Crisis Communication and Management using SocialMedia: a Crisis Response to Ethiopian Airlines ET302 Crash

Abstract: On the Sunday 10th of March 2019 Nairobi-bound Boeing 737MAX8 Flight ET302 of EthiopianAirlines plunge in to the ground and kills all 157 passengers onboard. Consequently, the accidenttook attention of international media and people around the world. This study therefore aims atinvestigating the communication strategies employed by EAL when managing ET302 planecrash and various issues associated with the crash using the two stages of crisis management. Toachieve the purpose, Nethnography and CDA methods were employed. To analyze thecommunication strategies SCCT was used. Accordingly, it was found out that, EAL highlyapplied “apology”, “shifting blame”, and “corrective action” strategies in its crisiscommunication via Facebook and Twitter pages. Additionally, the fairly immediate responsesgiven to each issue, the media monitoring system and the empathetic approach contributed to thegood crisis management. The study also finds out that more attention was given to the Twitterand updates were faster than the Facebook page. The study concludes that previous good imageof EAL plays a significant role to the impact a crisis would have in addition to its effective crisismanagement via social media. Finally, it’s recommended that EAL should communicate moreefficiently on its Facebook page to uplift its accomplishments and meet its online publics in awide range.