After Mark Zuckerberg broke the silent Cambridge analyst scandal last week, it was hard to argue that Facebook’s founders and chief executives said too little.
Zuckerberg wrote a 935-word Facebook post on Wednesday. He said: “We have a responsibility to protect your data. If we can’t, then we are not worth your while.” It outlines what the company is taking on users. The steps reported by the pound plagiarized the data without their consent.
He sat in a New York Times interview, Wired, a tech publication Recode, and a rare camera interview with CNN. He reconsidered and apologized, saying that the incident was “a major breach of trust,” and stated that if he believed that he was the right person, he would testify before Congress and admit that he regretfully did not tell the user in advance about their data being accessed. “I think we were wrong,” he told CNN Laurie Segall. “We are committed to moving forward.”
But despite Facebook’s postings and media interviews, crisis experts believe Zuckerberg’s personal response was too late. Although the company made a statement and other executives had spoken on social media, Zuckerberg did not make comments until four days after the crisis – this is the life of today’s crisis script.
“I believe you have 15 minutes to master these things,” said Davia Temin, coach and manager of reputation issues. She said Facebook defines real-time for our world, so the expectation is that they are also real-time. “
In other words, this kind of late response is that it comes from Facebook’s CEO. After all, Zuckerberg, in addition to Twitter, has created a platform that may be the most responsible – and hopes leaders will immediately speak. Zuckerberg, even if he unwittingly opened the microphone, is always looking forward to executives using it.
Zuckerberg’s platform has also made a significant contribution to a society that looks forward to immediate satisfaction, in which one user posts photos of the baby’s first steps or the manual meals they have just eaten, and eagerly waits for their friends’ “likes”. ” and comments.
“For companies that have done too much to create an instant-reaction society, the problem of not responding to CEOs in real time is surprising,” said Carreen Winters, chief strategy officer at MWW PR.
Facebook is also one of the major contributors and hopes that companies – especially companies like Facebook – should be more human. As Wired Senior Writer Jessi Hempel wrote in a column on Wednesday, “After ten years after the launch of the Internet, he was much older than most people’s instincts. People began to believe in personal trust in companies and build the best of 21st century companies. The way is to build it in the name of one person. “I quoted him in Bloomberg Business Week last fall. Zuckerberg said, “People believe in people, not organizations.”
Therefore, Zuckerberg did not evade Facebook’s face. He positioned himself as a person to watch – a man who took part in a 50-state tour, met Silicon Valley engineers with military veterans in Kansas, ordered cheese steak in Philadelphia and a tractor in Wisconsin. He often posts family photos on his web pages, followed by 105 million people, such as his daughter’s first day preschool or his family’s Wholesale Halloween Costumes (persons from “Wild Places”).
This is not the chief executive who expects to wait a few days to speak of the crisis in his company. Zuckerberg said in an interview with The New York Times, “I really want to ensure that we have a comprehensive and accurate understanding of everything that happens” to answer questions about delays. “I know there is a lot of pressure to say quickly, but my assessment is that what we are saying is completely accurate. This is even more important.” An e-mail sent to a Facebook spokesperson did not immediately reply.
Although it is very important to not rush to judge, the crisis consultant said there is an immediate way.
“I would rather see him continue talking – say a little, then a little more, then a little more,” Tai Ming said. That way, “he will become a trustworthy voice in his own crisis.”
This problem – trust – is another reason why CEOs are quick to respond. Seth Linden, president of public relations at Dukas Linden, stated that there is a time gap between the initial crisis and the CEO’s first response. “I think this creates more skepticism. Doing this “helps you not have to deal with it.” The narrative. ”
This also helps prevent people from doubting whether the response is too elaborate. “Speed is about honest presumptions,” Winters said. “Speak soon” largely determines what you hear is fact, not something that has been legalized. “
In other corporate flaps – price rises, transparent yoga pants, a CEO’s hoarseness comment, the risk is not high. However, when the problem at hand is the user’s trust in the company’s ability to protect personal data – not to mention the role of data in the election of our national leaders – the risk is enormous.
“The higher the bet, the faster you want to grow your flag,” Taiming said. “These risks can be said to be the highest of any corporate crisis we have seen for a long time.”
