Abstract Title: It’s not just a comment – a study about Crisis Management on Social Media Author: Malin Pettersson 910624 and Amanda White 920310 Year: Spring 2014 Level: Bachelor degree Department: School of Business and Economics Supervisor: Carina Holmgren Examiner: Frederic Bill   Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a theoretical model for Crisis Management on social media.   Method: The overall literature that was found consisted of traditional Crisis Management and the communication that goes with it, and it was mainly written for traditional channels such as newspapers. The theories could not concretely describe how organizations should handle crisis in Social Media. Therefore, this study focuses on if and how organizations can use the traditional theories when working with crisis management in social media. Through a qualitative method the study has examined and tested the model on three crises, and subsequently improved the model based on the empirical material and  the analysis that was made.   Conclusion: The conclusion found that organizations need to adjust their crisis management after following guidelines for it to work on social media: -    Strategies should be limited to only one, and be either a rebuilding strategy or a bolstering strategy. -    The focus should be on emotional communication, and regarding the rational aspects the focus should be on actual actions and plans for the future. -    Clear guidelines for what type of questions and critics that should be answered should be set. Due to time restrictions questions and critics that communicate direct attacks and/or has playful undertones should be filtered out. -    Spokespersons can be many, which amplifies the need of clear guidelines and a coherent choice of strategy. Further, the messages should all be signed the same regardless of its creator. A good choice is therefore to sign it with the organizations name. -    Social media demands constant presence as the organizations must answer comments quickly, preferably within the hour of their publication. They must also quickly share information to make sure they are first with defining the crisis events. Furthermore, organizations should be active on all the social media channels where they have an account to avoid creating a forum for only speculations, rumors and discussions between stakeholders. -    Authorities should not stand alone in the spotlight, and they should not act alone on the organizations social media channels. Keywords: Crisis Management, Crisis Communication, Crisis Response, Response stage, Social Media, Preventable Crisis, Findus, Max, Parken Zoo.

The aim of this study was to investigate how selected municipalities’ use social media, with a focus on how they are working to increase the dialogue between municipalities’ and residents. To answer the purpose of the study three questions has been formulated: how do the communicators use social media in their daily work? What opportunities and challenges are the municipalities’ experiencing with Facebook? How do they work with Facebook to increase dialogue with citizens? The theories that has been used in this study is Cutlip’s and Grunig’s public relations theories, Shannon and weavers communication model, Cutlip’s and Heath’s theory of issue management and Jenkins theory of convergence culture. The method that has been used in this study is qualitative semi-structured interviews and the analysis is done with a thematic text analysis. The material of this study contained interviews of four communicator officers that are responsible for social media in the municipalities’.    The results of the semi-structured interviews showed that the communicator officers used social media to quickly, easily and cheaply connect many citizens in comparison with the traditional media. The biggest opportunity with Facebook for municipalities’ was to improve issue management by spreading the information faster and have an improved dialog with the citizens. The biggest challenge was to think more strategically how to enhance the use of Facebook. The communicator officers try to invite citizens to dialogue by presenting information that citizens want comment and debate about. Municipalities’ also will have meetings with PR agencies to improve the dialog with the citizens in Facebook.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur Parken Zoo använde sig av Facebook för att kommunicera med sina intressenter under en kris som drabbade organisationen hösten 2012. Med hjälp av en kvalitativ textanalys studerade vi de Facebookinlägg som Parken Zoo hade publicerat under krisen. Därefter genomförde vi en kvalitativ intervju med marknadschefen på Parken Zoo, som var ansvarig för kommunikationen på Facebook under krisen. Med hjälp av ett analysverktyg baserat på situational crisis communication theory och image restoration theory kunde vi avgöra vilka försvarsstrategier Parken Zoo hade använt i Facebookinläggen. Resultatet visade att Parken Zoo omedvetet hade använt många olika försvarsstrategier, men att tre tydliga budskap förmedlades i Facebookinläggen. Resultatet visade också att Parken Zoos syfte var att använda Facebook som ett dialogverktyg, men att de i själva verket använde Facebook för att sprida enkelriktad kommunikation. En slutsats vi kunde dra från studen var att det är viktigt för organisationer att vårda sina kundrelationer genom att bemöta intressenternas frågor och kommentarer på sin Facebooksida under en kris. En annan slutsats var att det är viktigt för organisationer att ha en god krisberedskap och att inkludera Facebook i den. / The purpose of this study was to examine how Parken Zoo used Facebook to communicatate with their stakeholders during a crisis 2012. Using a qualitative textual analysis, we examined Parken Zoo’s Face- book posts during the crisis. Next, we conducted a qualitative interview with the marketing manager at Parken Zoo, who was responsible for the organization’s communication on Facebook during the crisis. Using an analysis tool based on situational crisis communication theory and image restoration theory, we assessed which crisis response strategies Parken Zoo had used in their Facebook posts. The results showed that Parken Zoo subconsciously had used many different crisis response strategies, but that three clear messages were conveyed in the Facebook posts. The results also showed that Parken Zoo’s aim was to use Facebook as a dialogue tool, but in fact they used it for one-way communication. One conclusion from this study was that it is important for organizations to care for their relationship with the stakeholders by responding to their questions and comments on their Facebook page during a crisis. Another conclusion was that it is important for organizations to develop a proactive crisis management portfolio and to include Facebook in it.

Forskning inom kriskommunikation tyder på att det är viktigt som företagare att hantera kriskommunikation väl, oavsett storlek på organisationen. Utsläppsskandalen VAG-koncernen orsakade hösten 2015 skakade bilvärlden. Miljoner fordon blev påverkade av skandalen utan förvarning. I dagsläget pågår fortfarande utsläppsskandalen.Syftet med studien var att beskriva och analysera hur VAG-koncernen kommunicerade under utsläppsskandalen, baserat på uttalanden som de själva gjort samt utifrån det bedöma hur koncernen hanterade krisen. Slutligen analyserades resultatet med diskussion där slutsatsenblev att VAG-koncernen överlag hanterat krisen på ett bra sätt genom att de bad om ursäkt för skandalen, tillsatte en ny ledningsgrupp, tog ansvar för situationen och försökte återställa allt så gott det gick. Det negativa var att de agerade långsamt. Rekommendationen från de teorier som använts i denna studie är att agera fort, inom 24-36 timmar efter krisens start. VAG-koncernens första uttalande kom sju dagar efter skandalens uppdagande.De teorier som vi oftast kunde koppla till VAG-koncernens uttalanden var Image Repair Theory (IRT) och Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). Dessa teorier kopplades till alla tio uttalanden. Fem av uttalandena kopplades till strategin tillrättaläggande inom teorin IRT, vilket var den strategi som hade högst frekvens bland koncernens uttalanden. / Crisis communication is a globally central concept. Research in the area indicates that it isimportant for businesses to handle crisis communication well, regardless the size of theorganization. The emission scandal caused by the VAG-group in the autumn 2015 rattled theautomotive business. Millions of vehicles were affected by the scandal without warning. Thescandal is still going on in present time.The purpose of the study was to describe and analyze how the VAG-group communicatedduring the crisis based on the statements made by the VAG-group. Additionally, also determinehow VAG handled the crisis. Finally the result was analyzed with a discussion where theconclusion is that the VAG-group generally handles the crisis well since they apologized forthe scandal, changed the board, took responsibility for the situation and tried to restoreeverything as much as possible. The only negative aspect was their slow acting. Therecommendation from the theories used in this study is to act fast, within 24-36 hours after thestart of the crisis. For the VAG-group the first statement came seven days after the reveal of thescandal.The theories that we could connect mostly to the statements made by the VAG-group were theImage Repair Theory (IRT) and the Situational Crisis Communication (SCCT). These theoriescould be related to all ten statements. In five of the statements the strategy Corrective actionfrom IRT was connected which was the strategy with the highest frequency within thestatements by the VAG-group.

Crisis communication can make a crisis turn into a double crisis. The purpose of the thesis is to analyze by which rhetorical means a double crisis can occur. With the Swedish zoo Parken Zoo as a specific example, this essay examines the crisis communication during the crises that started with the tv-show Kalla fakta. The tv-show revealed that Parken Zoo killed and slaughtered endangered and sacred animals. When asked about the specific animals, the head of the zoo gave different answers – which contrasted with former employees testimony. The essay aim to find how the chosed strategies could affect the company’s ethos. The episode of Kalla fakta is studied. Also a press release from Parken Zoo and a letter posted on Facebook from the head of the Zoo is examined. To find which rhetorical strategies that are communicated the paper uses the theory of status, Benoits apologia theory and Bitzers theory about the rhetorical situation. The method used is rhetorical criticism. The results include the crisis communications accusations and answers. The conclusions of the thesis is that the contrast between evidence and Parken Zoo:s statements results in a loss of trust for the company. Parken Zoo also, in some cases, fortify the accusations with their answers. The local authorities owns the zoo, but they are absent in the crisis communication. This leads to a confusion regarding who is responsible.

In early January 2018, the clothing company H&M released a new collection for children. One of the sweaters in the collection was printed with the text "Coolest monkey in the jungle". The shirt was worn by a dark-skinned child and H&M was accused of racism. This is because the word "monkey" has historically been used as a racist slur to downgrade dark-skinned people. Throughout the scandal H&M has published an official press release, as well as a number of posts on social media, each of which affects the scandal. The purpose of the study is to analyze H&Ms crisis communication with regard to the strategies they used during the shirt scandal. The main question of the study is how did H&M's crisis communication express itself in text during the shirt scandal. The theories used in the study are William Benoit's image repair theory (2014) and Timothy Coombs Situational crisis communication theory (2007), abbreviated SCCT. The methods used are a qualitative content analysis, text analysis and a rhetorical analysis. The qualitative content analysis is based on the chosen theories, so that the survey can extract the underlying message that H&M wants to convey. While the text analysis processes the text itself and how the company wants the reader to perceive the message and how H&M’s texts interact with each other. The rhetorical analysis contributes to a deeper understanding of the text's underlying message and structure with the actual text as a starting point. The rhetorical analysis is done by analysing the text’s structure with the rhetoric disposition scheme as a starting point. H&M’s crisis communication is in this case related to what is proposed in the strategic theories of crisis communication. The main crisis communication strategies used by H&M were admitting responsibility, asking for forgiveness and corrective actions. The rhetoric analysis has shown that the press release and posts on social media have different functions. The press release make greater importance to the structure of the disposition scheme, while the social media posts rather contain certain parts, for example, a greater focus on pathos and the preparatory of counter arguments while communicating to individuals rather than the public.

Denna studie undersöker kommunikationsstrategier hos tre online multibrand retailers (Matches Fashion, Moda Operandi och Mytheresa) verksamma inom lyxsegmentet i modeindustrin under en global pandemi. Krisen har påverkat modeindustrin omfattande och bidragit till ekonomisk instabilitet. Modeindustrin är vidare extra utsatt då den består av globala försörjningskedjor. Givet krisen blir en lojal kundbas för företag viktig för att upprätthålla lönsamheten. Detta med anledning av av den höga kostnaden som förvärv av nya kunder innebär, vilket blir särskilt kritiskt under en lågkonjunktur. Forskningsfrågorna vilka studien ämnar besvara är (i) Hur förändras företags kommunikation till kund under en kris? och (ii) Hur försöker företag upprätthålla kundlojalitet med hjälp av kommunikationsstrategier under en kris? De tre företagens kriskommunikation som återfinns i deras nyhetsbrev analyserades genom att använda det teoretiska ramverket: Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT), utformat av Coombs (2007). En kvalitativ innehållsanalys genomfördes med hjälp av ett strukturerat observationsschema på urvalet om 432 nyhetsbrev. I enlighet med SCCT-teorin (Coombs 2007) påvisade resultatet att de strategier för utformning av kriskommunikation som var mest förekommande antingen var att förminska eller kompensera för krisen. Vidare kunde det utläsas från resultatet att företag genom kommunikationsstrategier försökte upprätthålla kundlojalitet med hjälp av rabattkoder, realisationer, kundservice samt redaktionellt innehåll, vilka är kategorier som framkommit ur operationalisering av kundlojalitet. / This bachelor thesis explores communication strategies of three online multi brand retailers in the luxury segment in the fashion industry; Matches Fashion, Moda Operandi and Mytheresa, during an external crisis, generated by a pandemic disease. Thus leaving the global fashion industry and supply chains with severe repercussions, contributing to a fragile financial environment for companies. Hence, retaining loyal customers is vital for sustaining profitability due to the high cost of acquiring new customers, which becomes critical during an economic recession. The research questions being examined are (i) how companies’ communication towards their customers changes during a crisis and (ii) how they try to maintain customer loyalty through communication strategies during the crisis. By using the theoretical framework Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT), presented by Coombs (2007), each company’s communication through their newsletters was evaluated and analyzed. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on a sample of 432 newsletters using a structured observation schedule with predetermined categories. In accordance with the SCCT-theory (Coombs 2007), the findings showed that the most common strategies for crisis communication were to either diminish or rebuild. Attempts to maintain customer loyalty were communicated through discount codes, sales periods, customer service and editorial content which are categories generated from the operationalization. The thesis is written in Swedish.

The study ”Wash away greenwashing” aims to analyze crisis communication caused byaccusations of greenwashing and whether the accused organizations succeed in repairing their image. Greenwashing is when an organization is trying to portray themselves as more environmentally friendly than they actually are. The chosen organizations are Sveaskog, Preem and Svenskt Flyg, who have been accused of greenwashing and won the annual anti- prize which is voted forward by the swedish environmental organization Jordens Vänner. The study conducts a qualitative rhetorical analysis and a smaller quantitative content analysis based on theories about the rhetorical situation, ethos, pathos and logos, green rhetoric and Image repair theory. The study analyzes four different media texts belonging to the organisations which are called ”Kommentar till Svenska Greenwashingpriset”, ”Sveaskog välkomnar en dialog om skog”, ”Så ska Preem hantera Svenska Greenwashingpriset” och ”De får Svenska Greenwashingpriset 2017”. The result of the analysis shows that all of the accused organizations are using the different theory’s within crisis communication, but theextent differs. The main thing to achieve effective crisis communication is to have available information concerning the accusations and that the crisis communication should be as correct and balanced as possible regarding rhetoric. The conclusion is that Sveaskog is the most efficient with their crisis communication and thus succeeds in repairing their image after the accusations in the best way. / Studien ”Wash away greenwashing” ämnar analysera kriskommunikation som uppstått efter anklagelser om greenwashing och huruvida organisationerna lyckas reparera sin image. Greenwashing är när en organisation försöker framställa sig som mer miljövänliga än vad de i själva verket är (Jordens Vänner, u.å.a). De valda organisationerna är Sveaskog, Preem och Svenskt Flyg, tre organisationer som anklagats för greenwashing och har vunnit det årliga antipriset som röstas fram och delas ut av miljöorganisationen Jordens Vänner (Jordens Vänner, u.å.a). Studien genomför en kvalitativ retorisk analys och en mindre kvantitativ innehållsanalys analys som utgår från teori om retorisk situation, retoriska appellformer, grön retorik och Image Repair Theory. Genom analysen analyseras fyra olika medietextertillhörande organisationerna vid namn ”Kommentar till Svenska Greenwashingpriset”, ”Sveaskog välkomnar en dialog om skog”, ”Så ska Preem hantera Svenska Greenwashingpriset” och ”De får Svenska Greenwashingpriset 2017”. Resultatet visar att avsändarna Sveaskog, Preem och Svenskt Flyg alla använder sig av strategier inom kriskommunikation, men vid olika antal tillfällen och genom olika uttryck. Det huvudsakliga för att kunna uppnå effektiv kriskommunikation är att det ska finnas tillgänglig information angående anklagelserna och att den ska vara så korrekt och retoriskt balanserad som möjligt. Trots att alla avsändare använder sig av olika retoriska appellformer, så är slutsatsen att det är Sveaskog som lyckas mest effektivt med sin kriskommunikation och därmed lyckas reparera sin image efter anklagelserna på bästa vis.

Syfte - Trots att kriser sägs vara vardagliga händelser saknas en tydlig definition avkrisbegreppet och kategorisering av de olika kristyper. Vi har identifierat två dimensioner,den externa och interna. Den externa dimensionen med fokus på hårda kriser har domineratområdet krisforskning. Således är hantering av interna och mjuka kriser ett outforskatområde. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra till förståelsen för hur svenska myndigheterarbetar med hanteringen av mjuka kriser.Metod - Denna studie tar sin grund i en kvalitativ metodansats där datainsamlingengenomfördes genom fem semistrukturerade intervjuer.Resultat - Fenomenet mjuka kriser är svårt att undersöka då detta är svårt att definiera ochfaller inom HR´s ansvarsområdet. Den traditionella krisforskningen med fokus på hårdakriser saknar kunskap kring hantering av interna mjuka kriser. Trots det visar resultaten attprecis som med hårda kriser, kan mjuka kriser studeras utifrån samtliga krisfaser. Merforskning kring fenomenet är således önskvärd.Bidrag - Denna studie skapar ett större förståelse kring definitionen av mjuka kriser samtskapar medvetenhet kring olika mjuka aspekter som skiljer sig från de externa /fysiska / hårdakriserna. Studien belyser problematiken kring olika aspekter inom mjuk krishantering ochsåledes är problematiseringen av mjuka kriser ett bidrag. Denna studie är även användbar förorganisationer som har ambitionen att inkludera hantering av mjuka kriser i sin krishantering. / Purpose - Although crises are said to be everyday events, there is no clear definition of theconcept of crisis and categorization of different types of crisis. We have identified twodimensions, the external and the internal. The external dimension with a focus on hard-corecrises has dominated the area of crisis research. Thus, dealing with internal and soft-corecrises is an unexplored area. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding ofhow Swedish authorities work with the management of soft crises.Methodology - This study is based on a qualitative method approach where data collectionwas carried out through five semi-structured interviews.Results - The phenomenon of soft crises is difficult to investigate as the concept is fairly newand difficult to define, and falls within the responsibility of HR instead of crisis management.Traditional crisis research with a focus on hard-core crises lacks knowledge about handlinginternal soft crises. Nevertheless, the results show that just as with hard-core crises, soft-corecrises can be studied based on all crisis phases. More research on the phenomenon is thusdesirable.Contribution - This study contributes to the understanding of the definition of soft-corecrises and creates awareness of different soft aspects that differ from the external / physical /hard crises. The study sheds light on the problems surrounding various aspects of soft-corecrisis management and thus is the problematization of soft-core crises a contribution. Thisstudy is also useful for organizations that have the ambition to include the management ofsoft-core crises in their crisis management.

Denna studie ämnar undersöka hur Youtube-profilen Logan Paul agerade under en kris orsakad av det som populärkulturen kallar cancelkultur. Tre av Logans Youtube-videor undersöktes för att studera vilka reparationsstrategier och visuella element han använde sig av i videorna publicerade efter Aokigahara-incidenten. För att analysera det empiriska materialet tillämpades en kvalitativ innehållsanalys med utgångspunkt i Benoits teori om reparationsstrategier och Hearits apologia-teori, samt en visuell analys med verktyg grundade i semiotik. Studiens resultat visade på att Logan använt en rad olika försvarsstrategier, men att han använt olika strategier i olika faser av hans kriskommunikation. I den första videon fann vi att fokus låg på mortifikation, den andra videon kretsade kring korrigerande åtgärder, och den tredje videon innehöll mycket nedtonande av kränkning. I video 1 och 2 använde sig Logan av visuella element för att bygga upp en mer allvarlig stämning, för att sedan i den tredje videon återintroducera tittarna till hans normala och mer avslappnande videouppbyggnad. Det observerades även att Logan initierade ett annat tillvägagångssätt för att möta kritik under den tredje videon. Han var fortsatt ångerfull och erkände skuld, men detta kombinerades med en sorts machoattityd och barnslighet. Denna nya reparationsstrategi valde författarna att benämna som ”Love me or hate me”. Av resultatet dras slutsatsen att Logans kriskommunikation och reparationsstrategier lyckades rädda hans rykte, då han behöll sina tittare och publicerar videos som vanligt. / This study aims to examine how the Youtube profile Logan Paul acted during a crisis caused by what today's media landscape calls cancel culture. Three of Logan’s Youtube videos were examined to study the image repair strategies and visual elements used in the videos published after the Aokigahara incident. To analyze the empirical material, a qualitative content analysis is applied based on Benoit’s image repair theory and Herait’s apologia theory, as well as a visual analysis with tools based on semiotics. The result of the study showed that Logan use a number of different image repair strategies, but that he used different strategies in different phases of his crisis communication. In the first video we found that the focus was on mortification, the second video revolved around corrective actions, and the third video contained a lot of reducing offensiveness. In videos 1 and 2, Logan used visual factors to set a more serious mood, to then in the third video begin to reintroduce the viewers to his normal and more casual video structure. The study also observed that Logan initiated a different approach to meet criticism in the third video. He remained remorseful and admitted guilt, but this was combined with a kind of ambiguity and childishness. The authors named this new image repair strategy “Love me or hate me”. In the result, it is concluded that Logan’s crisis communication and image repair managed to save his reputation, as he retained his subscribers and is publishing videos as usual.