, “how could this piss someone off?” If the answers come pouring in, it’s probably time to switch directions.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Social Media as a Disaster Response Tool

Published on 28th April 2013 by Erik Bernstein. 1 Comment. Click to add yours.

How are we using social media to better react when disaster strikes?

Social media barely came into its own as a disaster response tool after the devastating 2010 earthquakes in Haiti, but in a few short years it has become the go-to medium for getting things done in the midst of crisis.

Reader Brian shared this infographic from the University of San Francisco’s online Master of Public Administration program that’s jam-packed with intriguing info on how social media is being used for disaster response:

University of San Francisco Online Master of Public Administration

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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Communication Tips for Tragic Events

Published on 26th April 2013 by Erik Bernstein. Leave a Comment

You can’t continue with messaging “as usual” when things are anything but

Throughout the crises past week, we saw examples of both individuals and organizations whose communications made them look uncaring, foolish, or both.

That’s why, when we read an excellent article titled, “How to Communicate in the Midst of Tragedy,” written by Nancy Schwartz for the nonprofit marketing site Getting Attention, we felt compelled to share a couple of excerpts.

Immediately—Get Off Auto-Pilot

Given our collective state of mind, some of the nonprofit outreach I saw post-bombing was off the mark—like the e-invite I received at 7:19 PM that day from Save the Children via Harris Interactive, asking me to respond to its survey.

This email came in as the details of deaths and serious injuries continued to flow, including the death of an 8-year-old boy and the critical status of his mom and sister. It was obviously auto-scheduled and on auto-pilot.

As a result, this ask missed the mark by 1,000 miles, coming across as a huge “who cares.” If I was in charge of this survey, I’d put it on ice for now.

Be aware that we could have all so easily made similar mistakes. I have. In fact, this was just one of many pre-scheduled tweets, Facebook posts and emails I saw in the hours following the bombings when we were in the spell of first shock.

These “business as usual” communications, at a time when nothing was usual, which caused a huge disconnect. And yes we’re all just trying our best at times like this, but slow down.

Our state of mind doesn’t get more ungrounded than it is right now. Be ultra-sensitive.

Nancy hit the nail on the head here. Our social media feeds were flooded with messages promoting new blog posts, selling product, and a huge amount of other information that simply wasn’t relevant and made the sender look incredibly insensitive.

Immediately—Show You Care & Offer Right-Now Help

Show your support for the affected community and empathize with the shock and sadness your supporters are likely to feel via Twitter or a brief Facebook post.

This is a same day or next two days approach in most cases; after that it’s not additive, and will seem like you’re jumping on the bandwagon. If you’ve missed that, fine. Just note for the next time.

Social media is an ideal way to let your supporters know you’re with them right now, and to share words of comfort. Plus any tangible help you can provide. That’s the kind of response that puts a human face on your organization.

In any crisis, showing empathy is the best way to reach out to stakeholders. In addition, many of us in the business world have resources and information that the average person on the street may not have. Take this opportunity to share what you can with others. Not only is this the right thing to do, but it reflects well on your organization, and people will remember.

You can find the rest Nancy’s post on the Getting Attention blog, where she shares several more essential tips for communicating in tragedy.

Whether you got a great response, completely messed up or just sat silent, evaluate last week’s communications and determine how to improve. Modify (or, for many) create crisis management plans that include guidelines for communications during tragic events, and you’ll be better prepared to help your stakeholders, and protect your reputation, the next time around.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/