Media communication demands a more dynamic approach in a fast changing world of public and social media. Journalists, including those representing the quality media, are becoming more assertive in their approach. Deadlines are getting ever shorter while online-reporting and blogs are on the rise. News websites, radio and television have an immediate response in public interaction through social media, where the distinction between fact and opinion blurs easily. Interaction or the lack of a dialogue on social media on politically and socially sensitive issues can lead to reactions and positioning in the political arena. Issues can escalate very fast and very far. So the questions arises: what would you do? And are you prepared?

1. 8 May 2013
Dealing with our current media landscape
- how social changed the world -

2. Let’s go back to the year 1995

3. What would have happened…
… if there’d been 6 billion smart/cellphones?
… if more than 1 billion people would be on Facebook?
… if more than 250 million people would be on Twitter?
… if on a daily basis more than 350 million tweets are send out to the rest of the
world?
… if social media held number one to spread the news?
Locally, regionally, nationally, worldwide?
… for the revolution among students
supporting Free Birma Coalition?

4. Imagine what the role of social could have been…

5. Imagine what the role of social could have been…

6. Imagine what the role of social could have been…

7. Imagine what the role of social could have been…

8. Imagine what the role of social could have been…

9. Let’s take a look at some recent events

10. Hudson Plane Crash
January 16
2009
3.27 pm - Plane
crashes in Hudson
River
3.36 pm – The first
picture shows on
twitter, taken by a
passenger from
the crashed plane
3.48 pm – The
New York Times
posts the news on
their website , but
not prominent
4.00 pm – The
New York Times
acknowledges the
news is big and
posts the news on
the website
frontpage
4.00 pm > - Other
newssites are
following, showing
the original first
picture from
Twitter
Twitter broke the story

11. Greenpeace versus Nestlé
March 17 2010
Greenpeace launched a
campaign against Nestlé
(KitKat) because of the
use of palmoil in their
products.
Nestlé launched a
very graphic video
on YouTube
March 18 2010
Nestlé reacted by
demanding the video to
be removed from
YouTube. Which caused a
storm of negative
reactions on social media
Nestlé’s fanpage
on Facebook
became the place
for fans to express
their negative
feelings
Nestlé removed all
the negative
reactions from
their
Facebookpage.
March 19
2010
Traditional
media picked
up the news
March 20 2010
Within 72 hours the
news was all over the
internet and reached
over 540.00 people
March 21 2010
The Greenpeace
video had been
shared 180.000 times
on social media
Nestlé damages its own
reputation in about 72
hours

12. And don’t forget these latest events

13. Learnings from the past and present
• Social media channels can disappear, but social media will always remain
We will just have to deal with them and be prepared to change strategy
• News and gossip traveled fast, but travels faster nowadays
The landscape is no longer dominated by the traditional newswires
Traditional media are pushed to work in new formats, with less time
• Not only media, but the entire world has become a publicist
Sources are not (always) being checked, no longer independent nor legitimate
• Back in ‘the old days’ traditional media were perceived as independent and reliable
It becomes troublesome when the traditional media gets dragged into the world of
social but sometimes not so reliable media
• And all those ‘not-being-consumers’ (companies, institutions, etc.) will just have to
learn to deal with this

14. You have to be ready.
Perhaps even more ready
then before.

15. A simple exercise – what would you do?
Thursday May 9th, 17.15hrs
An innocent tweet pops up in your country
@Anonimous:
“High #mercury concentrarion broken #CFL;
danger for human health http://bit.ly/15z1Xso #research #Germany”
Profile of sender:
- Non-public figure
- 861 following
- 71 followers
What would you do? And are you prepared?

16. A simple exercise – what would you do?
Thursday May 9th, 17.25hrs
Tweet has been retweeted several times;
Influence of retweets is relatively low
@Anonimous:
“High #mercury concentrarion broken #CFL;
danger for human health http://bit.ly/15z1Xso #research #Germany”
What would you do? And are you prepared?

17. A simple exercise – what would you do?
Thursday May 9th, 19.31hrs
Tweet has been retweeted several times;
Amount of retweets has doubled; including retweet
from national Associated Press
@Anonimous:
“High #mercury concentrarion broken #CFL;
danger for human health http://bit.ly/15z1Xso #research #Germany”
Profile of Associated press:
- 7007 following
- 1.966.909 followers
What would you do? And are you prepared?

18. A simple exercise – what would you do?
Thursday May 9th, 00.03hrs
Associated press sends out a tweet, including url-referral
A short summary:
Dark sides of CFL’s
CFL’s contain a small quantity of mercury
After breaking a CFL at home, the amount of mercury rises significantly
This could be hazardous for human health, especially when there are children present,
according to German research
What would you do? And are you prepared?

19. A simple exercise – what would you do?
Thursday May 10th, 06.00hrs
Several national papers publish the story
(not frontpage)
No additions to AP’s storyline are made
What would you do? And are you prepared?

20. A simple exercise – what would you do?
Thursday May 10th, 07.00hrs
The national Breakfast news covers the highlights
of the national media, including the story of AP
A short summary (3 sentences) of the story on
mercury in CFL’s is given
What would you do? And are you prepared?

21. A simple exercise – what would you do?
Thursday May 10th, 07.01hrs
First reactions on the breakfast edition of the news begin to appear
on Twitter, including one from an employee of a store that
Collects CFL’s
@PeterJ:
“Just my luck: broken CFL’s hazardous for human health, via @NewsDaily @AP
#WECOLLECTTHEM
What would you do? And are you prepared?

22. A simple exercise – what would you do?
Thursday May 10th, 07.41hrs
A daily, but rather thrill seeking, newspaper picks up the tweet
from @PeterJ. First (re)action: a phonecall to your organization
- What is your reaction on the research from Germany?
- Have you read the stories?
- Is a broken CFL dangerous for human health?
- In our country there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of collection points. Is the
health of the employees working there in danger?
What would you do? And are you prepared?

23. A simple exercise – what would you do?
Thursday May 10th, 14.20hrs
The daily newspaper has published the story, and questions
– despite your best efforts – whether CFL’s should be collected
in public spaces or stores?
An international activist group picks up the
news, and starts spreading more tendentious rumours, slowly
spreading via twitter to other countries
What would you do? And are you prepared?

24. A simple exercise – what would you do?
Thursday May 11th, 10.00hrs
The first stories appear in neighbouring countries.
Both in traditional and on social media.
The story focuses not only on the danger of mercury in CFL’s,
but also very strongly on the public collection of these lamps.
What would you do? And are you prepared?

25. Five lessons learned
1. Be prepared sufficiently
• What’s your plan, your ultimate goal?
• And how about facts & figures, documentation, your messagehouse?
1. Get structured
• How are you going to do it?
• Who is going to do it?
• What’s your policy towards the entire organization?
• How about your early warning system (cross-border)?
3. Monitor closely, before, during and after an event
• Interact wisely and to use your knowledge in other communication
4. Adress, bridge and communicate, offline and online
• Don’t forget to be sceptic
• Don’t forget to share your knowledge
5. Be trained properly, focusing on both traditional and new media
• Use different scenario’s (also cross-border)

26. But do remember:
Social media is not all about
threats. It’s mainly about
opportunities.