Obviously, over the past 3-5 years, there has been an infinite amount of “buzz” (for lack of better term) surrounding the impact of social media on the marketing and PR functions (in case you missed the buzz, you can read about it from some of our Top PR2.0 influencers).  However, of late we’ve been thinking more about the impact social media has had on that highly specialized niche of PR — Crisis Management.

At first glance, it would seem that social media and the web would make the job of a Crisis Management professional much harder.   After all, online, bad news travels fast.  Real fast and real wide.  News of an oil spill, drug recall, executive scandal, or a broken guitar can no longer be “contained” like it could in those beautiful, sunny pre-internet days.  Small rumors become worldwide truths within minutes.  If you are a Crisis Management specialist, this new world is your greatest nightmare.

Or is it?

What if this new world presented the Crisis Management professional with the ability to do his or her job better?  What if it wasn’t something to be feared, but embraced?  Again…not sure I’m right about this, but what if I am?

While it’s true that bad new travels fast in this new world, but so does good news — maybe not as fast as bad news, but it still moves.  That’s a good thing.  But the best thing is that the news is visible and it can be found.  With the right tools, the word being spread on the web can be uncovered and used to better inform and enable a crisis management situation.

As an example of what I’m talking about, our good friends over at Crimson Hexagon and Traackr used our respective tools to offer an example of how the web/social media, coupled with the right tools could actually help to enhance the Crisis Management function — for the gulf oil spill situation.

With Crimson Hexagon’s opinion analysis tool, a crisis management pro can not only monitor the relevant comments spreading across the web regarding the particular crisis, but organize them in a way that will better help that communications professional strategize about his or her next move.  Outside the obvious positive/negative sentiment, the Crimson tool can uncover the specifics of the vast opinions being shared online.  Are people talking about the impact of the oil spill on the environment or government policy relating to oil companies?  Are the opinions based on misinformation or are they legitimate and need to be addressed?  What information is the public looking for most?  Would knowing this information help the Crisis Management team plan their communications?  Sounds like it would be a huge help…

The second big piece to the puzzle is understanding who — what online individuals — are dominating and driving the conversations around this particular topic.  These are the people that are driving opinion and have the greatest impact, positive or negative, on the issue.  So, anyone looking to manage a crisis simply MUST know them.  [You can see a selection of the Top Influencers for the Gulf oil spill at http://lists.traackr.com/gulfoilspill].

Of course, we at TRAACKR believe that you need to know these people well BEFORE a crisis occurs.  Once the crisis occurs, it’s pretty late to start looking for them.  So we highly recommend finding, tracking and establishing a relationship with the influencers in your space today…regardless of a crisis.  Knowing these people ahead of time will help prevent misinformation or ugly rumors from spreading and getting out of control.

Of course, great social media tools cannot prevent a crisis.  They can’t stop an oil spill or a defective drug.  And they also can’t legitimize bad, dishonest communication on the part of those managing a crisis.  Crisis Management 2.0 is about good informed decisions and honest, direct communication.  Knowing the most important information to address as well as the right people with whom to communicate will become essential pieces of all Crisis Management campaigns in the future.

Anyway, would love to hear your thoughts on the impact of Web2.0 on the Crisis Management function and the role that high quality monitoring & analytics tools can play.  Let us know!

She’s been among the top 10 influencers in multiple Traackr a-lists and has developed a well-respected name for herself in the healthcare community. Barbara is definitely Influencer of the Month-worthy, so join us as we delve into the world of Duck!

Who is Barbara Duck?

Better known as “The Medical Quack”, Barbara has one of the most frequently visited health blogs on the Internet and a great personality to go with it – maybe that’s why she has almost 3,000 Twitter followers. With a last name like Duck, I suppose a good sense of humor comes standard…

Before she stepped into the healthcare industry, Barbara worked in outside sales with Fortune 500 companies. When she decided she needed to re-invent herself, Barbara showed how serious she was about change by learning how to program and write code. Armed with her new skills, in the time of “primitive and simple” healthcare software, as she puts it, Barbara created an electronic medical records system for the doctor she worked for. The rest is history.

Her background may be a bit all over the place, just like her blog posts, but we think that is what makes her such a great Influencer of the Month candidate. She likes to cover just about anything that holds interest to her and her readers and always makes sure to keep everything on a level that is understandable to everyone – not just people with medical degrees.

It is for this reason that she has been present on over five Traackr a-lists, in topics including healthcare, sexual health, diabetes, drug recall, and even business intelligence. She gets it – all of it. And her readers know that, which is why she has so many of them. So keep it up, Barbara Duck. We congratulate you!

The question is, can we?  Tom Rue, aka. True, is starting at Traackr and we’re very excited about it.

He drinks about 5 red bulls a day, so we know he won’t fall asleep on us, and he has two kids at home to keep him sane in the midst of Traackr work. Ok, maybe a 9 – and 8-year-old won’t keep him sane, but he loves them, so we had to mention them in here.

A few more things about Tom we thought you might find pretty cool:

• Tom is a completely self-taught technologist. As a child, he had dyslexia and once he figured out he could read and write much better on a computer, he used technology for the rest of his formal education.
• He’s really looking forward to overcoming the technology challenges of storing tons (literally) of influencer data.
• He’s bungee jumped before!
• You can find him on LinkedIn.

Tom and I worked together some years back – for that matter, we went to hell and back together – so we anticipate his integration in the Traackr team to be a walk in the park…

Welcome to the team, Tom! We expect great things from you!

On a side note, it’s been a busy few months at Traackr with a lot of new hires, and we don’t anticipate slowing down anytime soon! Actually, we are still looking to hire a front-end developer. If you’re interested, or know anyone else that may be, be sure to get in contact with us.

CSV Export

Finally, we have added a Export Button to the main Authority List page which will allow you to export your A-List as a CSV file.

Thank you all for your support!

Oxytocin, aka the Trust Hormone, has been at the center of several recent studies showing the correlation between the release of oxytocin by the body and social bonding. These studies conclude that the presence of oxytocin increases trust, essential to building social bonds. In other words, our body is wired to know when to release oxytocin based on cues we get from our social context to let us know when someone is to be trusted.

The idea that we learn through our upbringing, culture, and personal experience who can and can not be trusted, and in what context is quite obvious. However, the fact that our brain triggers a physical reaction (release of the hormone) is very interesting. This finding is even more fascinating in the context of the work we do at Traackr: identifying the triggers of online influence (def. the ability to affect another person’s actions through an online relationship).

Through the analysis of the massive amount of data we have been collecting and client case studies, we have come to the conclusion that online influence (not to be confused with online popularity) is highly correlated to online trust. Our theory is that by contributing actively within a certain context (whether topical, social, geographical), people are more likely to build trust among their peers, audience, etc., and as a result to influence their actions.

Of course, much work is left to be done to prove this theory but it seems that the research done on the impact of oxytocin is a very important piece of the puzzle, especially when we look a few years ahead. Let me explain: for my generation (Gen X) and older, triggers for the trust hormone will primarily be found in the physical world; for Millennials though, born and raised within a digital world, these triggers can be activated on and offline. This explains the generation gap we sometimes feel when it comes to the role and importance of social media. Take for example this interview of Malcolm Gladwell in the Globe & Mail, in which the acclaimed author observes:

If social media or online communication is the means to the creation of a personal connection, it’s a fabulous thing. But if it’s an excuse to not make a connection, it’s ultimately a trivial thing.

It doesn’t even cross Malcolm Gladwell’s mind that rather than online communication being a vehicle to create relationships offline, relationships can also be shaped, strengthened, expanded, and enhanced online. Now we know why: he, along with most people of his generation, is not wired to build online trust, let alone relationships.

As Millennials increase their share of the economy and decision power, the importance of building trustworthy social bonds online will become paramount, making online influence and online trust a core part of our social and economic fabric. These are not some futuristic views on our world. This is already happening today and our mission at Traackr is to help surface the data and ease the transition.