The Crisis Web Site: A Powerful Strategy for Managing Your Communications Destiny (Monograph)

Because the Web has become such an important element in effective and comprehensive response to crisis situations, more and more companies are establishing template sites, sometimes called “dark” or “stealth” sites, which are pre-organized with pre-authorized information. They are set up to immediately respond to the general nature of crises and to specific scenarios, and used to get ahead of the negativity often caused by delays in responding to situations of public interest. These sites feature “fill-in-the-blank” architecture where key information can be easily inserted and made widely available promptly, especially to employees and the news media. The vast majority of media calls in crises are inquiries for basic information. The most frequently requested information is the location of the emergency, exact time of the event, victim identifications, if any, and potential damage to the product, reputation, facility, or business. These inquiries take enormous amounts of time and generally yield very simple stories that acknowledge the event’s basic nature. Having a Web site with basic information immediately available can reduce media relations calls by up to 90 percent. Recent studies show that reporters, by overwhelming percentages, consult the Web on every story, including emergencies and fast-breaking situations. This monograph provides suggested subpages and a table of contents as well as several models.