Yesterday, one of our clients, Discovery Communications, experienced something no-one ever wants to have happen.  An armed gunman came in and took hostages, ultimately being killed by the police.  As the story was breaking, we were alerted because all of us are media junkies, and were very concerned for the well-being of folks we work with (albeit remotely) and respect.  We are so glad that the situation was resolved without anyone at Discovery being harmed.

From the start, it was obvious that they had a robust crisis communication plan; coherent statements were released to the press, and an email had been sent to all employees, immediately sending them home and out of harm's way.  They also Tweeted an all-safe from the corporate account, once everything was resolved.

The whole incident made me consider two things:

1. Social Strata might need to re-look at our crisis plan and make sure it's up-to-date
2. Have corporate crisis plans kept up with the developments in social networking?

I would suggest that everyone take this opportunity to incorporate some new line items in the corporate crisis communication plan:

• If you're using a hosted solution for your online community, consider including your vendor in the crisis communication, via email, phone, or Tweet. They can then allocate extra resources if needed---because your website and community may be slammed with a spike of traffic (We were already on top of the Discovery situation, and it appears the resources handled the spike just fine.)
• Consider designating someone to Tweet updates to your followers, if there is information to be given (recognizing that sometimes that's not possible).
• Are your social account logins (online community admin, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) kept somewhere that's accessible to those who are responsible for carrying on if the worst happens? Don't let one person be the sole keeper of your account information...and while you're at it, has your agency (if you use one) shared your account credentials with you?