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information in the crisis event stage. In the apology message,
which appeared in the crisis event stage, there was no clear
statement of responsibility. This vagueness could be due to the
lack of information in the crisis event stage. However, at the postcrisis
stage, there was no further statement about the responsibility
for the accident. Instead, the official microblog posted one
message which expressed the future view. The message (18:48 on
September 29) received 52 comments. Other than support, the
major issues as seen by the public were still the reason and the
responsibility for the accident and the real actions taken by the
Metro.
5. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
In this paper, the author develops a general framework for a
government agency to develop crisis communication on the
microblog. Coomb’s three-stage model is used, and four issues
concerned by primary crisis communication theories are discussed.
The four issues are the crisis situation, stakeholders, the values,
and the future view. In each stage of a crisis, the crisis manager
should take into account both the tasks of each stage and the four
issues when designing crisis communication strategies.
The author also uses the Shanghai City Metro rear-collision as an
example to show how a government can use the framework to
communicate with the public on the microblog. The case enriches
the framework in the following aspects.
First, the primary concern of the public is the reason and the
responsibility for the crisis. The statement of responsibility should
not be vague and lacking in detail; otherwise, the public will be
unsatisfied and may even develop a negative impression of the
organization.
Secondly, the strategies aimed at lessening the perceived level of
damage should be based on facts. The organization should be able
to convince the public; otherwise, such strategy will only lead to
untrustworthiness. The microblog is interactive, which is an
advantage when dealing with third-party information. When
confronted by third-party information which is different from
official information, the organization should actively respond in
order to avoid the impression of being dishonest.
People would like to see the organization admit responsibility and
seek forgiveness. However, the apology as well as other strategies,
such as positive tone and human care, should be accompanied by
effective action taken by the organization.
6. LIMITATIONS AND FURTUER
RESEARCH
First, evidence indicating that at least two crisis-related messages
posted by the official microblog was deleted. Thus, there is no
way of knowing whether the messages were consistent with the
crisis communication strategy.
Secondly, the four theories employed in this paper are mostly
developed in business settings. Although scholars have applied
them to government agencies, a thorough comparison and contrast
of business and government settings will improve the
effectiveness of these theories.
Finally, in the paper, it was asserted that an organization should
learn from the public by listening to their opinions on the
microblog. A further study could be done on how a government
256
agency should collect and analyze the information on the
microblog to understand and learn from the public.
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