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Social media preparedness learning from the “Deepwater Horizon Incident”

Posted on 11. Jun, 2010 by phaedrus in Communications, Health, Web 2.0

British Petroleum (BP) is pumping $50 million into their campaign to rebuild their reputation in the aftermath of the recent oil spillage in the Gulf of Mexico. BP is using online methods, purchasing Google ad words, “oil” and “spill”, to direct as many internet browsers as possible to their website, which has been overhauled to provide detailed, tailored information on the company’s response to the crisis. BP CEO, Tony Hayward, has recorded a personal apology, which is available on the site here. One of BP’s key objectives is to ensure that the incident is not named the “BP Oil Spill”, but currently, more people are Googling “BP Oil Spill”, than any of BP’s ‘recommendations’, such as “Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill” or the “Deepwater Horizon Incident”. Indeed, the internet, or internet users as a public body, are increasingly proving to be capable of exercising massive amounts of power. In no case is this more poignant than the current attempts of BP to salvage some kind of positive public profile.

There has been a mass of blogging and Facebook activity encouraging people to boycott BP, which peaked in sync with mainstream news coverage of the events unfolding. Other examples of social media (SM) activism include a SM campaign to ‘Quit Facebook’ over the site’s privacy issues, which the SM giant nipped in the bud with a global traditional media campaign, and, by contrast, a campaign from Toyota, who reacted to poor performance in 2009 by rehabilitating their public perception using SM as a key tool. In the case of BP however, it seems that even the power and wealth of the oil industry is not enough to stem the tide of the public voice forthcoming through SM channels. But what does this mean for us healthcare communicators?

Firstly, the health implications of the disaster remind us that public health and the environment are fundamentally and eternally intertwined. Disasters with this type of ecological impact, which, with increased industrialisation and urbanisation, will increase in frequency in the years ahead, need to be prepared for and dealt with as well as possible to protect the health of society. An early Aurora blog post discussed these societal effects in more detail, click here to read it. As BP desperately try to clean up the mess, both in the sea and in traditional and digital media, we watch on, keen to learn from this exceptional case. As PR practitioners who are well versed in the ways of dealing with product or brand-related issues or crises, the dynamics at play in this debacle are fascinating.

The use and monitoring of SM in pharmaceutical communications is still in its early days and we at Aurora are monitoring for clients and highly active in encouraging progression. We know that SM has the potential to enlighten and empower healthcare consumers, bringing patient sectors together to form forums with unrivalled expertise and experience, and to unite healthcare professionals, to share research and clinical experience through social networking sites sites both open and closed (like doctors.net.uk). We also know, however, that SM is a pharmaceutical hot potato, as it transcends conventional conceptions of public engagement. When information passes into the wilderness of the SM sphere, there is no definitive rule for acceptable information flow. We are now also starkly aware that people connected through SM can be unpredictable and potentially highly destructive when rubbed the wrong way – just ask BP. The key is to plan for challenging eventualities and then transparently discuss your position if they arise.

The BP story serves as an excellent case study to demonstrate the power of SM to add a “sting with a long tail” (meaning that bloggers amplify the messages of mainstream news reporting and continue to do so longer than conventional media) to any media coverage, particularly negative reporting. We saw a similar trend with reporting on swine flu last year, as there was an outbreak of SM coverage following the mainstream media’s proliferation of the swine scare. Click here to read Aurora’s blog post on this. While SM can work in favour of a product/brand/company, and provide a service to healthcare communications by efficiently sharing information, in the case of negative stories, such as the “Deepwater Horizon Incident”, a public SM Mexican wave is more likely to gain critical mass and complete several circuits before losing momentum.

Perhaps this wave could have been dissipated if BP had engaged with SM rather than buying search terms to direct people to a pre-recorded message. Social media leaves an online archive that will remain for a long time, for example if Wikipedia remains dominant, BP’s entry will contain this information forever. The words and images will be around on the internet as long as internet users choose to share them. Incidentally, this article from Time, on the differences between BP and Greenpeace’s photographic coverage of the disaster, is indicative of the two organisations opposing objectives. Never before has it been more clear that big industries need to get their SM house in order. Developing a firm, structured protocol for pharmaceutical industry engagement with SM is achievable. It presents an exciting, ongoing challenge that we, as pharmaceutical communicators, are facing, and one in which Aurora is most definitely engaged.

We are working with clients to develop ways to address these issues, starting internally and building confidence in social media interaction to prepare for future developments. The first steps are the hardest, but SM is not to be shied away from, and the uncertain landscape ahead of us can only become more familiar if we begin to set up processes with a view to monitoring and engagement. Slowly does it, but it is worth investing the time now to develop good understanding of the terrain, so that navigating that terrain in the future will be more straightforward and rewarding. With internal systems in place, and effort made to establish and refine a SM voice and listening skills, it will be easier to learn more from the wealth of knowledge that passes through SM channels and engage where appropriate, offering value to stakeholders. Buying up search terms is perhaps not the best approach when it comes to digital media.

Tags: environment, issues management, reputation, Social media, sustainability