Facebook discussion of a crisis: authority communication and its relationship to citizens

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the authority communication and its relationship to citizens during a disaster. This analysis is crucial for organisations to help them understand the different ways in which crises are perceived by citizens, and the reactions they may cause. The results will help authorities in planning their crisis communication. Design/methodology/approach Facebook comments written by authorities and citizens are studied and analysed in an exploratory case study related to the 2011 catastrophe in the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant via content analysis. Findings The analysis of Facebook comments revealed that authorities have to be prepared for communicating with citizens with diverging interests, who have different perceptions on a crisis and that relation is not the same with those different profiles of citizens. Research limitations/implications This case study only focusses on the Fukushima debate from the point of view of the authorities and citizens. Practical implications This study argues that it is crucial for both authorities and public relations practitioners to acknowledge that competing opinion holders are challenging each other and authority online, and that crisis communication should be planned accordingly. Originality/value The participant profiles can help organisations to clarify citizens’ crisis perceptions that can emerge in online discussions. Practitioners need to concentrate on determining how to get their voice heard so that there are perceived credible and legitimate actors.

Lessons for Crisis Communication on Social Media: A Systematic Review of What Research Tells the Practice

“…Guidry, Messner, Jin, and Medina-Messner (2015) show the importance of developing social media policies including guidelines for employees' future private social media use during crises already before the crisis happens, to make the employees "part of the brand." Preparing for social media crisis communication can even increase the chance of becoming a "hub" in the extensive information flows and reduce the spread of uncontrolled and false information during a future disaster and/or crisis (see e.g., Comunello, Parisi, Lauciani, Magnoni, & Casarotti, 2016;Derani & Naidu, 2016;Tampere, Tampere, & Luoma-Aho, 2016).…”

“…Such developments require powerful preplanned redirects and fast changes when it comes to crisis message strategies (Dalrymple, Young, & Tully, 2016). Authorities also need to assign resources and time for crisis management in advance, because these often are in short supply once a crisis occurs (Rutsaert et al, 2014;Tampere et al, 2016). Spialek, Czlapinski, and Houston (2016) similarly argue that public authorities can create good conditions for community resilience by ensuring that citizens actively engage with social media and form a digital connection/relation with the authorities already before a crisis.…”

Modelling continuance intention of citizens in government Facebook page: A complementary PLS approach

“…Fukushima nuclear disaster (Tampere, Tampere, & Luoma-Aho, 2016), information giving strategy on Facebook page was shown to be the most effective crisis response strategy.…”

Understanding communication in disaster response: A marketing strategy formulation and implementation perspective

“…For example, in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, the authorities utilized Twitter to communicate the correct information to the general public and the media, and these tweets were then persistently retweeted to spread the message even further (Bindley, ). Facebook has also recently introduced a new feature that allows users in an area affected by a disaster to communicate to friends and family that they are safe by using their check‐in feature (see also Tampere, Tampere, & Luoma‐Aho, ). To date, few authorities have incorporated these types of initiatives into their emergency response plans.…”

“…Facebook has also recently introduced a new feature that allows users in an area affected by a disaster to communicate to friends and family that they are safe by using their check-in feature (see also Tampere, Tampere, & Luoma-Aho, 2016). To date, few authorities have incorporated these types of initiatives into their emergency response plans.…”