Twitter is the social media platform that dominates the dissemination of news, updates and discussions in a crisis. In fact, making your crisis communications “Twitter-friendly” is rule number 9 within our “10 New Rules of Crisis Communications“. But is the platform losing its steam and, if so, what will that mean for your crisis communications?
The following chart by Statista shows that Twitter’s growth rate has diminished significantly over the years:
Though Twitter continues to work hard to build the platform to be the “global town square”, as CEO Dick Costolo often states. Twitter also reported that they had 54 million active users at the end of 2013. 54 million active users made up of bloggers, journalists, reporters, citizen journalists and, odds are, a large number of your organization’s stakeholders.
So what does this mean for your crisis communications?
All in all, it seems that Twitter should absolutely remain to play a leading role within your crisis communications strategy. Perhaps their growth rate will continue to tumble, but the number of users continues to climb – and the platform continues to remain the leading platform when it comes to benefiting your crisis communications.
What does it mean to make your crisis communications Twitter-friendly?
Making your crisis communications Twitter-friendly means to:
- Share your official responses and statements to your followers
- Develop key messages that easily fit into a tweet (100 – 140 characters)
- Encourage your audiences to share your messages with tools such as ClicktoTweet
- Make sure that your crisis communications plan includes the strategic use of crisis hashtags
- Monitor Twitter in real-time, both in and out of a crisis
Read: The Guide to Leveraging and Managing Twitter in a Crisis
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
Yes, Twitter must play a role in crisis communications strategy. But also good time to remind folks that a crisis can easily START on Twitter and play out online and off. Your tips for monitoring are important in a crisis but also at all times, particularly for those brands that are highly visible.
Great information Melissa, and of course, love your name!
According to a study published in January 2014 by Statistic Brain (statistics courtesy of Twitter and Huffington Post) 40% (forty percent) of accounts defer from tweeting and instead, watch other accounts tweet; this statistic further validates the need to integrate Twitter into a crisis communications plan, as Twitter, at the very least, is a simple and readily available source for real-time news.
Thanks for stating this stat for us, Melissa. Twitter is such an important and multi-purpose tool. Such an important part of an organization's crisis communications strategy.
So to speak from Istanbul, Turkey where twitter is banned a week before the local elections, I believe that twitter is the most powerful social insttument for opinion leaders to spread their thoughts.
Thanks for the tips.