Category: web 2.0

I, crisis communications expert

[shameless self-promotion]
Just thought I’d let readers know that I, a guy who usually tries to get reporters to interview other people, was interviewed myself as a *ahem* media expert by InsideHigherEd.com for a follow-up story to the whole Dalhousie/Facebook/puppy murder flare-up (Proving you’re not a puppy murderer, by Andy Guess).
[/shameless self-promotion]

Guess’ story views the Dalhousie situation — a resurgent Facebook group of 22,000-plus members that accuses Dalhousie of conducting inhumane research on puppies — in terms of crisis management in the age of social networks:

One of a public relations officer’s worst nightmares is a lie that won’t go away, and Dalhousie University recently confronted a doozy: that it was experimenting on cuddly, doe-eyed puppies and kittens.

Normally in such situations, a university might take steps to release information that rebuts the charges, or it might make contact with the source of the allegations. But in this case the statements in question were online, contained within a group on the social-networking Web site Facebook, and accessible to anyone with an account. The group … was founded by someone who apparently was never even a student there.

Now, after an inital attempt to have the group removed from Facebook failed, the university is considering its legal options. “It’s a clear case of defamation,” said Charles Crosby, media relations manager at Dalhousie, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The case illustrates not only how a university confronts allegations, but the evolving ways in which damaging information is spreading from multiple, uncontrollable sources online.

This case raises some interesting issues about communicating in the social media sphere. Dalhousie, the InsideHigherEd story points out, “is highlighting highlighting efforts by other students to counter the original group. One, a Facebook group called “Stop People From Spreading Lies About Animal Cruelty At Dalhousie”, was started by a student who works in a laboratory at the university. Still, they’ve got an uphill battle: Only a little over 400 members have joined that group, which can’t match the visceral hook of a vulnerable beagle puppy displayed on the original’s page.”

When I received Guess’s email query to chat about crisis communications in the web 2.0 world, I wasn’t mcuh up to speed on the latest developments at Dalhousie, so we spoke in broader terms of how colleges and universities might handle such crises. My lone quote is rightly buried in the story (paragraph nine, if you’re looking). Guess quotes some better experts, such as Rae Goldsmith of CASE and Teresa Valerio Parrot of SimpsonScarborough, whose quote at the end of the story wraps it all up nicely.

Kansas City Star on Avila’s blogger-in-chief

The Kansas City Star’s education reporter, Mara Rose Williams, recently wrote about college presidents who blog and homed in on the blog of Avila University President Ronald A. Slepitza. The prez “cozies up to his office computer” on a weekly basis to post his thoughts “about life, death and spirituality,” Williams writes. Said Slepitza: “I try to talk a little about myself, the university and about matters I hope will be of interest to the reader.”

It appears his online dialogues are attracting an audience. Most of them, like one titled “Rummaging for God in the Midst of a Busy Day,” have garnered what he called a “powerful response” from readers.

In another blog posting, Slepitza talks about ingredients in a chili dip made with cream cheese, cheddar cheese and a can of chili to segue into a conversation about innovation.

Slepitza’s posts are thoughtful and insightful. But he remains an anomaly — in Kansas City and across the nation.

What’s interesting to me about this story, from a PR and marketing perspective, is Bob Johnson‘s comment that, in general, “PR people tend not to like unscripted messages going out from key university people.” Then Williams finds a PR person to say that monitoring the blogosphere “would be ‘just another chore’ for the public relations office, which already is short on time to keep up with goings-on at the university.”

Just another chore?

Until we change our attitudes about online conversations, we’re going to continue to struggle with new media.

P.S. – Johnson blogged about his conversation with Williams before the story hit. I’m not sure I would have done that. To me, it shows a lack of respect for the journalist who contacted you as a source for a story — not so you could blab about it on your own blog and “scoop” the reporter. Maybe journalists need to better understand this new playing field as well.