Replies should be no less than 75 words.

1. This should be addressed to Christy Bruno

A crisis is defined here as a significant threat to operations or reputations that can have negative consequences if not handled properly. In crisis management, the threat is the potential damage a crisis can inflict on an organization, its stakeholders, and an industry. A crisis can create three related threats: (1) public safety, (2) financial loss, and (3) reputation loss (www.instituteforpr.org). The internet is the first place people turn to find out what is going on. The internet is also the first place that people go to report things good or bad. Someone could be reporting something good and someone else turn it all the way around and make it bad. The person delivering the good or bad news could also give the wrong information and cause a complete uproar.

A recent crisis situation that was not dealt with head on was the KFC chicken brain debacle. After a customer found a disgusting brain-like substance in his fried chicken he took to the social space to post an image, which went viral and set the social media fire ablaze (www.digialroyalty.com). KFC did nothing about the situation which could have cost them in the long run. General Motors faced a setback in late 2011 when its electric-propelled Chevy Volt performed poorly in three crash tests that resulted in fires or sparks from the battery pack. GM, realized it was facing a crisis and offered loaner cars to any of the 6,000 owners while they fixed the problem (Terlep 2011). If companies would address the crisis as occurs, it could save them a lot of money and keep the loyal customers.

2. This should be addressed to Tarsha Harris,

In today’s society, the internet has evolved tremendously. When it comes down to news and crime happening all over the world, the internet spreads the news much faster than any news broadcasting station ever could; even the radio. In my opinion, the internet adds both positive and negative severity of a crisis. The negative side is all the false and opinion statements that cannot be proved, made by people regarding a crisis. For instance, this past weekend, there was a talk about a supposed “Black Out” in the USA. The false advertisement of this crisis, caused people to panic for no apparent reason, being the crisis was not real. It was all a hoax. “An announcement by the U.S Army clearly states that the event is only a drill that will “stimulate”, a blackout. The announcement reads, “Elements of the US Department of Defense (DOD) will conduct a “communications interoperability” training exercise Novemeber 4-6, once again simulating a “very bad day” scenario. Amateur Radio and MARS organizations will take part.” The post indicates that this is an annual drill, so it’s really not even anything new.”(Chris Best, 2017). Since the internet allows people to post anything they want, this has led to a false crisis warning.

On the positive side, the internet allows people to view happenings across the world and warn and prepare them of what is to come. It also allows people to view things live via Internet that they probably can not witness in person. “BP surpassed Exxon in terms of severity on April 20,2010, when its deep water oil well was in the final stages of being capped. A surge of gas emerged from the seabed and blew past the containment apparatus that was supposed to suppress it. During the capping of the oil spill, viewers on the internet could watch in real time as efforts were made to stop the flow of oil, a phenomenon that reinforced the power of the internet and social media.”(SAGE,2013).