ABSTRACT
Social media platforms have altered the operating environment for crisis managers. One of the most significant adjustments required to accommodate the effects of social media on crisis management is the need for crisis managers to practice risk management in full view of their stakeholders. Though not all risk management is public, the process is now much less opaque, especially when stakeholders promote the risk by challenging the actions of an organization via social media. This chapter extends upon the concept of the paracrisis, a crisis risk the organization must manage in public view. Too often people mislabel this a “crisis” when it is actually a form of risk that involves a different communication dynamic from a crisis. We describe the need to understand paracrises, the different types of paracrises, and the response options for paracrises. Social media has been a driving force in the emergence of paracrises.
Paracrises are then linked to situational crisis communication theory (SCCT), a theory designed for application in the crisis response phase of a crisis. We demonstrate how social media creates a need for SCCT to be extended to the pre-crisis phase of a crisis through the concept of paracrisis. As with SCCT, paracrises tend to be driven by stakeholders and their perceptions of organizational actions. The implications of this integration for theory and practice are considered.
