Thursday, October 27, 2016

Managing crises in the digital age

Social media platforms were a hive of activity on Tuesday, with Netizens posting photos and videos of the fire that ravaged the intensive care unit of Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) in Johor Baru. Six ICU patients perished in the fire and one hospital employee was reported to be badly injured. 
Within minutes, the country got wind of the incident when the posts went viral on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. My friends were sharing the same photos on Facebook and WhatsApp. Some, in fact, did not click the share button for other people’s postings, but instead copy and pasted the photos on their own social media accounts as if the photos were theirs. 
When I was told “... you got no idea how the ground zero look alike (sic)” on WhatsApp by a local youth leader, I didn’t want to burst his bubble. He was excitedly sharing on WhatsApp the same photos that I saw on Facebook. 
I should have told him that I didn’t need to be there to know what was happening. I was following the various live feeds on my friends’ Facebook accounts. Through these feeds, I am most certain that these friends were indeed at the location. 
Also, I should have told him that ground zero is a misused term. For those who don’t already know, ground zero is a term reserved for the central point of the destruction caused by the detonation of a nuclear weapon. 
The fire at HSA, in my opinion, does not merit being called that. 
But, most importantly, how is such a crisis, if it can be called one, to be handled in this digital age? 
A crisis can occur as a result of an unpredictable event. The hospital fire is a good example. Crisis management is the application of strategies designed to help organisations deal with such a sudden and significant negative event. It requires the management to make quick decisions. 
One of the first actions in crisis management planning is to identify an individual as a crisis manager and appoint a spokesman, who is the point person, for information during the crisis. 
The field of crisis management is generally considered to have originated with Johnson & Johnson’s handling of a situation in 1982, when cyanide-laced Tylenol killed seven people in Chicago. The company immediately recalled all Tylenol capsules in the United States and offered free products in tamper-proof packaging. 
As a result of the swift and effective response, the impact on shareholders was minimised and the brand recovered and flourished. 
I know of some multinational companies which have instituted crisis management as part of their operations. 
Many years ago, I was invited by the management of a multinational company to train their spokesmen on how to answer media queries in times of crisis. My task was to ask them a barrage of questions and they were assessed on their ability to answer the questions in ways that were not detrimental to the company. 
They were also asked to plan responses to as many potential crises as possible. But, crisis management in the digital era requires much more. Correct information needs to be disseminated fast on all social media networks. It would be beneficial for all organisations to have a presence on all social media platforms. 
Oh yes, there are those who don’t think that it is important. Some would say that it is a waste of resources to assign someone to manage Facebook or Twitter for the company, if indeed it has these social media accounts. 
But, nowadays, when we hear of a tragedy befalling any organisation or anyone, the first thing most of us would do is check social media. The responsible ones will refer to the organisation’s or person’s official Facebook or Twitter page. Any statements, information, photos and videos posted on these accounts are considered official and can be referred to and shared by Netizens. 
The continuous flow of updates allows Netizens to post verified information instead of posting and sharing unconfirmed ones. In the hospital fire tragedy, for example, we read rumours that the fire started when a mobile phone which was being charged exploded near an oxygen tank. 
Another rumour also involved a mobile phone, which was said to have exploded on a patient’s bed, and caused the fire. Media reports the next day told us that the fire started in one of the treatment rooms of the ICU instead and could have been caused by faulty wiring. 
Crisis management should also designate “security” areas during a crisis, where in the event of deaths, bodies can be placed away from prying eyes and mobile phone cameras.
abhor the act of sharing these photos without a care in the world for the feelings of the family and friends of the deceased. 
Granted, it is not easy to manage a crisis, especially when emotions are running high. But a system needs to be put in place, something that will enable Netizens to be more discerning when sharing information.

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