All media houses now have people who are completely up to date with social media. They are also the first to effectively bridge the gap between the broad communication stream of the masses and the classic media. They are becoming a kind of intermediate form between the media institution they represent and the human being, the individual that they are on Twitter themselves. The messages they send are in their personal name, but on the other hand they also have a link with the traditional quality that the media stands for. This is probably one component of future journalism: the people behind the media brands are becoming much more visible. More than ever, media brands will – driven by direct communication via social media – be a collection of the people behind the brand.
There is a need for a new kind of crisis communication tailored to the new channels: perhaps the most important lesson to be learned is that the rules for crisis communication need to be revised. A great deal of information emerged on israel phone number list Twitter and other social media, but much of this information was based on speculation and rumours due to the lack of official communication via the new channels. Crisis communication from companies, governments, emergency services and media urgently needs to be adapted to the current digital reality, as Clo Willaerts ( @bnox) also indicated on Belgian Radio1.
A great example is what @DeFlik (Steven De Smet, Chief Commissioner of the Ghent Police) did on Twitter to help stranded festival-goers from Pukkelpop in Ghent:
What happened at Pukkelpop is particularly dramatic and has left deep wounds. But let us above all remember how much genuine solidarity the new, young generation has managed to generate in no time via social media. And what speed and impact the communication around the disaster has had as a result.
During the Pukkelpop disaster, ordinary citizens took the initiative on several fronts . They reported the news live via the new digital channels (and set an example for the media), they made their personal facilities available to the victims via social media (and set an example for the surrounding companies and organizations) and they provided the first crisis communication (and set an example for the government). Hopefully, the classic media players, governments and emergency services will soon follow this example.