Master’s Thesis
The use of social media in crisis communication: The case of the Catholic Church in Portugal
Written by: Jessica Gil 11571608 Supervisor: Dr James Slevin 29.06.2018
Masters Programme in Communication Science Graduate School of Communication
Abstract
The presence of the Catholic Church on social media platforms has risen in recent years. However, the fact that these platforms are not being used to communicate during crises is causing the Church to miss out on reaching a specific public that is present on these
platforms and talking about these issues online. This facilitates damages to their reputation, since the Church does not react to these situations on the same channels as they are being discussed.
This study investigates how a traditional organization such as the Catholic Church makes use of social media platforms, and how crucial they are when communicating with different stakeholder groups during a crisis. This is important so that markers can be
discovered in order to provide the Church’s crisis managers with information that will allow them to effectively respond to crisis on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, etc. Individual interviews were conducted (N=12) in Portugal with individuals that are linked to the Catholic Church, such as professionals in the area of communication, priests, and believers.
The findings allowed the creation of markers that the Catholic Church must reflect upon, the main one being that the organisation must be more proactive in using social media platforms and communicating during crisis situations, as their present attitude is problematic due to their passive approach.
Keywords: social media; crisis; crisis communication; religious organization; Catholic Church.
Introduction
Social media platforms have become an essential part of personal lives as well as professional environments. One of the explanations for this can be the facilitating aspect of communicating with different stakeholder groups when compared to traditional
communication types (Treem, Leonardi, 2013). Social media use has been associated with positive and negative organisational outcomes (Zoonen, Verhoeven, & Vliegenthart, 2017). Informing and engaging with diverse constituents of an organisation can be considered a positive outcome of the use of social media platforms. For example, Twitter, is considered a highly relevant communication tool that a diverse amount of organisations from Apple and the Catholic Church to groups associated with Al Qaeda (e.g., @pontifex, @Apple) use (Etter, 2014).
Like many other organisations, the Catholic Church has embraced the evolution of communication technologies. Although the Church consists of an extremely traditional and hierarchical organization with rooted values, extensive rules and regulations, specific roles and responsibilities (Weber 2001), its most notorious uses of the media dates back to the 15th century when Gutenberg printed the Bible (Briggs, A., & Burke, P., 2009). Over the years, the Catholic Church has adopted a more open, dynamic and socially participative position when it comes to the way it communicates with the public, in order to keep up with its technological profile. This can be explained as the result of a new world of digital communication and the use of social media platforms (Ricceri, M., 2012).
The presence of the Catholic Church on social media platforms has risen; however, the fact that these platforms are not being used to communicate during crises is causing the Church to miss out on reaching a specific public that is present on these platforms and talking
about these issues online. This facilitates damages to their reputation, since the Church does not react to these situations on the same channels as they are being discussed.
To investigate the uses of social media during crisis communication, it must be noted that the definition of crisis has a negative connotation that can affect the reputation of an organization and be a threat to its values (Fishman, 1999).
Most studies on crisis communication have focused on assisting organizations to protect their reputation when affected by a crisis by suggesting models, theories and strategies to do so (e.g., Coombs, 2007). For example, the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) can help organizations predict how different stakeholders might react to the crisis by taking into account prior relationship history (Coombs, 2007).
According to Freemand (1984) stakeholders are “any group or individual that can affect or is affected by the achievement of an organization’s objectives” (Freeman, 1984). This means that the Catholic Church’s stakeholders refer to congregations, communities, staff, volunteers, ministries and outreach recipients.
The SCCT model also provides response strategies for a crisis. As crisis response strategies, Carroll and McCombs propose apology, sympathy and information, and emphasize that the medium used to communicate during a crisis is more important than the actual
message (Carroll & McCombs, 2003). As a result, crisis response strategies can be adapted to different formats of media, and consequently, crisis managers can attempt to frame a crisis in order to prevent reputational damage (Carroll & McCombs, 2003). In this study, the Catholic Church’s audiences’ perspectives on their response strategies will be investigated in order to formulate markers to be considered when providing the Church’s crisis managers with information that will allow them to effectively respond to a crisis.
communication depending on the channel they use to expose the message they want to transmit (Howell & Miller, 2006). Each organization has its own strategy to frame and cover a crisis. Certain aspects will be made relevant while others might be left out. If a church’s crisis situation is to be communicated through social media platforms, both the aspects that are given emphasis and the way in which the problem is presented will affect the way the public perceives the message that is being communicated. (Yioutas & Segvic 2003).
Thus, the extent to which such a traditional organization makes use of social media platforms and how they influence the outcomes of a crisis must be understood, so the
organization can anticipate different stakeholders reactions by preparing a plan and acting, in order to minimize the effects of the damage that the crisis might produce (Coombs, 2007).
Unfortunately, there is an existing gap in the literature of crisis communication when it comes to media types used during a crisis. Different media types from traditional media should be studied to understand their effects on crisis response strategies (Thus, Schultz, Utz. & Göritz, 2011). This study will answer this gap by analyzing the crisis communication of the Church through social media platforms.
Social media and its use during crisis communication within the Catholic Church were considered relevant for this study. It is expected that the findings of this study will provide necessary input to reflect about the current uses of social media during a crisis situation in the Catholic Church in Portugal. Through this reasoning, markers will be created to provide the Portuguese Church’s crisis managers with information that will allow them to effectively respond to crisis and reducing the need for negative secondary crisis communication.
Negative secondary crisis communication refers to negative messages that people tell others about the crisis; that is, how they share information about it and whether they whether they engage in making comments to boycott the organization (Schultz, Utz & Görritz, 2011).
Reflecting upon the public’s opinions and perspectives may also lead to policy changes when it comes to the current crisis response strategies in practice.
In addition to gaining a better understanding of the effects of social media platforms on crisis response strategies, this investigation will also encourage the organization to engage further with different stakeholder groups during crisis through these platforms, after balancing the risks and the advantages. It is also the aim of this study to motivate further studies to work towards elaborating a plan that can be implemented nation-wide, as well as internationally across the Church.
To study the aforementioned issue, the following research question was asked: RQ: “How do stakeholders perceive the Catholic Church’s use of social media platforms to communicate during a crisis situation?”
Theoretical background
The Catholic Church as a traditional organization
An understanding of the features of the Catholic Church is necessary to comprehend its interactions. The Church has a highly hierarchical structure, with the Pope at the highest level. Somervill (1925) has pointed out three main characteristics that differentiate the Church from any other actors in society. Firstly, other than being a nation-state system it consists of the only global structure nowadays; through its complex transnational, hierarchical and nondemocratic bureaucracy, the Church connects global principles to local actions, and its long-lasting universal ideologies are what drives its actions (Somerville, 1925).
The Church has earned global respect from Catholics as well as non-Catholics as it is implied that it speaks for God and advocates for the interests of others instead of its own
Social media and organizations
Scholars and practitioners continuously discuss the ways that social technologies can change the nature of work itself. In addition to being familiar technologies that are used in our daily lives, social media has become increasingly important in organisational contexts as well. This is because social media is considered a fast, cheap and interactive channel to
communicate with specific audiences (Valentini, 2014). These agencies make it possible to communicate by circumventing journalists and similar gatekeepers that might interfere in the communication process (Kent, 2013).
There are almost as many definitions of social media as there are social media
platforms, making it more challenging to provide a precise definition and understand what the term entails. Treem and Leonardi (2012) defined social media (such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) as social technologies with four affordances: visibility, editability, persistence and association. These technologies comprise of interactive platforms of digital communication that emphasize their social characteristics (Vernuccio, 2014).
The affordance theory aforementioned allows us to look at social media and the interaction between those social media platforms and human behavior (Gibbs, J. L., Rozaidi, N. A., & Eisenberg, J. (2013). Affordances are not exclusive properties of the technological features that the platform offers. Nor are affordances the behaviors that people conduct through social media. Rather, affordances consist of the interpretation of technological features.
Technologies are not something that are there and cost certain outcomes though. They consist of the social construction of what we as people do with them. The affordances that Treem and Leonardi (2012) define allow specific behaviors to be conducted. They do not consist of technological properties or features that the platforms offer, nor are they behaviors that people conduct through social media. Instead the perceived usefulness of an object which
differs from person to person (Leonardi & Treem, 2012). Visibility allows people to know what we are doing; editability allows a message to be edited before or after it has been sent; persistence allows the message to be sustained over time, and association allows the building of networks with other people (Treem & Leonardi, 2012).
By using these interactive social technologies, not only can the organization itself contribute to produce the values that underpin it, but also stakeholders can contribute to this process (Vernuccio, 2014).
Despite its prominence, the interactivity that social media allows can have a negative impact on organisations, since communications managers have no direct control on the content that users post, nor the timing and frequency of “social media-based conversations” (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
Crisis communication
A prominent assumption in the literature on crisis communication is that a crisis situation has a negative connotation. These situations can affect the reputation of an organization and can be a threat to its values (Fishman, 1999). When shaken by a crisis, organizations have to be prepared to deal with harm and disruption that it might bring to its core. Concurrently, a crisis can be seen as a way of growth and renewal, with a capacity to reshape organizations by widely changing underpinned beliefs (Sellnow and Seeger, 2013).
Scholars and practitioners have developed different theories and strategies in the field of crisis communication to help organisations deal with a crisis. For instance, Situational Crisis Communication Theory can help organizations predict how different stakeholders might react to a crisis by reflecting upon the history of their relationship (Coombs, 2007). Consequently, this method allows crisis managers to anticipate different stakeholders’
In order for an organization to respond to a crisis in the best way, it should know the nature of the crisis and identify relevant audiences (Benoit, 1997). Identifying the most relevant audience and consequently prioritizing their interests is crucial for an organization during its image repair process after a crisis situation.
As for crisis response strategies, Carroll and McCombs propose apology, sympathy and information, and emphasize that the medium used to communicate during a crisis is more important than the actual message. These response strategies can be adapted to different media formats, and consequently, crisis managers can attempt to frame a crisis in order to prevent reputational damage (Carroll & McCombs, 2003). According to Howeel and Miller (2006), an organization’s discourse is influenced by the way media covers a specific topic.
This happens because organizations adapt their way of communication depending on the channel they use (Howell & Miller, 2006). Each organization has its own strategy to frame and cover a crisis; certain aspects will be made relevant while others might be left out. The aspects that are given emphasis and the way in which the problem is presented will affect the way the public perceives the message that is being communicated (Yioutas & Segvic, 2003).
Social media and crisis communication in the Catholic Church
When a major organization in society is hit by a crisis, there are many lessons that can be learnt regarding how it approached and deals with the crisis. These might include being honest about the crisis with the public, accepting the consequences, establishing
accountability, and building trust and a close relationship with its stakeholders (Barth, 2010). There are several stakeholder models describing the relationship (and particularly the communication) between an organization and its stakeholders. Fassin (2009) developed the stakeholder model and called it “The Stake Model.” He categorizes stakeholders in three
sub-groups: stakeholders, stakewatchers, and stakekeepers. Stakeholders are only those who have a real stake in the organization (employees for example). Stakewatchers are pressure groups, those who protect the interests of real stakeholders (for instance customer associations) while stakekeepers have no real stake in the organization, but have influence and control over it.
Stakeholders impose regulations and constraints while the organization has little reciprocal impact on them; for example, in government and media. In the stake model there is two-way communication between stakeholders or stakewatchers and the organization, but only one-way communication from stakekeepers to the stakeholders, stakewatchers, and the organization (Fassin, 2009). This model is representative of the Church and its stakeholders.
The Church is often referred to as a bureaucratic, hierarchical organization (Weber, 2001). Throughout the years the Catholic Church has faced many crises, including abortion, pedophilia and corruption. A very well known example is the crisis that erupted in January 2001 when the Boston Globe posted a story of sexual abuse by clergy in the Archdiocese of Boston. This triggered a number of proven, credible cases of sexual abuse of minors that resulted in million’s of dollars in legal settlements (John Jay College, 2004). While the indignation of the public was mostly based on the sexual abuse from the clergy itself, the way the Church dealt with this matter was also outrageous to many, including the secret
settlements with the victims and the subsequent protection of the priests (McGreevy, 2004). Scott (1995) refers to the Church as a “true institution”, meaning that it consists of an organization established by its traditions and legitimacy, which is grounded by the audiences support providing structure, models behaviors and shapes human interaction (Scott, 1995). As any ordinary organization facing a crisis situation, the immediate concern is determining how to minimize the damage that it might cause (Barth, 2010). “The basic tenets of crisis
In crisis management, social media can be seen as an advantage when an organization as large as the Catholic Church has to communicate with its stakeholders. People are
undoubtedly expressing their faith online through these platforms, making it also possible and convenient to respond and share information about a crisis online, and to disseminate it rapidly.
This study hypothesizes that the method of crisis communication that the Catholic Church has currently adopted, leads to unintended effects. Likewise, the extent to which the public depends on the information delivered through social media platforms to form their opinions varies. However, the information obtained/delivered regarding a crisis should be consistent through channels of communication.
Figure 1: Theoretical framework
Methodology
The following sections will describe the research approach used to collect and analyze data during the study. This comprises the study design, the procedure followed, and the
sample used for the study. Figure 2 summarizes the methodology used to conduct the research.
Figure 2: Research design
Design
In order to study social media and its use during crisis communication within the Catholic Church, a qualitative approach seemed to be the most adequate. Qualitative research allows phenomena to be explored by describing and defining the latter in an in-depth way (Baxter, P., & Jack, S., 2008). Since it allows the understanding of the environment the participant is involved in, and the comprehension of the context of what is being said, it was chosen as the approach that would better fit the research. The researcher was able to probe about a specific topic reaching a better explanation of the problem that was being studied, acquiring a deeper understanding of the perspectives and opinions of the interviewees (Braun, V., & Clarke, V., 2013).
Individual interviews were conducted with stakeholders that are associated with the Catholic Church, such as professionals in the area of communication, priests, and Catholic
Theoretical framework
Interviews to understand the uses of social media during crisis communication within the Catholic Church to then
formulate markers to be thought about
Coding of data
Qualitative approach Analysis of data
This suggests that these individuals will provide different insight regarding the interview topics, making the results much richer.
In order to gather impressions and opinions of the interviewees on the use of social media during a crises situation within the Catholic Church, a structured interview guide with pre-established questions (see appendix 1), allowed the researcher to guide the interviewee through the topics that were relevant to the study by asking questions and probing until suficient information to answer the objecitve the study was gathered.
Procedure
In order to apply the design, participants were contacted by email and debriefed about the purpose of the study. Subsequently, arrangements were made to conduct the interviews in Portugal.
Following a pre-formulated interview guide, participants were asked questions and allowed to speak unreservedly about the topics in an informal setting. All interviews were recorded with the consent of the participants. The information gathered during the interviews was later used to answer the main goals of the research. Interviews took place within the interviewees’ work place and lasted approximately 30 minutes.
The topics of the interview guide consisted of: demographic information,
communication of the Catholic Church, crises response strategies, and social media use in the Catholic Church.
The data that resulted from the interviews were analyzed using the software
ATLAS.ti. The interviews were transcribed and imported to the software that allowed the first step towards finding a structure in the interviews: open coding. During the process of open coding, codes were added to segments of the text. Each code referred to a label that explained
what the segment was about, so it would be easier to find a structure in the interviews based on these labels.
After coding it was necessary to find a structure in the interviews to then develop a Concept Indicator Model (CIM), by finding groups in the codes to create the model. The Concept Indicator Model (see appendix 3) consists of a proposed structure for the results of the coding process of the interviews. Based on those codes, the main concept represents the “communication of the Catholic Church”. The subsequent analyses of the interviews focused on the main concept, as well as crisis response strategies and social media use. The model, grounded in data, includes appropriate labels for the concept, dimensions and indicators, covering all the material related to the concept and subsequently presenting a logical structure of the findings.
The model was divided into two dimensions, “crisis response strategies” and “social media” and presenting indicators within each dimension.
Sample
Ideally, the aim of this form of research is to interview as many people until saturation is reached. This means that interviews should be conducted until there is no additional
information to obtain from other interviewees, or the answers that interviewees give are similar to each other. Once saturation has been reached, no more interviews are required. However, due to time constraints this principle was not followed and a limited number (12) of interviews were conducted. Instead, purposive sampling was used, which means that
participants were deliberately selected in light of the aim of the research.
The informants represent the different stakeholders with varying functions within the Catholic Church. This meant that the informants could provide different input regarding the
The sample consisted of only Portuguese informants, since it is the country where the study was conducted.
In order to obtain rich information to analyze, the sample had to entail people with specific characteristics. As selection criteria, participants consisted of elements that are
connected to the Catholic Church, such as professionals in the area of communication, priests, and Catholic believers. As additional selection criteria, participants had to have knowledge and/or use of social media platforms.
Results
Table 1. Description of interviewees
Interviewee Job title Job description Institution Sex Informant 1 News director Coordination of the
communication department
Agência Eclesia Male
Informant 2 Seminarian Theology student Patriarchy of Lisbon
Male Informant 3 Altar servant Assisting member of the
clergy during mass
Sanctuary of Fatima Female Informant 4 Director of communications Communicating any subject related to the Opus Dei
Opus Dei Male
Informant 5 Chaplain at the patriarchy of Lisbon
Assistance and
conduction of worship in the religious community
Patriarchy of Lisbon Leader Male Informant 6 Director of communications
Managing and directing the organization's internal and external communications Sanctuary of Fatima Female
clergy during mass Fatima Informant 8 Rector Maximum responsible of
the institution
Sanctuary of Fatima
Male
Informant 9 Chaplain at the Catholic University of Portugal Conduction of worship; administration work Catholic University of Portugal Male
Informant 10 Director of the studies
department and the museum of the Shrine
Responsible for the museum; diffusing information
Sanctuary of Fatima
Male
Informant 11 Mother Superior Responsible for the congregation and the convent
Congregation of the Servants of Our Lady of Fatima
Female
Informant 12 Volunteer Accompanying and receiving pilgrims
Sanctuary of Fatima
Male
Communication of the Catholic Church
The first section of the interview guide (see appendix 1) concerned the main concept of this research: communication of the Catholic Church. Here the goal was to understand the ideas and opinions of the interviewees regarding the way the Catholic Church communicates with the public, whether in a time of crises or otherwise.
As the following quotations show, interviewees suggested that the Catholic Church’s way of communicating during crises leads to negative unintended consequences for the organization. These are generally people creating wrong opinions concerning the crisis, which then damages the organization’s reputation.
think we start seeing certain elements that are a part of the Catholic Church trying to practice a more up-to-date type of communication.”
Informant 9 “I think that the Church's communication, with few exceptions, is weak, and it seems to me that this has to do with a lack of awareness of the relevance of the role of communication in any institution, whatever it may be. This results from little investment and little communication training I would say.” However, communicating is seen as a very important aspect of the organisation that must be a part of the normal life of the Church.
Informant 6 “In the Vatican Council, according to the priests, they had the intelligence to say that communication is fundamental.”
Informant 11 “I think it should be more straightforward. Not in a way to publicise the crisis and not to talk about things that are not strictly related to the case. As we have the examples of many other organisations in society in which people talk very openly about their problems and things get resolved, the Church should follow these examples.”
This concept, created by the analyses of the results, is divided into two different dimensions (“crisis response strategies” and “social media”) that illustrate what type of actions, concerning the Church’s present way of communicating result in negative unintended consequences for the organization.
Crises response strategies
The next section of the interview guide (see appendix 1) consisted of understanding the ideas and opinions of the interviewees about the crisis response strategies the Catholic Church uses when dealing with a crisis situation.
Interviewees seemed to agree that the crisis response strategies that are currently used by the Church have to change.
Informant 3 “When it comes to crisis I think the Church still has a very reactive attitude. With this I mean, that normally the Church releases a statement for example as a last measure. Wheareas, in a crisis situation, they should be anticipated instead of having a period of time where nothing is said or done between the moment the crisis erupts and the moment any information is given. “
Informant 5 “Very often, the Church doesn’t have the best reaction to crises and lets time go by while others spread their truth about the situation, which might not coincide with the Church’s truth. And this is where there has to be a drastic change regarding
communication.”
Carroll and McCombs emphasize the importance of the medium channel that is used to communicate during a crisis, considering it more vital than the actual information that is being clarified (Carroll & McCombs, 2003). Interviewees also provided support for this theory.
Informant 5 “Spread the message by making use of the Internet. Which is a great channel to spread this kind of information. It reaches way more people than, for example, traditional channels like the TV and it happens a lot quicker.”
Silence
When it comes to crisis response strategies, the Catholic Church does not appear to practice the most accurate strategies. In general, most interviewees indicated that opting for going silent after a crisis becomes public could only harm the organisation, since it allows speculation about the subject matter.
Informant 9 “Opting for silence leaves room for everyone to say what they want. It is always better that the "opinion makers", even if the opinion is negative, can comment from information that the Church publishes, than from nothing or simply making it up.”
Informant 12 “I understand how the Church might think that silence is the best option when these cases arise or that they eventually fall into oblivion.”
Time
Time is also a factor when it comes to protecting an organisation’s reputation. Interviewees indicated that the emergence of the Internet and social media platforms allows information to spread in a matter of minutes. Letting time go by and hoping that the subject will fall into oblivion does not seem to be a good approach, since the more time passes without the organisation involved in the crisis putting out their version of the story, the more time people have to form their opinions based on other peoples’ version of the facts.
Informant 1 “What happens is that at the time the crisis happens they don’t have anything to say and once they realise they have to respond because there is confusion and a lot of different versions about the situation, it’s too late. If the crisis had addressed initially with a statement or something explaining the facts, it would be favourable for the Church.”
Informant 5 “If the Church does not speak and does not present the truth about a certain situation, these new news spaces, on the Internet, allow other people to adulterate the truth of the event. In order to prevent this, we should act faster, be the first ones to put out the right version of what is happening and spread the message.”
Channel used
The channel used to communicate during a crisis situation also contributes to the formation of people’s opinions, according to the individuals interviewed. The organisation
can benefit from using social media platforms to release information during a crisis to keep people updated on the situation.
Informant 8 admits that “We (the Church) are often still stuck at a speed that depends on writing a text that will then be printed or published a few days later, a more or less slow speed of communication at a time when information is instant.”
Informant 5 “Spread the message by making use of the Internet. Which is a great channel to spread this kind of information. It reaches way more people than, for example, traditional channels like the TV and it happens a lot quicker.”
The channel used to release information impacts the reaction time; this means that using a platform such as Facebook or Twitter will reach more people in a smaller period of time than information that is transmitted on the TV or through a newspaper. Nowadays, people carry mobile devices at all times. This allows instant access to the Internet, social media platforms, and any information that is spread through the latter.
Informant 10 “It seems to me that it (social media) is a quick way of forming an opinion and therefore a strategy that should be considered.”
Communication professionals
A widespread idea appears to be that the Catholic Church does not have specific professionals to deal with communication during a crisis. It is noticeable that bigger Catholic organisations (such as the Vatican or at a national level the Sanctuary of Fatima in Portugal) do have the means, financially and organisationally, to have proper communication teams comprised of individuals that are professionals in the field.
Informant 1 “Individuals have to be better prepared or there have to be
that does not exist. People to manage the communication, obviously during crises but not only. ”
Informant 7 “And I don’t think that these people have the proper preparation, aren’t communication professionals for example, so sometimes they might not be able to express themselves correctly and more issue may surface.”
Informant 8 “Those responsible who often have to give their face for the organization have no training in communication. No advice. For example I do not have training in
communication but I have an advisory communication department (…) On one hand, preparing people for this crisis communication, I think is critical. Another need is to create communication offices.”
Informant 12 “The Church would only profit from having professional people dealing with their crises, and talking to the public and to the media during these times. If you don’t know how to do something, and if by doing it you might get hurt, why not let people who know what they are doing help?”
Social media use in the Catholic Church
The final section of the interview guide (see appendix 1) comprised a set of questions that would allow a better understanding of the ideas and opinions about the presence and use of social media by the Catholic Church during a crisis.
In general, people indicated that the Catholic Church could benefit from having an active presence on social media platforms, as well as making use of these during crisis communication, although it also permits negative outcomes. People are accessing social media to practice their faith as well as to form their opinions on diverse subjects. The
rapidly, seems to be an advantage when it comes to the Catholic Church using social media platforms to communicate during crises.
Informant 3 “What we see in these social media platforms are people sharing their experiences and connecting with other people. Now imagine what the Church could share with their followers. Using social media platforms creates a bigger sense of community between people, and this is an amazing aspect that the Church should make use of.”
In fact, Pope Benedict XVI for the 45th World Day of Social Communications suggested that the digital media allow the Church to "get closer to the faithful".
The main users of social media platforms are undoubtebly the younger generations, who are considered both as a challenge and a hope for the future of the institution. The use of social media comprises a more approachable form of communication with this target gorup.
Informant 7 “It [the Church] still continues to use channels like newspapers or maybe the TV and the radio to reach the majority of people as well as the older people, but it has also bet on the Internet in general and social networks in particular, especially on YouTube or Facebook, to reach the younger generations.”
Informant 2 “It has to adapt to the type of communication the society uses. And with that I mean to the use of the Internet and social media platforms. These are the most common ways for the younger generations to communicate. I’m 20 years old, so relatively young. Most of the people my age don’t wait until a newspaper is out to read about what is going on in the world. We go online.”
The communication of the Church has been characterized by a one-way type of communication through the celebration of masses and the publication of documents or
speeches which rarely, if ever, require an interaction with their audience. Social media allows a different types of communication with the organisation.
Presence
Social media platforms allow a large amount of functionalities, such as
communicating with other people, sharing content and ideas, and allowing people to access information. It was evident that most interviewees considered that the Catholic Church could benefit from having a more active presence on such platforms, since it would allow building a better relationship with their most important stakeholders, the believers.
Informant 1 “Because it has to do with attractiveness. The attraction of the public and people wanting to accompany the organization. It is not enough to open a social network; you need to know how to work with it and what material is offered to the followers so that the thousands of other things can submerge it that they can see every day.”
Informant 7 “These communication platforms such as Twitter or Facebook for
example, are a fundamental tool for the Church insofar as they allow them both to inform and accompany the faithful and to be aware of the needs of today’s society.”
Time
When it comes to social media platforms, time is a crucial aspect to take into consideration. As mentioned before, social media platforms allow information to be spread rapidly and reach a vast amount of people. They also allow an organisation to act quickly and before others regarding information about a crisis. Acting rapidly and putting out the
organisation’s version of the facts can be an advantage when it comes to formulating opinions.
Informant 5 “It reaches way more people than for example traditional channels like the TV and it happens a lot quicker.”
Informant 10 “These platforms serve to convey ideas and spread them very quickly, leading, above all, to creating opinions about the said organisation or institution.”
Informant 10 “”Social media platfroms accelerated the speed of the propagation of an idea and so made it make it more visible.
Advantages and disadvantages of the use of social media to communicate a crisis
When it comes to examples of communication that has resulted in something negative or positive, informant 5 admits, “There are, unfortunately, more negative examples than positive.”
Informant 5 “For example the letter about the reception of chapter VIII of the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia of Pope Francis, by the Patriarch of Lisbon. It was published as a document that had been written for a concrete audience with its own language, perceptible for that specific audience. The same document was published in full on the website of the Patriarchate, giving space for the media and other people to read it and interpret it in their own way.”
This resulted in a lot of confusion and many negative comments about the Patriarch, mostly because the majority of people didn’t understand it. The same informant suggests, “There was a huge lack of preparation prior to the publication. There should have been either a press conference, or an introduction to the note, prior to people that are not completely familiar with the topic reading it.”
Informant 4 “The phone number that was given to contact in case someone had information or wanted to file a complaint wasn’t available. No phone calls were ever
answered. And this cannot happen. If you are offering help, and trying to resolve situations as delicate as this one, there has to be someone available.”
A more positive example is the way Pope Francis dealt with the Vatican bank issue. Informant 9 “I think that the response of Pope Francis to the money and the Vatican bank
In order to obtain more positive outcomes from the use of social media to
communicate a crisis within the Church, informant 4 suggests that it “has more to do with having people or teams or departments that are solely focused on working on the
communictaion of the Church” and that “the Episcopal Conference is putting together and preparing a communication department”, which “shows that the Church is thinking about it, and knows how important it is.”
Conclusion
The problem that triggered this study’s investigation was the Church’s passive use of social media platforms and communication during crisis situations, which easily damages their reputation.
To address this problem and to produce markers to be considered by the Catholic Church, this study explored different stakeholders’ opinions on topics, such as the
communication of the organisation, crisis response strategies and its social media use. The ‘backfiring effect’ of poor crisis communication response strategies leads to damage to their reputation. Based on the evidence, existing material, and the investigation conducted by myself, markers created are explained as follows.
The first marker is that the Church must consider communication as one of the most important aspects of the organization. A practical implication of this marker is that in order to have an excellent way of dealing with crises, there has to be an excellent communication mechanism within the Church.
Another marker is that communication departments must be created, and
communication plans produced. The Church must also allow communication professionals to deal with communication of crises. The results indicate that not having professionals in these situations creates unintended consequences for the organization.
Additionally, the Church should prepare people that can affect their reputation by being involved in a crisis in order for that person to be able to communicate about it. The reason for this is that the present study indicates that when people do not have the necessary professional competences, situations easily evolve into something worse.
Of equal importance is the response strategy. The church must anticipate crises situations and act upon them by providing information. By anticipating crises, in many situations, they can be avoided.
Another major marker is related to the crisis information. The Church must provide information as rapidly as possible. By providing information in many situations, the
organization is able to control the crisis. In practical terms, this study demonstrated that the quicker the organization diffuses the information about the crisis, the easier it is to reduce the damage.
Although not all interviewees are personally present on social media platforms, the results indicate that the Church should consider all communication channels in which to provide information, in order to reach the largest amount of people.
Furthermore, the results of the present study point to the importance of the organization having an active presence on such platforms. Having a profile is no longer enough. The attractiveness of the page is what triggers and captures the public’s attention. Given that the results indicate the importance of social media platforms, the Church must also consider social media platforms as a means of diffusing information during crisis situations. This marker results from the fact that a wider range of people are present online than read newspapers or actively seek out printed information.
The Church must be aware of the multiple advantages as well as disadvantages of using social media platforms, measuring the pros and the cons depending on the type of
Lastly, there should be consistency in the organisation’s crisis response strategies despite the type of crises. A practical implication of this marker is that people will be able to know the timing and place to seek information about a crisis situation.
Finally, the findings of this study could indicate what channels and what strategies the Catholic Church must adopt to make the most out of crisis situation. This knowledge could improve the Church’s reputation as well as minimize damaging effects, since the public reinforces social media use for the communication of crises.
Discussion
Such remarkable results must trigger rampant discussions, in particular when considering communication as the essential element and the building block of the Catholic Church. Although, the organizing feature of communication is crucial (Christensen & Cornelissen, 2011) this study understands the organization as a collection of individuals and activities, not as a single unit. This means that communication is the foundation of the
organization because it lies underneath all organizational processes. Without communication, no organizational processes can be conducted and these processes are only feasible due to communication (Putnam & Nicotera, 2009). The reasons why the results are so remarkable should be discussed in order to guarantee the validity of the conclusions aforementioned.
A likely argument could be the fact that there is a noticeable ongoing effort when it comes to the presence of individuals or organisations related to the Catholic Church on social media platforms. Some authors indicate that having a profile on social media platforms will not necessarily help the organisation. Instead, having an active participation on these profiles will allow them to improve relationships with their stakeholders (Waters, Burnett, Lamm, & Lucas, 2009). In fact, creating a social media profile and being inactive could alienate
potential devotees. However, changing the current mindsets that are used to a complete different reality could take some time.
Furthermore, during a crisis situation, it is essential to gather relevant information and share it quickly (Myers, Zhu & Leskovec, 2012). The information that is shared sooner after a crisis erupts is more diffused than information that is provided later; the same way as the dissemination rates depend on the influence of who provides the information. This means that, when information is delivered by an organisation with a large amount of followers, it is diffused quicker. The same does not occur in organisations with lower levels of influence (Myers, Zhu & Leskovec, 2012). For this reason, it is important that an organisation as vast as the Catholic Church shares information about a crisis rapidly. In support of these arguments, a study conducted by Brummett (1980) suggests that not responding to a crisis allows others to deliver the information that will frame the way stakeholders perceive the crisis, and that whoever provides the information first has the ability to control the crisis (Brummett, 1980). Additionally, previous research has shown that organizations benefit if bad news comes from itself (Coombs & Holladay, 2011); that is, there is less reputational damage if the
organization is the first to provide information. This effect is designated as
“stealing-thunder”, which proves that organizations must discuss a crisis and not remain silent (Arpan & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2005).
Another explanation for the results that might be brought forward is the ethnographic characteristics of the interviewees. All interviewees were educated and performed some kind of function within the Church.
The fact that this study used the same interview guide for all interviewees could be considered a weakness. Perhaps different types of questions for stakeholders with different positions within the Catholic Church would have generated different findings.
It is important to discuss that no attention was paid to the different roles of stakeholders and different degrees of power and dependency within or toward the
organization. However, it is believed that the relationship between the interviewees and the organisation has not confounded the conclusions.
Importantly, the arguments of most interviewees suggesting that the Church’s crisis response strategies should take into consideration aspects such as timing, the channel used, and professional competences, are validated by existing theory. For example Stephens and Bailey (2005) recommended that organisations should have a quick response to a crisis. If the situation is a threat to its reputation, then the organisation must respond rapidly in order to protect itself from negative outcomes, as well as to gain control of the crisis (Stephens & Bailey, 2005). Veil, Buehner and Palenchar (2011) recommended that determining the best communication channels for all of the public should be incorporated in crisis communication, with those who are not reached by traditional mass media taken into consideration as well. Practitioners normally opt for mass media channels to communicate during crises, while other forms of communication such as social media platforms can reach a specific public (Veil, Buehner, & Palenchar 2011). Marra (1998) indicates that public relations are a fundamental element when it comes to successfully managing and communicating a crisis. Organizations that decide to have individuals without appropriate preparation communicating during a crisis normally do not make these situations better (Marra, 1998). Along with communication professionals dealing with a crisis situation, these practitioners have the capacity to develop communications plans that help the organization in providing the relevant information. Both variables help organizations manage crises successfully (Marra, 1998).
The analyses of the interviews suggests that the Catholic Church is yet to put into practice all of these strategies, although there is work in progress to make such
It is also interesting that the theoretical framework, which has been informed by the theoretical section, coincides with the concept indicator model that has been drawn from the results of the interviews. Atlas.ti was used as a methodological device to extract a pattern from the data, which resulted in a pattern of results that matches the theoretical framework.
Future studies are encouraged to look at the concept of organisational identification, to understand what effect this moderator could have in the relationship between the support or using social media during crisis communication and its outcomes. Other possible moderators or mediators could also influence this relation. This knowledge can be used to develop more effective crisis communication policies within the Catholic Church.
Finally, despite the weaknesses of this study, valid conclusions have been support in this discussion. This research has achieved its main goal of delivering markers to provide crisis managers in the Catholic Church with information that will allow them to effectively respond to future crises situations.
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Appendices
Appendix 1 – Interview guide
Introduction: I would like to thank you for making time for this interview. I would also like to ask for your permission to record the audio of the interview for further analysis. The aim of this study is to identify what are people’s perspectives social media and their use during crisis communication within the Catholic Church. I will ask you a few questions about yourself, the Catholic Church and its ways of
communicating during times of crises, to know what are your opinions and perceptions on the topics. If you have any questions, or if you need me to explain anything, let me know.
The information of the interview will only be used for the purpose of my thesis and your privacy and anonymity are guaranteed.
Topic 1: Demographic information Gender; age; profession; highest degree or level of school completed; have you ever had or do you currently have an account in any social media
Topic 2: Communication of the Catholic Church
Goal: To understand the ideas and opinions of the interviewees on the way the Catholic Church communicates with the public, being in a time of crises or not.
Introduction: I will ask you some questions about the role of
communication within the Catholic Church and also with the public. Initial question: How is the
communication of the Catholic Church made in a time of crisis?
communication the church is able to practice nowadays compared to previous years when
communication was only possible through the TV, radio or
newspapers?
- What are the perspectives of evolution, when it comes to communication, within the Catholic Church?
- Do you think it is important that the Church communicates about the crises it goes through with the public?
- What is the role of the Church's hierarchy in communication? - Can you identify a case that
demonstrats that the
communication of a crisis turned out to be positive for the Catholic Church?
- Can you identify a case that demonstrats that the
communication of a crisis turned out to be negative for the
Catholic Church? Topic 3: Crises response strategies
Goal: To understand the ideas and opinions of the interviewees about the strategies the Catholic Church uses when dealing with a crisis.
Introduction: I will now ask you some questions about crises response strategies so that I can understand what is your opinion on how the church reacts when dealing with crises.
public, how does the Church deal with it? Is there a specifc person/department that deals with the communication?
(Probes)
- What is the reaction of the Catholic Church when it is approached by an external medium?
- Is the institution concerned with preparing priests and Church-related people to deal with these communicational tasks?
- What developments related to the communication of crisis should take place within the Church? Topic 4: Social media use in the Catholic
church
Goal: To understand the ideas and opinions of the interviewees about the presence and use of social media by the Catholic Church.
Introduction: The last set of questions is related to the presence and use of social media by the church.
Initial question: What do you think is the role of new communication platforms such as facebook, twitter or instagram within the Catholic Church?
(Probes)
- Using new communication platforms as a vehicle of proximity with the public what visibility does the Catholic Church intend?
appeared, do you think it gave more visibility to these crisis? Do you think they are helpful when communicating with the public? - How do you think the Church
will keep up with all new communication platforms? - What do you think has changed if
you think about the type of commuication the church is able to make these days having access to these social media platforms, compared to previous years when all that was available was the TV, radio and newspapers?
Rounding up interview: If you have any questions that you would like me to answer, please let me know. I will now work on the analyses of your interview and will then send you a summary by email to be sure that I understood everything that we just talked about. It has been a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you!
Appendix 2 – Transcripts 08/05/2018 TRANSCRIPT INTERVIEW 1 Int = interviewer Informant 1 = interviewee ---
Int: I would like to start by thanking you in making some time to sit down with me. Informant 1: I found the topic very interesting so it is our pleasure to help.
Int: Thank you. So as I’ve explained before, I’m doing my masters in corporate
communication at the University of Amsterdam and the aim of my thesis is to understand what are the ideas and opinions of different people that are connected to the Catholic Church about its communication and ways of communicating with the public during times of crisis. I’m interviewing you, other communications related entities…
Informant 1: Just out of curiosity I would like to know whom else you’re interviewing and maybe I can give you a few suggestions.
Int: Of course. I will interview some people from the Sanctuary of Fatima, the director of the Opus Dei…
Informant 1: Ah, awesome! Pedro Gil? Int: Yes, I will interview him, exactly.
Informant 1: Pedro Gil is most likely the best person and the responsible person for the implementation of policies of crisis communication in Portugal. So he’s the right person to talk to. So the structure of the Episcopal Conference has a general secretariat and a
communication secretariat. In general they are the ones who answers in name of the church but there is not this culture, of organisations answering to crisis, it is still to be implemented.
But the person that has been developing that kind of work is Pedro and the Opus Dei with the help of the University of Rome.
Int: Okay thank you. So the aim of this study is to understand the ideas and opinions of different people with different positions within the church. I will also interview believers as well as priests and nuns in order to comprehend and understand different points of view under Catholic Church’s Communication in times of crisis with the public while using social media platforms. So first I would like you to tell me a bit about yourself. What did you study, what do you do and what exactly is Agência Eclesia. I would also like to know what is the
relationship that the agency has with social media.
Informant 1: so my name is Octávio and I’m a journalist since 2002. I did my bachelor in theology at that Catholic University. When I got my degree the only option was to teach religious and Catholic moral education. I’ve never seen myself as fit to teach children and teenagers. At the time looking at my career opportunities I noticed that there was the news agency and a very initial stage that it was an agency that I identified myself with. And I had an advantage that helped me finding my first job, which was the fact that I spoke several languages. I started working here as a translator. I would translate what International
newsagencies would do starting by translating Zenit, which consisted I’ve an agency in Rome that had a huge impact in the Catholic world. It’s not as important nowadays due to the evolution of communication technologies. Since 2002 I’m here nowadays I’m the head of news. As the head of news I’m accredited in the pressroom after the Holy See. So I’m also responsible for all the news that involves the Pope and the daily activity of the Vatican. The agency works by the rules of the Official Portuguese News agency, which is Agência Lusa. So everything we do is based under the rules off this agency. Of course we have our own identity but when it comes to news and the way we work we follow the Agência Lusa. We have a news portal where sporadically there are matters that are more developed that the daily
news and the idea that we try to implement is a journalistic view that answers to the Portuguese Episcopal Conference and it secretariat to which I can say that on a daily basis there are no interferences with the way we edit news. The report on the daily activity of different dioceses and the work that they do, matters that they would like to make public… so we do that journalistic work. We also work on other matters that we find interesting like the ageing of the population, desertification, the crisis in the clergy… same religious matters of different dioceses and another topic that a lot of people seek even internationally is the daily activity of the Pope and the Vatican. Mainly because whatever the Vatican publishes is not in Portuguese so we often translate this information to make it public and available for portuguese people. For example in Brazil they don’t have the Catholic agency so there’s a lot of Brazilian people reading our information. In Angola as well. They also don’t have an agency that produces this type of information for the public.
Int: Hmm. I understand. So what is the relation between the agency and social media platforms? Are you present of Facebook, Twitter, other platforms, and are you active? Informant 1: From my point of view the agency still has a one-direction presence. But I believe this happens in a lot of organisation. So we have a Facebook page where we publish the most relevant news and we also post videos and online videos when our teams are covering something. Like the Lenten pilgrimages in Azores or the Fatima pilgrimages or a conference. So we’re quite active and autonomous on Facebook I think it’s the most dynamic social media platform.
Int: Hmm, okay.
Informant 1: On Twitter we basically repost news and we also have an Instagram page that suffers from some forgetfulness. It is updated whenever there is bigger News. For example for the 2017 scouts annual camp we had a group that was working specifically for our
There was the intention of being in such an interactive platform though. When I’m in the Vatican or in Fatima I sometimes upload a picture but if there’s not something big we tend to not use it as much as we could.
Int: hmm-hmm.
Informant 1: So at this moment this is the relation that the agency has the social media. And the same time other than being present on Facebook ourselves we also like to and have to keep up with other peoples presence on social media. We follow other agent that produce news that I present on the social media platform because sometimes they post information there that they do not post on their institutional webpage. On twitter it also happens though it’s more often to comment on information. So from our point of view it’s important because sometimes we need to intervene and reply to a comment. So we need to be aware of what happens on social media. Mainly it works as an institutional page. We don’t have anyone specific to answer comments. Most of the time its people asking questions like trying to find some information not so often it’s about the news itself. From our point of view the
interaction with the public on social media platforms is normally not negative.
Int: so now I would like to ask a few questions about the communication that the church practices with the public. I would like to understand what is your opinion on the way that this communication is done. When the church is confronted with a crisis situation, regardless the type of crisis, how do you understand the communication of the crisis is done? How is it communicated to be exterior?
Informant 1: I have to say about that is that in Portugal there’s no communication from the Catholic Church as well as in another country. What I mean is that the Catholic Church works in diocesan nuclei. So each diocese has its way of communicating. So there are different rhythms of communicating. At this point the church doesn’t have an articulated response. They don’t have an articulated communication plan so that a specific situation can be dealt
with in the same way and that people can have an idea my guidelines to follow when something happens. I’ll give you an example because maybe it’s easier. News comes out about a priest having a sun. This happened last year in two different places in Portugal. Both situations in my opinion were dealt with very differently and they had different outcomes and effects on public opinion. In one of the cases the official reaction wasn’t so direct or assertive as it should have been when it comes to its communication, as it should have been. As in this case they tried to let time go by until people forgot about it and being silent or only answering in a very vague way with a formal announcement and not answering peoples questions
provoked a negative reaction from the media side which made it worse. In the second case there was a direct approach with interviews with different people where the situation was explained and after two days the situation was resolved and forgotten by the public opinion. These are of course extreme crises situations that the churches response is still very defensive. So after all this is my opinion. The church still practices a very defensive kind of response when it comes to crisis. Most of the times it consists of a formal announcement that is kind of abstract and generic most of the times forgetting about the pain and suffering that the crises illicit in other people that are involved. I think this is a matter that still has to be developed. What I mean is when there is a crisis, the institution, organisation or any people really that are involved are affected by it. And it’s good that the public opinion doesn’t forget that the most affected people by a crisis in the church are the institution itself and its believers, so the people that belong to the organisation and not the public opinion. This idea that silence is the answer is wrong. From a Catholic point of view the response strategy is always to find the truth. But also to pay attention to the people that are suffering because of the crisis. The Church still practices an attitude where they only react to a crisis. They don’t anticipate it; they don’t have this as a normal practice, anticipating crisis and planning ahead. I’ve had this
