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The Current State, Challenges, and Strategic Approaches of Corporate Crisis Communication on Social Media

Author(s)

Yuen Zou

Affiliation(s)

South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

Abstract

The mass development and diffusion of 5G technology and the sudden rise of short video platforms have made social media the main space used by companies to manage crisis communication. This has changed the nature of information dissemination as well, and we have gone from passive recipients of information to active participants and propagators of information. The Xiaomi SU7 traffic accident in March 2025 promptly sparked a public opinion storm within 24 hours, turning this issue into a public opinion crisis that exposed the shortcomings of traditional crisis management theories when dealing with the algorithm-driven content dissemination and emotion-driven information dissemination. Based on Focusing Events Theory, Image Repair Theory, and Situational Crisis Communication Theory, this paper explores the nature of the incident, and analyzes how the crisis communication works on social media. The results show that the propagation path of crisis propagation is namely “user-initiated reporting”, “influencer amplification” and “widespread public content creation”. The problems that are encountered by corporations are delayed reaction times and non-engagement with the audience. This work, in turn, suggests an integration of algorithmic and emotional perspectives as a dual mechanism to provide concrete ways of successfully communicating in the age of social media during crises.

Keywords

Corporate Crisis Communication; Social Media; Public Opinion Events; Image Repair Theory; Focusing Events Theory

References

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