Crisis at the University of Virginia in June 2012

The unfolding of the crisis at the University of Virginia in June 2012 where the student council’s president Teresa Sullivan was forced to resign portrays the ignorance that the board had about the powerfulness of social media in the contemporary world. Social media was greatly ignored by the leadership in the case. The board underestimated the power of social media channels such as Twitter hence little efforts were made towards controlling the situation as it gained pace on twitter. The Board had a lot of power in a traditional sense because it felt that a leader like Sullivan was a hindrance to the intended change in courses the university offered (Daniel et al, p.164). The notion that they were authoritative and had the final say over such internal matters could have made the board to comfortable to notice that social media could be used to raise the awareness of such an abrupt and poorly explained unfolding. The board ought to have acknowledged that the world had quickly changed and that social media was increasingly being used as a more convenient way of communication by most of the people especially those at the University. Social media sites such as twitter have been often used to create awareness; hence the board should have kept abreast with the trending topics and conveniently given a statement aimed at calming or countering the trending subject over Teresa Sullivan’s forced resignation (Daniel et al, p.168). Companies have embraced the use of social media not only as a means of marketing themselves but also conveying information and keeping up with trends in the market. The company has well established social media networks that supersede those witnessed at the University of Virginia.

There is little doubt that social media has overtaken traditional channels of communication such as televisions, radios and newspapers. Social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook cannot be ignored whenever there is any crisis whether at the local or international scenes. Over the past decade, over a billion people all over the world have resorted to using social media as an avenue for creating awareness and exchanging ideas. An example of how great and influential the social media has become is the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring has been credited to social media platforms through with demonstrations were organized and mobilization of the masses done. In the times of Crises such as hurricanes or terrorist activities it has become a norm for social media sites to come up with trends and platforms to highlight the nature of the crises along with mobilizing global support for those affected. The lives of humans have become increasingly busy. There is barely enough time for one to sit down and read through an entire newspaper like it was a century ago. As, busy individuals, humans are increasingly interested in news that either affect them directly or are relevant to their affiliations. Hence, social media through trending subjects makes it