Fighting the social media wildfire: how crisis communication must adapt to prevent from fanning the flames

Public Deposited
Analytics

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
Request Version for Screen Reader
Last Modified
  • March 21, 2019
Creator
  • Soule, Allison R.
    • Affiliation: Hussman School of Journalism and Media
Abstract
  • When a nine-month correspondence seeking reparations for musical instruments damaged by United Airlines employees stalemated, Canadian musician Dave Carroll took action online. Utilizing the video-sharing Web site YouTube, Carroll narrated his ordeal through the lyrics of a music video entitled United Breaks Guitars. Within hours, the video went viral generating a torrent of negative YouTube comments about United, commentary from the mainstream media, and more than 3 million views the first week of its launch. United Breaks Guitars embodies the new phenomenon of a social media wildfire in which the rapid proliferation of information through social media causes severe reputational damage to organizations whose crisis communication plans are ill equipped to handle online dilemmas. Using symbolic interactionist theory, this case analysis explores the phenomenon in detail and provides suggestions for how organizations must re-evaluate existing crisis communication plans to respond effectively to an online audience in the billions.
Date of publication
DOI
Resource type
Rights statement
  • In Copyright
Advisor
  • Boynton, Lois A.
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Language
Access right
  • Open access
Date uploaded
  • October 11, 2010

Relations

Parents:

This work has no parents.

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details Fighting the social media wildfire : how crisis communication must adapt to prevent from fanning the flames 2019-04-10 Public Download