The Buffalo Blog

Social media - giving Haitians a voice

 

 

With traditional communication channels disrupted by the disaster in Haiti, once again social media’s importance was emphasised.

Minutes after the catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti, the power of the internet and social media started to shine through. Where more typical communication channels were affected by the quake, Haitians and aid workers alike turned to the likes of Twitter and Facebook to spread the word through the horrific scenes captured on mobile phones.

Among its multiple uses, social media in this case played a vital role in letting the world know the disastrous extent of the tragedy and that help was needed quickly in order to have the most positive effect.

Both citizens and aid workers alike uploaded TwitPics, tweeted the news and tried to find the whereabouts of loved ones on Facebook. The world turned to the platform when all other forms of communication were not an option. Even the landlines near the epicentre were wiped out by the quake, hampering rescue efforts.

Next came an outpouring of well wishes and support for the Haitian people as thousands of Facebook and Twitter updates appeared every minute. Among these updates were the appeals of the American Red Cross.

Even if you were to type "Haiti" into Twitter, Youtube or Facebook now, a few days on,  you will soon encounter @redcross’s message of appeal sent at 05:38 GMT on January 13, less than 48 hours after the tragedy.

In such a short space of time the American Red Cross was able to both set up an appeal and receive more than $35m in donations through the site.

Praise has already been awarded by the American Red Cross to the social media platform for “playing an extremely significant part” in spreading the word.

So this got me wondering, what makes Twitter, Facebook and YouTube so accommodating when communicating disasters quickly?

Well, when looking at Twitter you need to address the key advantages of the site. The main advantage is the initial barrier breakdown through the ability to communicate with anyone and everyone from celebrities to your next door neighbour.

For example famous Haitian musician, Wyclef Jean, managed to raise $1m for earthquake victims, after appealing for help from his 1.3 million followers through Twitter. People like Michelle Obama were also contacted by aid charities, first through tweeting then retweeting appeals, further spreading the message.

Meanwhile on Youtube, there was an influx in bloggers posting their own appeals and calling for donations. On Facebook, awareness groups, such as Earthquake Haiti gained over hundreds of thousands of members, linking them directly to charity sites.

These examples show how social media is set on continuing to play an important role in the communication of disasters, keeping the news at the forefront of the public agenda whilst it starts to slip off of the front pages of the Tabloids and fade out of the media’s spotlight.

In keeping with the trend, please pass the word on and visit British Red Cross

MEDIA ALERT – Mini cuts 850 staff in reputation ‘car crash’

Story: BMW’s Mini has announced it is cutting approximately 850 staff at its factory in Cowley, near Oxford. Employees were given one hour’s notice that they had lost their jobs, resulting in furious crowds, vegetables being thrown at management, unions becoming involved and wide-scale media condemnation.

Buffalo Communications MD, Kerry Hallard, comments:
“BMW has made a major mess of its reputation by completely ignoring the fundamentals of internal and external communication. Its ex-employees are rightly furious about this last-minute announcement making the company the villain of the day – a complete failure on counts of morality and business sense.

“For a company that spends tens of millions each year building its brand, quick-fire redundancies like this, without proactive communication, make no sense whatsoever and will be hugely damaging to the company’s brand goodwill. 

“Redundancies are coming thick and fast as businesses suffer the recession. But, even though they’re an unfortunate necessity of the downturn, they need to be approached with tact and caution and with the courtesy that loyal employees deserve. The Mini internal grapevine has been buzzing with talk of job-losses for weeks now but employees were still left in the dark until the last possible moment.

“Companies that have to make staff redundant should initiate early staff communication first using direct announcements, one-on-one meetings and Q&As before the news goes anywhere else. Staff should be given all appropriate information from the start and given help going forward in finding further employment. It’s also vital that staff are given ample time to deal with the news and provide any feedback to the company – one hour simply isn’t enough.

“Externally the company needed to communicate what it was doing, why, what it was doing to fix things and exactly what provisions had been made for staff, with a company spokesperson on hand to deliver the news.”

“If BMW Mini had observed a few of the simple laws of communication their employees would have been much more prepared for the news, able to understand why the company is making redundancies and hopefully be a lot more amenable to the news. The company’s reputation cache would also have been in much better shape.”

Meaty woes for Ireland

It’s been a while since meat last hit the headlines and, to be honest, I really missed it. Not the contaminated meat I mean, the haphazard way in which these major reputation crises are usually managed. Well, I say ‘managed’ but that is the operative word – there is usually no management going on whatsoever and here lies the problem. When bad meat makes the press you can almost guarantee it will make a communications textbook – these are 101s in how not to manage a crisis.

The latest episode in disastrous carnivorous comms is currently taking place from across the Irish sea. Apparently some of the pork producers have been feeding their pigs contaminated feed, making it potentially carcinogenic – lovely. I wonder just how long it’s going to take Eire and Northern Ireland to regain their piggy credentials and start selling the stuff in decent quantities again – a long time no doubt.

The competent management of a crisis should always start with a definite action and the wide-scale communication of that action. In this case, a complete recall, or call for consumers to dispose of all Irish bacon, was that action. Good so far you may think but then ask yourself, do you think you’ll be buying Irish again next week?

All is not lost yet but companies must move quickly on damage limitation. So far it seems most if not all comms have come from the foods standard agency. By choosing to stay quiet the companies responsible for the contamination seem content to sit back and let all pork producers in the two countries take the flack. Reasoned and placating comment is scarce while worry about safety abounds.

If Ireland wants to ensure its long-term future as a successful pork-producing nation it needs to start talking. Silence in a crisis only breeds conjecture and doubt. Granted, it would be unwise for one farm to step forward and say ‘it was me’, but the farmers do need to speak. The key culprits, or victims as they may be, need to band together to form a popular voice and put their message out there.

Without the voice of the pork producers all we have is a public health emergency and an exhortation to stay away from Irish pork for the foreseeable future. If the farmers stay quiet, people are going to stay away for a lot longer than if they speak up.

Irish farmers – speak and speak loudly before it’s too late.