The Role of On-Line Communication in Crisis Management

The almost continuous crises placed in the different organizations and the need to understand them, to anticipate them or control them lead more leaders, heads of enterprises, management experts and practitioners of public relations, to worry about the "crisis management", "crisis communication" etc. Crises can harm an organization, both in terms of material losses and in the social prestige by deteriorating image (reputation). In recent decades the on-line presence of organizations experienced an expansion in the area of dialogue with target audiences, and this tool has a major effect on the perception of the organization and the public satisfaction towards the organization. Communication in virtual field should have an important role in crisis programs. This paper presents a classification of crisis situation that may occur in a vital area, namely, water supply, their impact on various factors and on-line communication strategy adopted in each case.