Challenges for PR in a fast changing environment: Environmental monitoring on a continuous basis From a crisis communication perspective, Nico de Gouw (NL) 1

Imagination or reality? 2

Twitter.com “There’s a plane in the Hudson river. I’m on a boat to pick up people out of the water. Total madness.” 3

4 Fireworks disaster in Enschede 2000

5 Disasters as a ‘marking point’

Current developments & basics Changing society:  Demand for information, fast exchange  Emotions, decreased trust in authorities Crisis management & communication: focus on the public Instructive and affective information:  Clarify what people can do to save lives and reduce damage  Show empathy, provide meaning  Basics: open, timely, honest, sharing dilemmas  Feelings in society: bring the perspective of the outside world inside Increased media competition and citizen journalism:  More rumours and speculation 6

Citizens as the new experts “ Terrorists seized from KLM airplane” (Telegraaf, ) The German police arrested two terrorists in an airplane that was on its way to Amsterdam… The Telegraaf is looking for passengers or family members of passengers of this airplane. Call us , or send an SMS or to … 7 and reporters…

8 Changed role of communication

9 Communication during a crisis Analysis of the situation Commu- nication advice Result / effect Commu- nication actions Coordination Crisis management actions

10 Bringing in the perspective of the ‘outside’ … Media analysis (TV, broadcasting, newspapers, …) Internet analyses (incl. websites, blogs, social media) Questions of the public (call centre, info desk) Questions of the press ‘Ears and eyes’ on site Own website: what do people search for and how s to administrators (local, regional, national) Monitoring public perception and behaviour (crisis barometer, perception survey)

Train crash in Halle (Belgium) within 5 minutes on Twitter 11

Train crash in Halle: Red Cross asks people to give blood 12

Sail Amsterdam August 2010 Once every 5 years: 5 days 50 tall ships other special ships 1,5 million visitors - crowd management Environment communication Police: pilot SMS alert First time: using social media ! 13

Sail: social media reach fans on Facebook friends on Hyves 927 Followers on Twitter Many photo- graphs 2005, 356 of views on YouTube 14

Experiences Sail - social media Used mostly one-way, to share information:  messages, photos, videos  uploading programmes, photos, logo Sail  a diverse mix in the content of Tweets Possibly expanding quickly:  e.g. Hyves 455 » friends Connecting with visitors of the event Making policies with next events in mind 15

Social media strategy Informing e.g. (news)letter brochure Dialogue e.g. brainstorm future-session Open One-sided Two-sided Directing Convincing e.g. campaign testimonials Debating e.g. negotiation position paper 16

Using twitter in crisis communication recommendations based on research NL Authorities use new media already:  SMS, Amber Alert, Civil warning, Cell broadcast (2011) Possibilities and conditions for using Twitter in crises:  supply news and information asked for  a chance to mobilize people  protocol for comm. advisors placing ‘crisis tweets’  content: [message ] [reference] [subject] [location]  start a network of followers Making policy dilemma’s interactive 17

Conclusions Based on the dynamics of the current environment, continuous monitoring and dialogue need to be prioritized Practice needs innovative tools and feasible methods to facilitate measuring public perception and help interpret fast developing interaction in the social media. Which strategies are suitable in the quickly changing (online) environment? 18