How Will United Get Past This?

It was my most FAQ all day yesterday...How will United get past this latest event? Leggings-gate is still a memory, and now this happens. It’s impossible to deny the horrific event captured on passengers’ mobile devices.

Welcome to the rise of the citizen journalist, reporting the “news” in real time and then cascading it through social media like it’s the plague. People comment, people share, and then a brand is left to make sense of it all.

Sometimes there is no sense to make of it, especially when not all of the facts are present.

But then pop culture takes over, and it seems like there’s no getting past it.

And then the more the facts come out, the harder it is for the “news cycle” to pass.

Here’s the key though. Those first communications from the brand in a situation any where near similar to this is so critical. Words have to be chosen very carefully, and procedures have to be examined transparently. Because otherwise, the public takes charge and puts their own take on it.

I’m afraid that “reaccommodate” will go down in history along with “alternative facts.”

How will United get past this?