ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the crisis communication and the use of social media in crisis communication and measures social media use in crisis management. Fearn-Banks defined crisis management as strategic initiatives aimed to remove risk and uncertainty in order for the focal organization to be in great control. Building upon attribution theory and image restoration theory, situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) asserts that stakeholder perceptions of crisis responsibility, organizational crisis history, and prior relationship reputation create reputational threat for an organization in crisis. Theoretical frameworks of crisis responses center on the SCCT and the social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) model. Another popular focus of crisis communication centers on the impact of social media use in addressing the emotional reactions of publics. Engagement as a multidimensional construct offers scholars and practitioners a great perspective to looking into behavioral outcomes in public relations campaigns, community building, organization-public relationship (OPR) management, and stakeholder participation.
