Weber Shandwick launches Social Crisis Simulator.

Weber Shandwick launched a new social crisis simulator, FireBell, creating an authentic, real-time experience of being under attack on social media channels. This proprietary application allows clients to participate in a real-time dialogue in a secure, off-the-Internet environment.

The new application was designed in-house by Weber Shandwick software developers and social media strategists. It simulates crisis situations on multiple social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn and blogs.

“More than ever, social interactions can have material impact on brand perception and reputation. It’s critical that clients understand how issues spread and how to react in as close to real time as possible,” said Chris Perry, president of Digital Communications at Weber Shandwick. “Communications leaders need to understand that it’s not a matter of if an online crisis is going to happen, but when – and be prepared. How a company responds to a crisis in today’s social environment is vastly different than even the recent past; a formal statement to the press no longer suffices. It’s about a living dialogue with a company’s constituents.”

The simulation begins with a plausible crisis scenario, which is devised by the drill team, but not shared with the client. From that, the team builds functioning and fictional offline versions of the client’s social media properties including Twitter and Facebook. Concurrently, the team builds offline versions of outside social properties such as anti-fan Facebook pages and contrary blogs. During the drill, FireBell projects images that look like the organization’s social media profiles and the client can witness and respond to the crisis unfolding in those channels, preparing them for the inevitable 24/7 dialogue that occurs during a real crisis.

“With FireBell, you can’t just speak in abstract terms of how you would respond. It transforms crisis drills from static exercises of imagination to concrete and dynamic dialogue between client and the public,” said David Krejci, senior vice president, Digital Communications at Weber Shandwick. “This stress-inducing exercise prepares clients for exactly how and when to engage with audiences via social media – and does so in a secure and offline environment.”

For more information at http://www.webershandwick.com