Counteracting The Internet Rumor
from the new-challenges dept
These days, an internet based rumor can spread around the world in less than a day, and most large companies have no idea what to do about responding to false rumors about their company. It appears that communications professionals haven't caught on to the fact that emailed rumors can have a serious impact on their business. A few companies have learned how to respond, but many simply ignore the rumors, letting them grow. Of course, some say it's a fine line, since responding too loudly to rumors can just draw more attention to them. However, making sure that the information on how to respond is in the hands of the right people is going to increasingly be a very important part of the PR business. The article mentions that, in a recent study of 24 Fortune 500 companies that were the subject of internet rumors and hoaxes - only 3 handled the rumors "in a responsible manner" (though, they don't describe exactly what this means or how it was judged).
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Starbucks
[ link to this | view in chronology ]