What if Facebook Is the Real ‘Silent Majority’?
From Kevin Roose, writing in The New York Times: Listen, liberals. If you don’t think Donald Trump can get re-elected in November, you need to spend more time on Facebook. Since the 2016 election, I’ve been obsessively tracking how partisan political content is performing on Facebook, the world’s largest and arguably most influential media platform. […]
Are the Biggest Threats to Your Organization’s Reputation Languishing in HR’s Bottom Drawer?
By Nora Jacobs, Hennes Communications As we have seen countless times during these COVID-stricken months, employees are working on a short fuse. Isolation, stress and a galvanized political landscape have combined to create an environment where casual comments on social media explode into wars of words, workplace rules spawn walkouts, and long-simmering resentments about past […]
Social Media Platforms Fight Back Against Manipulative Foreign Actors
From the American University School of International Service Disinformation Research Team writing in Homeland Security Today: Although Americans expect to encounter disinformation via social media platforms in the run-up to the 2020 elections, many continue to consume news online primarily via social media. Foreign actors have used social media to increase discord in the United […]
McDonalds Does Crisis Management the Right Way
By David E. Johnson, writing in CommPro: McDonalds stands out for handling its latest crisis with former CEO Steve Easterbrook right. The fast food giant let Easterbrook go last year after discovering that he had had a consensual relationship with an employee. When McDonalds terminated Easterbrook last year it said it had evidence of only of a non-physical, consensual […]
Ellen’s Celebrity Defenders Aren’t Helping Her
From Spencer Kornhaber, writing in The Atlantic: Famous people want the world to know that Ellen DeGeneres is nice to famous people. Addressing media reports alleging a culture of harassment and bullying at DeGeneres’s talk show, the singer Katy Perry tweeted Tuesday that she’s “only ever had positive takeaways from my time with Ellen.” Ashton Kutcher, Kevin […]
The Permeating Stench of Negative Media Coverage
By Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications What if you woke up to find that your company had racked up $47 million in negative publicity because of something your CEO said? Certainly, any company prescient enough to have a crisis communication plan packed with doomsday scenarios would include fill-in-the-blank messaging responding to an exec gone rogue. But […]
Ellen DeGeneres — Time for a Crisis Management Lesson
From David E. Johnson, writing for CommPro: Talk show host and comedian, Ellen DeGeneres is the latest celebrity that could be cancelled. Both she and the top management of her hit talk show, “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” are under an internal investigation by the show’s distributor, Warner Brothers. There are allegations of intimidation, sexual […]
How Talking About the Coronavirus as an Enemy Combatant Can Backfire
By Tabitha Moses, writing for The Conversation: We see this war reflected in the language that gets used by politicians, policymakers, journalists and healthcare workers. As the “invisible enemy” rolled in, entire economies halted as populations “sheltered in place.” We were told to “hunker down” for the long battle ahead and to “support our troops,” […]
Are You Prepared for Bad Press About One of Your Suppliers?
From Bridget Satinover Nichols, Hannah Stolze and Jon Kirchoff writing in the Harvard Business Review: It’s always been true that when companies behave badly, consumers react by spreading the word and sometimes boycotting. But our recent research found that negative news is also bad for business in a new way: Consumers react even when the bad news extends beyond […]
Don’t Let a Crisis Become Your Legacy
From Zach Olsen, writing in Inside Higher Ed: Public perception has become reality — reputations are made and destroyed overnight thanks to the power of social and online media and an emboldened public who has seen Twitter bring down corporate titans and foment socio-political unrest around the world. Schools can no longer be certain they’ll […]