icegov2012 proceedings

collecting information about the crisis. On the microblog, the
public’s feedback and the experts’ opinions should be monitored
so as to help evaluate whether the crisis is truly over. If the crisis
is not completely over yet, the organization should continue to
apply response strategies depending on the crisis situation and the
needs of the public. Table 5 shows the strategies for the post-crisis
stage.
Table 5. Strategies for Post-crisis Stage
4. THE CASE
In this section, the author will introduce the Shanghai City
Metro’s crisis communication on the microblog.
4.1 Introduction, Method, and Questions
The rear-end collision happened at Shanghai City Metro’s Route
No.10 on September 27, 2011. This accident was first reported by
an ordinary microblogger on Sina Microblog [42].The first report
appeared on the microblog website at 14:47 [42]. Before this post
occurred, on the same day from 14:17 to 14:20, the Shanghai City
Metro’s official microblog had posted three messages reporting
that the equipment on Route No.10 had malfunctioned, and the
train was required to slow down. At 14:40, five minutes before the
first report of the collision, the official microblog made a post
informing the public that they were controlling the amount of
passengers connecting to Route No. 10. At 15:03, the official
microblog informed the public that Route No.10 between Yili
Road and Sichuan Bei Road was closed, and no passengers were
allowed to access the train. Two minutes later, the official
microblog made another post that repeated the content of the
previous post, as well as provided information to assist the
passengers in choosing other vehicles for transportation. In the
next 48 hours, the official microblog responded to the crisis. The
response was widely spread by the public and received many
compliments.
In this section, the crisis response made by the official microblog
will be discussed. The questions are:
1) How did the official microblog respond to the crisis?
2) How does the response fit the framework proposed in this
paper?
The data was collected in December 2011. The 52 crisis-related
messages posted and reposted between September 27, 2011 and
253
September 29, 2011 were examined. The author classified the
messages by their main purposes. For instance, the official
microblog apologized in many posts; however, the main purpose
of only two posts was to apologize.
Eight categories are identified. The apology category contains
messages only expressing an apology. The human care messages
show that the organization cares about the victim’s feelings. The
future view category stresses what the organization is going to do.
The responsibility category contains messages related to the
responsibility for the crisis and the investigation into the
responsibilities. Both the “current situation” and the “help
information” help with reducing uncertainties. “Positive tone”
tries to view the crisis from the positive side, such as how people
have helped each other. Figure 1 shows the classification of the
posts. Other relevant posts were searched by using the search
function and keywords such as “passenger education,”“Metro
safe,” etc.
Figure1.Classification of the Posts
These crisis responses will be discussed within the framework that
the author proposed in Section 3. The author will especially focus
on the crisis event stage.
4.2 Pre-crisis Stage
In the pre-crisis stage, the tasks are detecting crisis signs, reducing
potential harm, and preparing for crisis responses.
4.2.1 Detecting crisis signs
First, in order to acquire external information for possibly
detecting signs of a crisis, a government agency should have
many followers and the concerned public on the microblog. The
Shanghai City Metro’s official microblog has millions of
followers, including individuals, relevant organizations, and even
the news media. In the meantime, the official microblog follows
various microbloggers such as individuals, experts, other
organizations, and the news media, which is helpful in acquiring
information from experts and opinion leaders. Besides, there is
evidence indicating that the official microblog is aware of external
information on the microblog. For instance, in August 2011,
among 229 messages relating to Metro affairs posted by the
official microblog, there were 82 messages from external sources.
The messages were from comments, the accounts followed by the
official microblog, and the people who “@” Shanghai Metro in
their messages. In fact, during the crisis the official microblog
posted 8 messages based on information provided by other