ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies the main tasks of corporate social media spokespersons. It examines the traits, knowledge, and skills required of corporate social media spokespersons and supporting teams. The chapter examines how public relations can assume leadership roles through social media. Spokespersons are important members of crisis management teams (CMTs) as they represent the organization as its "face" or "voice" during a crisis. A severe crisis requires a CEO to step up, whereas a less severe crisis can be fronted by lower ranking organizational members. Coombs said that traditional environmental scanning strategies are still underdeveloped. Social media monitoring strategies, according to interviewees, are similarly underdeveloped. Interviewees mentioned that spokespersons need to understand all crisis communication media to be effective. Social media allow organizations to establish, build, and maintain direct relationships with external stakeholders more efficiently than traditional means allow. Interviewees acknowledge that social media communication should not be isolated from communication strategies on traditional media.
