The Role Of Social Media In Crisis Communication In Security Firms In Kenya A Case Study Of G4s Kenya Limited

Abstract

Social media gives the ability to communicate quickly and effectively revolutionizing the manner in which people communicate and gather information about stories and topics that are of interest to them. With the right tools in place, social media can play an important role in crisis communication. Several organizations are advocating for the use of social media in crisis communication but often find this very challenging with the lack of confidentiality, circulation of non-verified information, number of channels and poor crafting of messages. The main objective of the study was to determine the role social media plays in crisis communication to assist in mitigating damage to its reputation and maintain the trust of its stakeholders. The study established that social media plays an important role in crisis communication; there is a rising number of people who rely on social media to access news. Particularly the use of Facebook and Twitter is increasing as more people in Kenya are able to acquire internet through their phones. However, security firms like G4S are yet to utilize social media as an effective tool in crisis communication. Security firms need to adopt and ensure that social medial websites are user friendly and constantly active with live updates and by providing all relevant information in good time during a crisis. The study recommends that security firms should prioritize the use of social media in efforts to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in crisis communication, ensure that they popularize their social media websites through constant updates and making them user friendly, establish a feedback mechanism which enables them to get in touch with people through social media and at the same time maintaining integrity and confidentiality of information provided, and encourage employees to fully utilize social media in communicating crises which affects the general public. The employees should be guided on how to treat confidential information that is not supposed to be in the public domain.