The application of Facebook to crisis communication management : a case study of Malaysia airlines

Adebayo, O

Abstract

Our world is being jolted more increasingly by news of crisis and chaos happening globally; from natural disasters to man-made catastrophes, political revolutions and terrorism to economic woes and corporate crisis all making the headlines. Technological innovations like the social media plays a huge role in crisis communication and management of these occurrences, and allows dialogue between the audience and those effected and affected by the occurrence.

The advancement in the use of social media by organisations for their crisis communication has reformed the traditional way of crisis news reporting. Crisis communication now extends to the organisation communicating directly to their stakeholders using their social media handles, and getting response, engagement and feedback directly and simultaneously. The dynamic and transparent nature of social media communication has created a dialogue as opposed to the traditional media which had primary influence through court of public opinion.

This thesis, using observation and content analysis methods, explores how Malaysian Airlines (MAS) managed their crises with the use of Facebook for their crisis communication strategy, by looking at the two fatal plane crashes they experienced in 2014. The analysis then extends to how their stakeholders through Facebook made sense of the crisis news and crisis response messages released by MAS.

The findings indicate that Malaysia Airlines adopts and uses their social media channels as part of their crisis communication channel and also part of the organisation’s overall communication channel. Their social media channels during the crisis life cycle adopts and uses similar traditional crisis communication strategies in connecting with their stakeholders.

Citation

Adebayo, O. The application of Facebook to crisis communication management : a case study of Malaysia airlines. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jan 15, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 15, 2018
• Award Date: May 10, 2017