A tragedy is substantively different than an organizational crisis. Tragedies, whether man-made or natural disasters, have a considerably greater and singular impact than a traditional industry crisis, and current typologies of crises fail to account for organizations being impacted by and being obligated to respond to events of which they are neither the victim nor the perpetrator. Thus, tragedies require explication and, possibly, a different paradigm for public relations and crisis communication, both in industry response and academic scholarship. The goals of this article are threefold: First, use interdisciplinary scholarship to introduce and define the concept of public tragedy within the scope of public relations and crisis communication. Second, to discuss the motivations for and role of organizational involvement in the conversation surrounding a public tragedy, particularly for third-party organizations not directly impacted by an event, including the consequences and affordances of social media in tragedy response. Finally, the goal is to present recommendations for third-party public relations involvement in a tragedy.
From the science fiction fan clubs of the 1930s to the modern gamers, devoted fans have found one another and formed groups bonded over their shared interest. As groups formed, social identities began to emerge, distinguishing ingroups and outgroups. Social identity theory helps to explain the formation of groups as well as inevitable competition over resources and power. As technology became more sophisticated, fans were able to communicate with greater ease facilitating ingroup social identification. The inherent properties of video games reinforce both the cooperation among ingroup members as well as the rivalry with outgroups. Understanding the mechanisms within video games as well as the affordances of CMC and social media help to explain the group dynamics that support the Gamergate social identity.
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