Sophisticated Digital Crisis Management - New Zealand

The Online conversations around New Zealand peaked on the 15th of march 2019 following to the Christchurch incident where almost 50 people killed. There were over 8M unique conversations in different languages within 24 hours right after the viral video of shooting the muslims at the mosque.

The Hashtag #NewZealand #?????????? were trending in almost all around the world on Twitter. 50% of the conversations were negative, and the main communication drivers were spotting the western media how did they communicate the incident by avoiding to mention terrorist attack.

New Zealand government were smart dealing with the crisis by listening to the social media conversations and noting that Arabs & Muslims are emotionally driven. The social media conversations analysis resulted 89% emotional/religion related communication so they act accordingly:

• New Zealand prime minister, started her speech to the anger families by Saying "Alsalam Alaikoum" and wearing Hijab while visiting the muslim families.
• The power of Haka dance as part of local culture were introduced to pay traditional tribute to mosque attack victims, and protecting muslims at while they are praying.
• Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister gave a powerful speech in that country’s parliament today expressing solidarity with the victims of Friday’s terrorist attack that left 50 dead and dozens injured. Ardern also had strong words for the social media companies that enabled the shooter to broadcast his massacre around the world.
• The parliament session starts with recitation from Holy Quran, although none of the senators are muslim or understand Arabic. it's all about emotional trust and re-establish the connection between New Zealand and Muslims communities around the world.

The Conclusion

how to manage an online crisis offline is a lesson to take notes from, and to understand the importance of data and social media communication flow to react accordingly and manage the crisis.

Well Done New Zealand