Social media flies in the face of volcano chaos!

23/04/10 posted by Annie

The enormous ash plume, which covered much of the European continent as a result of the Icelandic volcano eruption, left hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded in recent days. However, as airlines' websites remained un-updated and their call centres were choked by frenzied travelers, only one force was powerful enough to serve the peoples' needs - the social media. Tweeter JL Pagano from Ireland first used the term #ashtag to speak about his personal concerns of the situation, and it quickly took off with other passengers. A number of airlines then started using #ashcloud on Twitter and official updates, and usage skyrocketed to over 55 thousand mentions of #ashtag in just one week. A lot of the usage was from customers themselves sharing tips and stories. Airlines such as KLM, Lufthansa, British Airways and Air Baltic were able to use Twitter as the medium for effective customer service and flight status updates, relieving call centres and providing reassuring, real-time conversation.

Soon after, a newbie called #getmehome became all the rage, along with #roadsharing and #stranded. Those publicly tweeting for help were given rides, accommodation and breakfast by complete strangers over the social media. Even on Facebook, airlines were taking control of the situation. SAS Scandinavian developed a full-scale customer service effort to address every single wall post on their Facebook Page, proving much more effective than listening to endless hold music. One SAS team member said, "about 15-20 people in both Oslo and Stockholm have been involved directly updating social media since Thursday. In terms of fans, we went from 15,000 Thursday morning, to having passed 21,000 today.” Airlines like Virgin Atlantic linked their Facebook Fan Page with updates on their official website, and EuroControl's Fan Page became the biggest hot-spot for leading info on Facebook.

The use of social media and the internet by airlines to manage the situation is truly commendable, particularly as much of it was impromptu, succeeding only through the help of volunteers from the companies. Next time a crisis occurs, companies around the world will be able to learn from these innovations, putting companies like EuroControl and SAS on a pedestal for their resourceful use of social media as a vital tool for information and customer service. Companies might even be more inclined to utilise special tools, like Twitter's recently announced Promoted Tweets feature, in such situations. SAS Scandanavian have engendered their own limelight across the internet just for being so brilliantly adaptive. They identified the trending medium of communication and got straight to businesses incorporating it into their crisis management strategy, an ability commended by a recent Mashable article highlighting the importance of being an "early adopter brand". While, touch wood, we won't see a disaster of this scale in the near future, it's important for businesses everywhere to learn from this amazing adaptation of social media, and why it's important to be first on the bandwagon.