Public Relations Review 38 (2012) 416–421 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Public Relations Review Intention to comply with crisis messages communicated via social media Karen Freberg *,1 The University of Louisville, USA a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 8 October 2011 Received in revised form 14 January 2012 Accepted 31 January 2012 Keywords: Social media Crisis communications Public relations Food safety User-generated content a b s t r a c t The rapid growth of social media challenges crisis communicators to disseminate safety messages to affected audiences quickly and in a manner that promotes maximum compli- ance. A nationally representative consumer panel responded to food recall messages that varied in source (organizational or user-generated) and reliability (confirmed versus uncon- firmed). Results indicated that intent to comply with a food recall message was stronger in response to organizational messages than to user-generated messages, but did not vary according to message reliability. Strong age cohort effects were seen in the responses to message source, with younger participants making less distinction than older cohorts between organizational and user-generated sources. Implications of the results for pub- lic relations and crisis communications theory and practice, limitations of the study, and recommendations for future research were discussed. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Contemporary public relations practice, and crisis communications in particular, is being challenged by the emergence of social media. Although many of the best practices used in traditional media are likely to remain effective in the domain of social media, some may require adaptation. The existing literature in public relations has concentrated on the role of official spokesperson in communicating mes- sages to various audiences (Grunig & Grunig, 2000; Kelleher, 2008; Wright & Hinson, 2009). This dominant model features the dissemination of information from one to many, with reciprocal opportunities for the many to interact with the one. Emerging technologies add the potential of a many-to-many channel of communication to the traditional one-to-many channel (Shklovski, Palen, & Sutton, 2008). The urgency of providing reliable information to the many is especially acute during a crisis. The viral spread of information on social media could be viewed as an advantage to crisis professionals who must reach the public as quickly as possible. On the other hand, authoritative voices might have difficulty being heard against the noise of the many-to-many communication model made possible by social media. Crisis professionals need a solid, empirical foundation to maximize the advantages of social media while mitigating its disadvantages. The research presented here explored two aspects of a food crisis message that are likely to impact listener compli- ance with a recall message. First, intent to comply to a message originating with an organizational source was compared to intent to comply with a message originating in a user-generated source. Second, intention to comply was assessed in * Present address: Department of Communication, 310 Strickler Hall, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA. Tel.: +1 502 852 4668; fax: +1 502 852 8166. E-mail address: karen.freberg@louisville.edu 1 476 Communications Building, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville, TN 37996-0343, USA. Tel.: +1 352 219 7915. 0363-8111/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2012.01.008