How do we survive surviving? By Ann SanCartier for Firestorm
Imagine. You head to pick up your child from school and abruptly, the only thing separating you, your daughter and your sister from 200 mile per hour winds are two collapsed walls supporting each other in a triangular formation. You hold your daughter with adrenaline-induced strength while you scream and pray as the realistic fear of being sucked up into a monster overwhelms you. That’s what happened to a family I spoke with who survived the Moore, Oklahoma Tornado. As they cowered for protection at Briarwood Elementary, what we now know to be an E5 tornado, whipped them with flying debris leaving their feet, arms, and heads lacerated by its ferocity. As this mother shared her traumatic experience with me, she related that her sister was waiting in their van parked outside the school. When the school advised her that a...To Full Article
SOCIAL MEDIA FIRESTORM
Hacks, attacks and alerts from Firestorm
AP Hack:
Following last week's attack of the AP Twitter account (view our recorded webinar for more on this), Twitter accounts belonging to The Guardian newspaper have fallen at the hands of hackers belonging to the Syrian Electronic Army as well.
Within minutes of the AP attack, the message was retweeted 3,000 times, markets dropped by $136 billion in value and the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted almost 150 points before it was reported as a hack by AP Corporate Communications.
This most recent Guardian attack, as detailed by the NakedSecurity Sophos website, "the hackers have been making a habit of breaking into high profile Twitter accounts in recent weeks - their attack on AP's Twitter account where they posted fake news of an explosion at the White House, actually managed to cause a drop in the Dow Jones. In...
Commanding Influence - Social Media Command Centers in a Crisis Situation
This year at the 2013 International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference, Firestorm had the opportunity to attend an outstanding presentation on Social Media Command Centers. We are pleased to now have the opportunity to share this superior content with you.
On May 5, 2013, 2-3 PM Eastern, Jim Satterfield, Firestorm President will host research co-authors, Dr. Karen Freberg, and Major Kristin Saling.
What we'll discuss
Crisis communicators and their emerging media team must anticipate the communication needs and expectations that come with a crisis event offline and online across multiple platforms (computer, tablet and smartphone). Social media and social media command centers provide the pinnacle of networked communication and dialogue, relationship management and information and dissemination in di...
Broad Social Media Policy Statements Create Risk
A recent news article "Even if It Enrages Your Boss, Social Net Speech Is Protected" by Steven Greenhouse caught our attention, and highlights issues that every employer, regardless of size, must consider when crafting and updating company Social Media Policy Documents.
We have moved past the issue of whether workers who commiserate about ‘work’ on social media sites are entitled to the same protections as those who gather around the proverbial water cooler; that answer is ‘yes’.
Employers continue to struggle with how to discourage social media postings that portray the employer in a negative light in a manner that is compliant with recent rulings.
These recent labor board and court rulings provide more guidance to employers on how to word their social media policies in order to be compliant with federal law.
So, what type of e...
Most Recent Webcast: 13 Social Media Basics for 2013 - 1st in Series
Crisis events over 2012 provided new insights into the impact and use of Social Media. From managing first alerts to verifying false information, we saw overall, both a higher level of maturity and a higher level of risk evolve.
As we identified new risks– from disaster victims assisting criminals by posting images of their abandoned properties, to extreme media exposure of minors and other vulnerable victims of disaster, we shared this information with our community, and have developed best practices to assist you respond in the event of a like-crisis.
The below webinar and companion paper by Firestorm EVP of Social Media, Karen Masullo, “13 Social Communication Basics for 2013”, aim to recap our lessons learned in a manner that helps you as you manage your Social Crisis interactions in 2013, and to take...
Real-time social media monitoring and engagement
by Elisabeth Michaud, Guest Contributor
Elisabeth Michaud is the Social Media Marketing and Community Manager for uberVU and hopes to stay free from any future social media #fails as she steers the ship for uberVU’s social media strategy and execution. Find her on Twitter @emichaud or tweeting from the @uberVU account. Visit her on LinkedIn or stop the uberVU blog for additional social media tips and tricks.
In times of crisis (especially given the fast-paced, 24/7, always-connected world we live in these days), it’s crucial not only to take action by carrying out a plan and responding to inquiries, but also to constantly keep an eye on what’s happening – to monitor the situation. Whether the crisis is a natural disaster (an outside event beyond your control) or a social media #fail (something your brand and/or social media team is resp...
Firestorm selects uberVU as its Partner of Choice for Monitoring
by Karen Masullo, EVP Social Media, Firestorm
Last year, Suzy Loughlin and I authored an article for the American Bar Association’s eMagazine on adding a strong monitoring approach to a company’s social media and crisis communications management toolbox.
In the article, we outlined features Firestorm considers “must-haves” when selecting a monitoring tool. From the article:
Immediate Engagement and Alerts: You’ve seen the commercials: “That is so 17 seconds ago.” Social media has created an overload of messaging and millions of “news-desks of one.” As a result, it is imperative that a social media monitoring tool provide real-time or near real-time monitoring and alerts to foster immediate engagement (and damage control) as needed. How long is it acceptable to your organization for a negative review posted by a client t...
10 Social Media Risk Lessons from Recent Headlines
Firestorm Opinion, by Karen Masullo EVP Social Media Risk
As the person who is primarily responsible for Social Media Messaging for Firestorm®, I start each day exactly the same way: I check our monitoring tools for trending topics, and then check various news outlets in order to be aware of what has occurred globally while I have been away from my desk.
I do this to inform, comment, and alert others on our team to emerging issues and crises, but more important, I do this to assure my messaging is sensitive to emerging crises, and to those affected by events.
Lesson 1: “Every Crisis is a Human Crisis.”
Never forget that every crisis involves a Person; someone’s child, sibling, parent, spouse – someone’s someone. Every crisis has a face. One must however, be aware of a crisis emerging in the first place.
Le...
Social Media Risk Management
Dell's 10 social media tips when commenting and responding to customers online
We've always admired Dell's well-managed approach to Social Media, and they are gracious in allowing the below infographic to be embedded and shared. For small companies, managing social media interaction may prove taxing and confusing, especially in the event of negative or Brand Detractor information - remember, Brand Detractors may be those who dislike your brand (or you) for whatever reason; disgruntled former employees, former vendors, former customers, negative general review sites, competitors...monitoring is key. As we've discussed, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), regulators, and others have created significant new social media risk requirements. One Federal regulator, The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), has issued a regulatory notic...
Social Media Risk Management
Get your Social Media House in Order in 2012
If you’ve simply been floating happily along on the wave of Social Media growth and use, it’s time to get a bit more serious and understand the maturity management model needed secure your Social Media return on investment while mitigating potential risks. One of the primary objectives of any program is to assist in establishing long-term policies, strategies and processes involving cross-functional participation to improve Social Media management and adoption. With a long-term corporate focus on risk management and prevention, organizations minimize possible damages resulting from Brand Detractors and attackers, while leveraging success with Brand Advocates. Firestorm believes that the key components of an effective Social Media Risk Management program are: Formation of a Social Media Leadership...
Social Media Risk
Who Owns Your Social Accounts?
Phonedog Sues Former Writer for Value of 17,000 Twitter Followers
Across the beautiful Cooper River Bridge from Charleston, SC is a quiet little place called Mt. Pleasant, home to small boutiques, quaint restaurants, and one of the most intriguing lawsuits related to Social Media that we've seen. Phonedog.com, a Mt. Pleasant, SC company filed suit earlier this year against a former writer for ownership of a Twitter account to the tune of $340,000. As discussed this fall in our Social Media Risk series of webinars, ownership of social accounts must be clearly defined with predetermined terms for handover (or not) should there be a change in personnel, contractors or consultants. In the case of Phonedog, Twitter accounts used by writers are a mix of phone reviews, humor, sports - they are what social media on Twit...
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Moore Tornado Resources - How You Can Help
