Tuesday, June 1, 2010

BP Turns to Social Media to Deliver Their Message

The 3-day Memorial Day weekend here in the United States was considered crucial by many for 'some' progress to moderate the anger and frustration of Gulf Coast residents and businesses (and many others worldwide) that is continuing to build over the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon Drilling Platform which killed 11 workers and continues to spill oil into the sea.

Political leaders and media outlets also 'crossed lines' with CNN continuing live 'Breaking News' coverage and personalities such as long-time democratic strategist (and CNN political contributor) James Carville delivering numerous interviews lambasting the Obama administation for their handling of what has been called the 'worst environmental disaster in America's history'.

The Huffington Post is all over it as well with a dedicated page.

Earlier today, rival cable new networks CNN and Fox News both delivered reports (with similar stories published Sunday by The New York Times and BusinessWeek) that BP and the US Minerals Management Service knew as early as March of this year that there were serious problems growing at the drilling site. 

For BP, it has been an ongoing public relations nightmare.  Hundreds of news outlets broadcast the live underwater camera that actually started on BP's own website.

As it became clearer that the latest effort would not be completed by Tuesday, BP revamped it's corporate website to default, at least here in the US, to ongoing coverage of the spill.  New local pages were added as well.



BP's social media team is now ramping up in a big way with streams, information, photos and video on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube.

The Internet is telling this story. No doubt the largest Internet public outcry since the Iran protests took to Twitter last year.

This year ... the news is coming from right here.