Flame war management handling crises in the social media age

Buyer-supplier collaboration
When recession takes hold, there’s safety
in numbers
Merging the real and virtual world
Why, and how, companies should define their
digital strategy
Volume 7 │ Issue 3
Providing insight and analysis for business professionals
This article is an extract from Performance, Volume 7, Issue 3, August 2015. The full journal is available at
ey.com/performance
A further decisive factor is the flame
war prognosis. First and foremost comes
the question of what can be expected in
terms of reach and latency. The important
questions such as “who posted what and
where, with which facts and in which
tonality” can be clarified with the help
of professional analysis tools. Important
factors such as credibility, relevance or
potential for emotionalism can be analyzed
in a semiautomatic fashion. These factors
all lead to a reliable storm prognosis. The
stronger the characteristics are, the greater
their effect on the future course of the
flame war.
Crisis management and
countermeasures
Assessment of the measures depends
on the identified location and the storm
prognosis. If the factors indicate a flame
war is likely, an automatic situation
assessment appears in the cockpit. Options
for action, ranging from further observation
to a statement from the CEO, together with
a selection from the package of measures
are displayed.
Following these recommendations, it is
possible to detect and react accordingly and
professionally with support from the tools
mentioned.
Post-crisis management: after
the storm is before the next
storm
Every flame war should be seen as a rare
opportunity to sharpen a company’s profile.
Extensive vulnerability analyses, along with
SWOT or FMEA analyses, will assist any
organization in being able to react better to
future crises.
The output from all of this analysis
should lead to the setting of integrated
measures and recommendations for action.
The results should be stored in the flame
war knowledge base, created as part of
preparing the organization, mentioned
earlier in this article. By following this
approach, the organization will find it is able
to react quickly and appropriately.
Positive side effects
It is worth keeping in mind that a flame war
can have positive side effects. As the reach
and prominence of the object in question
grows, so do the number of fans and
followers on the social networks.
Professional flame war management,
as described here, also delivers valuable
information on customers, products and
markets that can be used in a variety of
ways across the whole company. •
All social media
channels used by the
organization should
be prepared with
potential content for
use in the event of an
emergency.
61