BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

Today, it seems that CEOs are blogging, tweeting, and friending at a pace once reserved only for teenagers, professional athletes, and pop stars - and why not? With digital and social media overtaking television, print, and radio in terms of relevance and reliability, if you're not sharing messages online, then you're not being heard in the venues that most audiences migrated to long ago. Before making their first foray into the blogosphere, CEOs must understand that ... READ MORE

Bulletproof's Weekly Web Wrap-up offers a compilation of key discussions regarding the relevance of social media in business. The number of companies facing reputational crises online continues to grow, heightening the need to monitor consumer opinion and discussion in the digital space. Ford is the latest example of a company that was able to avert a PR crisis thanks to active monitoring and a prompt online response. As outlined in a recent Wall Street Journal piece, ... READ MORE

In today's e-commerce environment, data loss and theft represents many organizations' worst nightmare. Each time consumers use a credit card or submit other forms of personal information to a company - either online or off - they have a reasonable expectation that the information will be kept safe. It's about trust. When that trust is compromised, companies are instantly thrust into a reputational crisis of epic proportions. I recently spoke with Chris Hayes - who authors ... READ MORE

Each week, Bulletproof Blog features exclusive interviews with thought leaders on issues of critical importance to companies and countries. This week, with social media playing an increasingly significant role in a wide variety of stakeholder outreach efforts, we interview Kim Zimmer, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs at Goodwill Industries International - a non-profit organization that generates billions of dollars annually for critical community-based programs and services, primarily through the sale of donated goods ... READ MORE

Integrating social media into your company's communications strategy isn't always easy. And if your corporate culture is littered with doubters that have yet to realize the reputation-protecting and brand-bulletproofing benefits of social media monitoring and engagement, the barriers that stand between you and the next frontier of stakeholder outreach can seem overwhelming. Rest assured, at the beginning of this process, every company faces the same challenges. But, with the right approach, even the most daunting of ... READ MORE

It took a week, but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos finally did the right thing - and in the end, what Amazon did to create a controversy about its popular Kindle device, and how it handled the fallout, offer valuable lessons for companies on the cutting edge of the digital media economy. It all started with an old book, ironically George Orwell's 1984, which tells the story of a totalitarian dictatorship overseen by a mysterious tyrant called ... READ MORE

Add United Airlines to the list of companies that have now experienced social media's power to ensure consumers' voices are heard. The airline found itself out of tune earlier this month after a satirical music video describing poor customer service exploded virally. As I discussed with Aviation Week last week, this video is yet another reminder that the Web has fundamentally changed crisis communications for good. The YouTube video by musician Dave Carroll, "United Breaks Guitars," ... READ MORE

Bulletproof's Weekly Web Wrap-up offers a compilation of key discussions regarding the relevance of social media in business. Sharing and spreading positive content about your brand can be challenging in the crowded and competitive online space. But overcoming these obstacles is possible if you know where your key audiences are finding their information. New data suggests that Facebook beats out the competition, including Twitter and e-mail, when it comes to the most popular methods for sharing content. ... READ MORE

At the turn of the century, Sarbanes-Oxley brought about an era of unprecedented corporate transparency. Today, the current global financial crisis has put the spotlight on corporate accountability. As a result, boards of directors must not only take a more active and engaged role in how their companies respond to myriad crisis situations, they must also understand how an impending regulatory sea change will impact their responsibilities and liabilities. In this month's edition of Levick's e-newsletter, High ... READ MORE

A new study by the Statistical Assessment Service of George Mason University (STATS) offers a fascinating look at how the media's limited understanding of the science of statistics can lead to the spread of potentially dangerous misinformation. STATS took a close look at news coverage of Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical found in thousands of plastic products from baby bottles and canteens to food containers and pill packages. Reports that BPA might leak into food and ... READ MORE