scholarly journals Crisis Communication on Social Media: What Types of COVID-19 Messages Get the Attention?

2021 ◽  
pp. 193896552110281
Author(s):  
Linchi Kwok ◽  
Jungwoo Lee ◽  
Spring H. Han

This study assessed internet users’ attention to hospitality companies’ COVID-19 messages on social media. We used 657 Facebook and 754 Twitter messages initiated by eight of the world’s largest hotel chains between January and mid-June 2020 for the exploratory analysis. Under the situational crisis communication theory, the analysis reveals that hotels shared five types of COVID-19 ( Prevention, Reminding, Ingratiation, Victimage, and Updates) versus Non-COVID-19 messages. Descriptive analysis and a series of t test, analysis of variance, and post hoc analyses reveal that hotels did not share any COVID-19 information until March 2020. Moreover, COVID-19 messages only accounted for about 20% of all messages, among which hotels shared Ingratiation and Updates messages most often. COVID-19 messages received more reactions, comments, and shares/retweets than Non-COVID-19 messages on both Facebook and Twitter, indicating the attention paid to the COVID-19 messages posted on a business’ social media page, which can help businesses spread the information in their networks. Specifically, Prevention, Reminding (although underused), Ingratiation, Updates, and messages with photos and videos received more attention. Such findings extend the crisis communication literature and help businesses develop effective communication strategies to engage their stakeholders on social media during the pandemic.

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Barbe ◽  
Lori Pennington-Gray

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the crisis communication strategies implemented by hotel and lodging organizations via social media. Specifically, this study analyzed Twitter content by hotels in Orlando, Florida during the summer of 2016 when several crises occurred that made global media coverage, including the alligator snatching on Disney property, the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub and growing concerns of Zika virus. Design/methodology/approach To understand crisis communication in the hotel industry, this study was guided by the technology-environment-organization framework and situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). Twitter content between June 1 and August 31, 2016 from Orlando hotels was collected and content analyzed to determine: was the message related to the crisis event, the SCCT strategy used and the influence of hotel organizational factors (ownership, size, classification) on the use of social media for crisis communication. Findings Results indicate that most hotels are not currently using Twitter as a form of crisis communication. Only the shooting at Pulse Nightclub was communicated and the SCCT bolster strategy was used throughout each of the crisis-related message, reminding stakeholders that they too are a victim. Originality/value This study provides insight into the ways hotels are using social media for crisis communication. Each crisis explored was different, and while the hotels were not responsible for creating the crises, they are responsible for the safety of guests. These results inform hoteliers that there is a responsibility to communicate during a crisis, particularly for informative purposes.


Author(s):  
Soo Kwang Oh ◽  
Kyung-Hyan Yoo ◽  
Jennifer Owlett

Based on the theoretical frameworks of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and person-centered messages (PCMs), this interdisciplinary study conducted a 2 x 3 experiment to examine the role of PCMs in crisis management on social media. Our findings suggest that crisis type (victim, preventable) has an effect on people’s perceptions/reactions toward an organization and that PCM levels (low, medium, and high person-centered messages) in crisis communication on social media influence organizational reputation and participants’ intention to post negative feedback about the organization in crisis. We suggest that when organizations are responding to crisis online, they provide additional attention to the interpersonal dynamics of those interactions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Hanane Aboulghazi

The present research paper examines how Moroccan political public authorities’ communication strategies influence Moroccan male and female publics’ feedback, and the perception of government’s crisis response strategies in light of a new atmosphere, a new condition at the pandemic time of the coronavirus Covid-19. The  data is collected  from 132 Moroccan internet users via online survey. It was conducted between May and June, 2020, after the declaration of the state of emergency, the present study gathered concrete information and viewpoints regarding Moroccan male and female internet users’ feedback about political leaders’ communication strategies, trust in different sources and media channels, and perception of the Moroccan political leaders’ crisis communication management.  The findings of the study have revealed that younger male and female publics, who got news from social media, had negative views of authority messages, and expressed more negative opinions of the government’s crisis response and communication strategies as weeks went by. Therefore, trust in public authorities’ decreased as the crisis evolves. Other age group, 60 years or older of the respondents get information about the crisis from institutional political sources and mainstream news media, which have been more aligned with authorities’ information at the start of the health crisis. In addition, women have used multiple media platforms, but they have less direct access to information than do men. While some  progress has been made in  women’s political use of information and news consumption during the outbreak on social media,  on  the  overall,  the  participation  of  women  in both feedback and news consumption is still very limited in Morocco.


Author(s):  
Rhiannon B. Kallis ◽  
Andrea L. Meluch

With the continued growth of social media use and the development of online communication, organizations now face the challenge of maintaining a healthy working environment offline and online. Cyberbullying, online harassment, and inappropriate online content posted by employees, CEOs, social media managers, and other users can all lead to organization crises. This chapter defines types of harmful online communication, such as cyberbullying, trolling, and online harassment; explores online harassment through the lens of situational crisis communication theory; provides case studies of employees, CEOs, social media managers, and other users who engaged in inappropriate online behavior; and offers solutions and recommendations for organizational response and employee social media training.


2021 ◽  
pp. 232948842097860
Author(s):  
Eric D. Waters ◽  
Scott C. D’Urso

In this commentary, we note that situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) provides useful guidelines for an organization to protect its reputation during a crisis. However, when a high reliability organization (HRO) faces a crisis, openness often supersedes reputation management as a priority as maintaining the public’s trust is paramount. Unfortunately, SCCT in its present form does not account for this distinction. With the present research, we seek to extend SCCT by offering additional crisis response options for HROs which further explicate the evolving role of social media in providing an effective crisis response. A content analysis of 18 tweets and eight website updates, released by a private spaceflight corporation, allows us to offer investigative disclosure as a new crisis response category and technical transparency as a new crisis response objective. We propose a nuanced view that situates investigative disclosure as an antecedent to corrective action.


2021 ◽  
pp. 232948842098876
Author(s):  
LaShonda L. Eaddy

Coombs’s Situational Crisis Communication Theory suggests performance history, composed of relationship history and crisis history, intensify crisis responsibility attribution. Relationship history is organizations’ actual and perceived rapport with publics, while crisis history is an organization’s previous crises. Extant literature has only examined crisis history one-dimensionally. This study proposes the Crisis History Framework that provides insight into influential factors that can make crises more or less salient to individuals. Furthermore, the study introduces the Crisis History Salience Scale that can help crisis communications scholars conduct empirical research examining crisis history’s multiple facets. Moreover, the study offers suggestions for how crisis history considerations can inform proactive crisis management, key messaging, and strategy development during crises.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Anton Surahmat ◽  
Susanne Dida ◽  
Feliza Zubair

Crisis communication is one of the most important instruments in crisis management. Unfortunately, there is a lot of criticism about how the Indonesian government implemented its crisis communication strategy during the Covid-19 pandemic season. This study aims to uncover the government's crisis communication strategy from the perspective of Van Dijk's critical discourse analysis. Based on the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT), researchers study the structure of discourse in texts consisting of macro, superstructure, and micro. There were 6 press releases from President Jokowi, Minister of Health Terawan Agus Putranto, and Spokesperson dr. Achmad Yurianto was collected using a purposive sampling method to describe the government's crisis communication strategy at the beginning of pre-crisis and crisis. The results show a significant dynamic crisis communication strategy on how the government implemented it in the pre-crisis and crisis phases. In the pre-crisis phase, they were statements from public officials especially in this case coming from President Jokowi and Minister of Health Terawan Agus Putranto. Both of these statements tend to lead to Deny and Diminish's strategy while still delivering messages in the form of Adjustments and Instructive Information so that the public remains alert and calm. However, in the crisis phase, government communication shifted towards Diminishes' statement, in the view of Justification that the crisis was actually not so terrible and bad. This is the biggest idea that emerged in the statement of President Jokowi and Spokesperson dr. Achmad Yurianto. Broadly speaking, this phase also provides a greater perspective on projections of government policy in the Covid-19 arrangement.


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