SNHU Media and Technology Play in Communication in Todays Landscape Essay Instructions Discuss the roles media and technology play generally in communicat

SNHU Media and Technology Play in Communication in Todays Landscape Essay Instructions

Discuss the roles media and technology play generally in communication in today’s world. Considering the characteristics of crises and their communication as detailed in the introduction and Chapters 1 and 2 of the textbook, provide your perspectives of how technology and social media in particular have changed crisis communication and the type of crisis communicated.

GUIDELINES ATTACHED

RESOURCES:

Textbook: The Handbook of Crisis Communication
Introduction and Chapters 1, 2, and 3

COMMUNICATION_CRISIS.PDF

ContentServer(1).pdf

Video: Situational Crisis Communication Theory Graduate Discussion Rubric
Overview
Your active participation in the discussions is essential to your overall success this term. Discussion questions will help you make meaningful connections
between the course content and the larger concepts of the course. These discussions give you a chance to express your own thoughts, ask questions, and gain
insight from your peers and instructor.
Directions
For each discussion, you must create one initial post and follow up with at least two response posts.
For your initial post, do the following:
 Write a post of 1 to 2 paragraphs.
 In Module One, complete your initial post by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
 In Modules Two through Ten, complete your initial post by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. of your local time zone.
 Consider content from other parts of the course where appropriate. Use proper citation methods for your discipline when referencing scholarly or
popular sources.
For your response posts, do the following:
 Reply to at least two classmates outside of your own initial post thread.
 In Module One, complete your two response posts by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
 In Modules Two through Ten, complete your two response posts by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. of your local time zone.
 Demonstrate more depth and thought than saying things like “I agree” or “You are wrong.” Guidance is provided for you in the discussion prompt.
Rubric
Critical Elements
Comprehension
Timeliness
Engagement
Exemplary
Develops an initial post with an
organized, clear point of view or
idea using rich and significant
detail (100%)
N/A
Provides relevant and
meaningful response posts with
clarifying explanation and detail
(100%)
Proficient
Develops an initial post with a
point of view or idea using
appropriate detail (90%)
Submits initial post on time
(100%)
Provides relevant response
posts with some explanation
and detail (90%)
Needs Improvement
Develops an initial post with a
point of view or idea but with
some gaps in organization and
detail (70%)
Submits initial post one day late
(70%)
Provides somewhat relevant
response posts with some
explanation and detail (70%)
Not Evident
Does not develop an initial post
with an organized point of view
or idea (0%)
Value
20
Submits initial post two or more
days late (0%)
Provides response posts that are
generic with little explanation or
detail (0%)
10
20
Critical Elements
Critical Thinking
Writing (Mechanics)
Exemplary
Draws insightful conclusions
that are thoroughly defended
with evidence and examples
(100%)
Initial post and responses are
easily understood, clear, and
concise using proper citation
methods where applicable with
no errors in citations (100%)
Proficient
Draws informed conclusions
that are justified with evidence
(90%)
Needs Improvement
Draws logical conclusions (70%)
Not Evident
Does not draw logical
conclusions (0%)
Value
30
Initial post and responses are
easily understood using proper
citation methods where
applicable with few errors in
citations (90%)
Initial post and responses are
understandable using proper
citation methods where
applicable with a number of
errors in citations (70%)
Initial post and responses are
not understandable and do not
use proper citation methods
where applicable (0%)
Total
20
100%
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
hands
on
>crisis management
HOW-TO ADVICE FOR PRACTITIONERS
Social media in crisis communication:
Start witii a driil
By Gerald Baron and
Dr. Jolm “Pat” Philbm,APR
organization. Social media impacB crisis
communication in two distinct ways.
First, the conversation can affect
your organization s perceptions during
an event whether you are involved in the
conversation or not. Second, social media
outlets and formats provide new opportunities to engage stakeholders and the
media. Reporters are extensive users of
social media during events.They track
Twitter accounts, blogs,YouTube, etc. to
gather first-hand accounts and gauge
reactions.Third, many communicators
are now adopting these tools to communicate dfrectly with online audiences.
More people are using these tools to supplement their traditional distribution
methods.
When the wildfires raged through
Southern California in October, thousands heard the latest news on evacuations and conditions via Twitter. When
Hurricane [ke devastated Galveston,
people received a continuous stream of
he^idlines from an on-the-scene reporter
viaTwitter. When US Airways Flight
1549 splashed into the Hudson River,
the ñrst photo the world saw of it caine
through Twitter. After a major event, the
first news will often come through social
media — particularly the platforms
focused on instant distribution such as
blogs and microblogs.
Twitter is one ofthe latest social
media phenomena to attract the interest
of communicators and public affairs professionaLs. This microbloi^ing tool follows blogs, social networking sites
(MySpace and Facebook),photo and
video sharing sites (Flickr andYouTube)
and topic discussion sites (I )igg and
Newsvine). At a November 2008 conference for government communicators
in Washington, D.C, organized by strategy and technology consulting firm liooz
Allen Hamilton, FEM A introduced its
newYouTube channel. Michael Dumlao
of Booz Allen Hamilton mentioned
three organizations he sees as “champions
of social media”— the Los Angeles Fire
Department, the American Red Cross
and the U.S. Coa.st Guard.
The Coast Guard has been a^ressively employing social media tools to
distribute public information,including
the addition ofblogs to the agency s public information Web sites.This follows the
agency’s long-standing use of images,
videos andYouTube for distributing stories about rescues, responding to oil spills
and conveying iniormation about law
enforcement activities.The Coast Guard
uses Twitter for instant updates (@coastguard) and has many followers including
the White House (@whitehouse) and
major news organizations.
There is no question that social
media continue to alter the landscape of
public information. Following the
VirginiaTech shooting in 2007, universities strutted to determine the best ways
to notify students about emergencies.
They realized that students often check
their Facebook accounts more often than
e-mail, and changed their communication plans accordingly to keep up with
the latest social media developments.
12
April 2009 TACTICS
Iheß
Incorporating social media
Crisis conunuiiicators and public
affairs professionals, like their PR counterparts, are struggling to incorporate
social media into their plans. Perhaps the
best way to do this is to incorporate social
media into your next crisis drill or major
communication e.xercise.When you plan
for things that might go wrong, you also
need to plan for the role that social media
will play and how its involvement will
impact your reputation.
Realistic drills are the bestiway of
evaluating the readiness of an organization to respond to an actual crisis.An
exercise like this provides an ideal opportunity to test the technologies that will
be used to aid communication. Because
news (rotn mainstream and social media
are technology-driven, using outdated
tools is like marching into battle in a tight
column directly into the muzzles of
machine guns.
Communicators are already struggling to keep up with the technologies
needed to manage instant Web updates,
efficiently distribute thousands of e-mails
to key stakeholders and communicate via
text messaging to critical audiences —
and now social media is thrown into the
nux. It has become essential to use social
media tools that facilitiite the dissemination of information in multiple modes.
Hut how does your team work
together to prepare your key messages
and then quickly deliver them to multiple audiences?That s why drills are so
important. Besides an actual crisis, there is
no better way to find out if your team
1549 iivii tnmsmitted via TuHtter.
and the technologies they employ will be
eiïcctive in meeting these information
demands than a drill.
Three key elements
Drills enable communicators to test
three essential parts of any response: policies, plans and people. Using these elements, how can you incorporate social
media into a communication drill?
Policy —- Organizations such as
Target formerly had policies that refused
to engage bloggers or other social media
outlets. However, when a controversy
erupted with online complaints about
the suitability of an ad showing a teenage
girl with the company’s bull’s-eye logo
on her underwear, they realized the policy had a serious prtiblem.
It is important for organization leaders to understand that social media
should be seen as an arena for conversation rather than merely a channel for
directing messagcs.When social media is
approachedfix>ma control perspective,
the engagement is doomed to fail.There
is only one decision to make regarding
social media — and that is whether you
choose to participate in the conversation
or let it go on without you. Both have
risks, but the consensus among communication professionals seems to be that
engagement is essential.
Planning — How do you incorporate social media into your response
plansPThis starts with an understanding
of what social media is, considering your
options and knowing what kind of
impact each of these may have on your
Crisis communication planning
today must incorporate monitoring,
active engagement with relevant sites and
the use of emerging forms of social
media.
People —Are the people who will
respond on behalf of your organization
conversant with social media? Do they
understand the social media culture? Are
they capable of engaging in a way consistent with the values and priorities ofthat
culture?
Many organizations, even those with
astute PR leaders, have found that there
can be a high cost to violating these cultural norms. A drill is an excellent opportunity to evaluate the performance ofyour
responders — but only if those doing the
evaluating understand the role and culture
ofthe medium. If the outside professionals
who plan and manage crisis drills arc not
conversant with social media and how it
impacts public perception today, then the
exercise will miss the mark.
In a tight economy, budgets are
restricted and more worit is expected of
fewer people. In these circumstances, it is
hard to think of planning a major communication exercise. But disaster does
not wait for good times, and neither
should efforts to prepare for the worst. O
GeraM Baron i.< ilw foinider ¡md pn-fidiii! ofHiiroii ir (.Àaitpitiiy, a foimdiT ¡ludformer Cl-.O of PIER Systems, a IVch-buH'd commiinkatioti imviiigemerii systein. He is a frequent Sjmikerai t'RSA toiifcreiiics aiulis the lUUhorofNoii' ¡tlbo Late 2: Survival iw an Em ofïnstant Neics. " Dr.John"Pat"WiilWn,APR,,>r;ksenior rice president i
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