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Öz

In today’s media environment, news of crisis can reach the outside world within minutes. The moment at which a crisis becomes widely known is the most vulnerable moment for an organization. In the absence of information, rumours will fill the void. Uncontrollable rumours can be devastating. The same applies to speculations or assumptions by company spokespersons who are not well prepared. Therefore it is extremely important that the media do not get a distorted picture or the wrong idea. The initial picture forms the basis for all future elaboration and adjusting this picture is extremely difficult. Good communication is therefore essential to retain the existing customers and ensure reputation of company is affected as minimum as possible. This is the success story about an unusual week at Vodafone Netherlands in April 2012, dealing with fire in Rotterdam switch building which was serving 3,5 million customers, using effective Social Media & Crisis Communication Strategies - as a result: preventing churn.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Telecommunications, Crisis Management, Business Continuity, Emergency, Recovery Procedures, Resilience, Redundancy Planning, Social Media, Reputation and Image Impact

THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL MEDIA IN CRISIS SITUATIONS CASE STUDY: FIRE IN SWITCH BUILDING OF VODAFONE NETHERLANDS

Öz

In today’s media environment, news of crisis can reach the outside world within minutes. The moment at which a crisis becomes widely known is the most vulnerable moment for an organization. In the absence of information, rumours will fill the void. Uncontrollable rumours can be devastating. The same applies to speculations or assumptions by company spokespersons who are not well prepared. Therefore it is extremely important that the media do not get a distorted picture or the wrong idea. The initial picture forms the basis for all future elaboration and adjusting this picture is extremely difficult. Good communication is therefore essential to retain the existing customers and ensure reputation of company is affected as minimum as possible. This is the success story about an unusual week at Vodafone Netherlands in April 2012, dealing with fire in Rotterdam switch building which was serving 3,5 million customers, using effective Social Media & Crisis Communication Strategies - as a result: preventing churn.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Telekomünikasyon, Kriz Yönetimi, İş Sürekliliği, Acil Durum, Kurtarma Prosedürleri, Yedekleme Planları, Sosyal Medya, İtibar ve İmaj Etkisi.