SOCIAL MEDIA AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

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SOCIAL MEDIA AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT: A REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF
EXISTING STUDIES
Article · January 2019
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Oberiri Destiny Apuke
Taraba State University
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European University of Lefke
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LAÜ Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi (IX-II): 199-215
SOCIAL MEDIA AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT: A REVIEW
AND ANALYSIS OF EXISTING STUDIES
SOSYAL MEDYA VE KRİZ YÖNETİMİ: MEVCUT ÇALIŞMALARIN
İNCELEMESİ VE ANALİZİ
Received 18 September 2018- Accepted 25 November 2018
Gönderim 18 Eylül 2018- Kabul 25 Kasım 2018
Abstract: Social media has become the most used and active way of communication; however,
studies that look at social media use in crisis management are in their growing stage. Thus, this
study analyses these growing body of knowledge that researched into social media and crisis
management. A review was undertaken between October 2017 to January 2018 which entails
sourcing and retrieving materials from an electronic database. The findings of this review
confirmed that the growth of social media has transformed crisis communication landscape
because it allows more interactivity. Still, a crisis could also be catalysed by social media because of
its nature. This signifies that the crisis can be created in social media, as well as distributed by
social media, respectively. Yet, the potential of social media as a crisis resolution tool is
indisputable. It has the potential to prove a statement, to dispel untrue rumours or just to show the
fact. Hence, practitioners are encouraged to know thoroughly how social media works and the best
way to manipulate it to communicate with their stakeholders. Additional findings are also shown in
this study, along with limitations and meaningful suggestion for scholars and practitioners
interested in understanding the impact of social media in crisis communication and management.
Keywords: Crisis, crisis management, crisis communication, information, social media
Öz: Sosyal medya iletişimin en aktif ve yoğun kullanılan aracı haline gelmiştir, ancak bununla
birlikte, kriz yönetiminde sosyal medya kullanımına yönelik çalışmalar henüz büyüme
aşamasındadır. Bu nedenle, bu çalışma sosyal medya ve kriz yönetimi üzerine yapılan
araştırmalara dair büyüyen bilgi yapısını analiz etmektedir. Ekim 2017'den Ocak 2018'e kadar,
elektronik bir veri tabanından temin edilen kaynak ve verilerin incelemesi yapılmıştır. İncelemenin
bulguları, sosyal medyadaki büyümenin kriz iletişiminin çehresini değiştirdiğini çünkü sosyal
medyanın daha fazla etkileşime izin verdiğini doğrulamaktadır. Öte yandan bir kriz doğası gereği
sosyal medya tarafından da katalize edilebilmektedir. Bu, krizin sosyal medyada oluşabileceği gibi
yine sosyal medyada dağılabileceğini göstermektedir. Sosyal medyanın kriz çözme aracı olarak
potansiyeli tartışılmazdır. Bir beyanı kanıtlama, doğru olmayan söylentileri giderme ya da sadece
gerçeği gösterme yönünde potansiyele sahiptir. Bu nedenle uygulayıcılar, sosyal medyanın nasıl
çalıştığını ve paydaşlarla iletişim kurmak için en iyi nasıl işlem yapıldığını iyice öğrenmeye teşvik
edilirler. Bu çalışmada, sosyal medyanın kriz iletişimi ve kriz yönetimindeki etkisini anlama
konularıyla ilgilenen akademisyen ve uygulayıcılara anlamlı öneriler verilmekte; ek bulgular
gösterilmektedir.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Kriz, kriz yönetimi, kriz iletişimi, bilgi, sosyal medya
Oberiri Destiny APUKE
Department of Communication Studies,
European University of Lefke,
North Cyprus
[e-mail]
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7657-4858
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elif Asude TUNCA
Faculty of Communication Sciences
Department of New Media and Journalism
European University of Lefke,
North Cyprus
[e-mail]
ORCID ID: 0000-0003-0636-8247

200 | Social Media and Crisis Management: A Review and Analysis of Existing Studies
LAÜ Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi (IX-II) EUL Journal of Social Sciences
Aralık 2018 December
INTRODUCTION
The use of social media has increased in the world of communication, with
Twitter and Facebook as the most used platforms (Dunbar, Arnaboldi, Conti, &
Passarella, 2015), and organizations have gained mileage by using it to communicate
in a much more effective and fast way with their customers about their businesses as
well as responding to queries and questions (Coombs & Holladay, 2010: 66; Carroll
& Buchholtz, 2014:23). However, in as much as the emergence of social media has
brought in the advantage of fast, effective communication, it has also given room for
the fast spread of negative communication (Wright & Hinson, 2008). An
organization depends on its reputation, it is a pertinent aspect that directly translates
to its financial achievement (Fombrun, Gardberg, & Sever, 2000; Fombrun, Van
Riel, & Van Riel, 2004:22), and with the emergence of social media, crisis might
arise and spread faster than it can ever do on any other traditional forms of
communication (González-Herrero & Smith, 2010; Jones et al., 2009). Therefore, the
success of any organisation is highly dependent on what it says or the effort it makes
after a crisis strike. This is called crisis management and being able to address issues
that threaten its reputation will go a long way (Benoit, 1997). It has been suggested
that it is paramount for organizations to understand fully how to manage different
kinds of crisis via social media. Yet, a lot of organisations are sceptical as regards the
trustworthiness and reliability of social media (Wrights & Hinson, 2009).
Nevertheless, other research has shown that organizations have taken up the use of
social media as a communication tool, not just for marketing and public relations
messages, but also for crisis communication which is also known as crisis
management (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007). Thus, the development of social
media as communication platform has drawn numerous interests from researchers in
the field of public relations. For example, prior study on the utilization of social
media as a tool for organizations public relations strategy has been undertaken
(Briones et al., 2011), but studies on the use of social media in crisis management are
still in their developing stage and requires further exploration. Moreover, there are
contention that the issue of social media has transformed the communication crisis
landscape because it allows more interactivity, and at the same time crisis could be
catalysed through social media because of its nature.
Thus, a critique of literature that concerns social media and crisis management is
worthwhile, and also offers a prospect to demonstrate the collective intellect that has
been accumulated from the extensive body of research that has utilised various
participants, samples, and methods. This present work attempts to increase the
understanding of social media use in crisis management through analysing the
existing body of knowledge. The outcome of this study, is hence beneficial for future
researchers in this area of research. It also benefits organizations and practitioners,
because it demonstrates the usage of social media during a crisis and proffer
suggestion that will improve its usage.
1. LITERATURE REVIEW METHODS
This review deals with the studies that centre on social media and crisis
management. Consequently, other works that examined the use of social media in

Oberiri Destiny Apuke, Elif Asude Tunca | 201
LAÜ Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi (IX-II) EUL Journal of Social Sciences
Aralık 2018 December
another field such as education, politics and social interactivity were entirely
excluded. This study adopts a literature review method. The review was undertaken
between October 2017 to January 2018 which entails carefully sourcing and
retrieving publications from an ISI web of knowledge and Google Scholar to include
Taylor and Francis, Emerald, Springer and Elsevier etc. Scopus was also used. To
recognised other related studies that could shape this present research, thesis,
proceedings, and books were also searched by hand. There was no restriction to the
date of the articles to be retrieved. The key search phrases that were used to access
the articles included; crisis communication, social media and crisis management,
public relations and social media, crisis management, public relations on Facebook.
Accordingly, the author also used specific social media such as blogs, Wikipedia,
Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Flick along with crisis management, crisis
responses and communication to reach the targeted articles.
As of October 2017, the initial search results yielded 1250 references which on a
closer look were found related to the main issues under investigation. These
references were speedread by checking the title, abstract and conclusion to ensure
that each retrieved article is entirely related to the subject matter. In situations where
the author was not entirely clear while speedreading an article, the entire article was
read. This process resulted in (n=67) purposively selected studies used in this article.
Of the (n=67), 60 articles were further extracted for more detailed evaluation based
on thoroughly analysing the abstract and keywords, methodology, conclusion and
general findings. Therefore, the (n=60) studies used for the review met the inclusion
benchmark for the final dataset. These studies basically examined the use of social
media in managing crisis.
There is evidence to demonstrate that matters connected to social media has
drawn a growing body of researchers, and in specific yielding a considerable number
of surveys testing the role social media plays in crisis management. These studies
have adopted different dimensions and paradigm, as well as used diverse methods
and techniques resulting in varied outcomes (Gironda & Korgaokar, 2014). Against
this backdrop, this current study seeks to review and analyse the literatures that
focused on social media and crisis management in order to grasp the key pertinent
issues investigated so far and the ones requiring further investigation.
2. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF THE REVIEWED STUDIES
2.1. Relationship Between Crisis Management and Social Media
It was observed that a good number of studies (about 26 articles) have paid
close attention to the nexus between social media and crisis management. These
studies maintained that the practitioners of public relations have adopted social
media in running an organization and this has also been extended to manage crisis.
For example, research has indicated that the development of social media has
transformed the lives of individuals as much as it has changed that of corporations
(Floreddu & Cabiddu, 2014; Dellarocas, 2006). Wang (2015) observes that social
media has been utilised for public relations since its advent in 2004, and this has had
an influence on both individuals and the society (Khang, Ki, & Ye, 2012). Likewise,
a study affirmed that social media have a predominant and growing role to act in the