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Table 3. Strategies for Pre-crisis Stage
3.2.2 Crisis event stage
In the crisis event stage, the tasks are to identify the crisis and to
launch appropriate crisis responses.
A crisis usually hits suddenly, leaving the organization and the
public little time to respond [3]. Consequently, to identify the
crisis at the first moment becomes vitally important. Online
information dissemination is fast; thus, online media can be used
as a channel to report the crisis. A good example for this is the
Shanghai City Metro accident, which was first reported on a
microblog by an ordinary citizen [42].
After identifying a crisis, an organization should respond to it as
soon as possible. In rest of Section 3.2.2, the author discusses the
response strategy according to the four factors covered by popular
crisis communication theories: the crisis situation, the
stakeholders, the social values, and the future view.
First of all, public-generated messages might contain clues of a
crisis situation, such as the crisis responsibility/perceived crisis
responsibility and the level of damage/perceived level of damage.
Thus, the government agency can pay attention to both the factors
involved in the crisis as well as the public’s attitude on the
microblog. Moreover, the government should design crisis
communication strategies according to the crisis situation.
Secondly, the response messages posted on the microblog should
meet the needs of stakeholders. On one hand, a government
organization can make use of information that is collected in the
pre-crisis stage; on the other hand, the organization can deliver
information that meet the general needs of stakeholders, such as
decision-making needs, the need to reduce emotional uncertainties,
and the need for reparations and compensation. Importantly, if an
organization meets the needs of the public, then it should be
reflected in its messages.
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Third, the response messages on the microblog should also be in
accord with the core values of stakeholders. The public’s
perception of social values and the rules of messages on the
microblog should be collected and analyzed in the pre-crisis stage;
thereby, the organization can deliver appropriate information in
legitimate formats.
Ultimately, to stress the future can be another task in this stage.
The government agency can inform the public that they are
correcting the wrongdoing as well as learning from the crisis. The
rhetoric used in the posts underlining the future view should be
positive [39]. Table 4 shows the strategies in the crisis event stage.
Table 4. Strategies for Crisis Event Stage
3.2.3 Post-crisis stage
In this stage, the tasks are preparing for the next crisis, making
sure the stakeholders are left with positive impressions, and
checking that the crisis is truly over.
Preparing for the next crisis includes activities such as evaluating
the crisis response strategy and learning from the most recent
crisis [7, 39].On the microblog, feedback is the material for
evaluation and learning purposes. The public’s attitude displayed
in each message can be used to evaluate whether the strategy was
favored. The public’s needs in the crisis as expressed in their posts
and comments can be used to adjust the crisis strategy during and
after the crisis.
Besides the evaluation and learning purposes, feedback can also
be used for the purpose of investigating the public’s impression of
the organization.
Sometimes after the end of the immediate effects, the long-term
impact of a crisis can last months or even years. For instance,
even after physical and financial losses are compensated for,
people still need time to seek emotional relief and rebuild
confidence [5, 7]. Another example is that the organization needs
time to investigate the responsibility for the crisis as well as the
level of damage. In both cases, the organization should continue