Social networking sites as crisis communication vehicles?

I read an interesting post today on Lee Aase’s blog that got me thinking. His post was about using Facebook to set up “dark sites” or groups to communicate with constituents during a crisis situation. His primary example of how successful it can be – a Facebook group about the bridge collapse was set up shortly after the incident and attracted more than 10,000 members within a very short period of time.

I can’t say I had ever thought of using a group on a social networking site for anything other than simply connecting with candidates, clients, etc., but Lee has a point here – especially for those of us who don’t have the IT resources or ability to create dark sites to react quickly in a time of crisis.

Facebook is free, easy and offers the functionality that is ideal in certain situations where communication is critical – like a hurricane, for example. Having gone through a number of hurricanes which have seriously disrupted our ability to communicate with our employees (both in South Florida and across North America), it wouldn’t be a bad idea to establish a Facebook group to keep people updated on the situation at our HQ.

I also like the option to offer user submissions and discussion boards to allow members to share ideas, updates, etc. But, this could result in the company losing control of the message and getting the group off topic pretty quickly, though.

As I considered the issue more, it seems that blogs would also allow a similar ability for a company to update their constituents and may actually be a better option. You could design the look and feel to have tie-ins to your existing brand and make it generic enough to be adapted to any major situation. In the end, you’ll have a more professional look and this method would also allow you to have greater control of the discussion. Your readers don’t have to be Facebook members or members of any group, either.

Interesting food for thought, especially in today’s 24/7 media environment where a crisis can show up at your doorstep within minutes. The bottom line is that we must all consider how we use the internet to communicate during a crisis situation and we must find an easy solution that allows us to react and inform with lightning speed.