The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication

Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
About the Author
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
	The Research Background
		What is “Techlash”?
		Literature Review and the Main Methods
	Outline of the Chapters
		The pre-Techlash Era
		The Techlash Era
		The post-Techlash Era
The Pre-Techlash Era
	Chapter 1:
Tech News and Tech Public Relations
		The Rise of Computer Magazines
		The Growing Interest in Tech in the Early 1990s
		The Dot-Com Bubble in the Mid-1990s and Late 1990s
		The Bubble Burst in the Early 2000s
		The Rise of Tech Blogs in the Mid-2000s
		The Early 2010s
			Tech news in 2012
				Apple. Apple had four peaks of coverage: launching the new iPad3, its annual WWDC, the iPhone 5 event, and introducing the MacBook Retina and iPad Mini (Fig. 3).
				Google. Google’s most significant story in 2012 was its I/O Conference, revealing its new products, such as the Nexus 7 tablet, Android 4.1, and the Project Glass (with a live-action skydiving demo of the Augmented Reality glasses).
				Facebook. Facebook’s main peak was its IPO day. There was a peak of coverage beforehand when it filed for IPO and afterward when the stock saw substantial loss (a decline in stock price from $38 to $27 in the first two weeks of trading). Consequently, its
				Microsoft. Microsoft had a busy year of Product Journalism around Windows 8, the Windows Phone 8, and its expansion to the tablets market with the Surface tablet. Compared to those product launches, the fact that the company was stuck with a $1 billion fi
				Yahoo. Yahoo’s main peak of coverage was when Marrisa Mayer became its new CEO. It followed the Scott Thompson’s “ResuMess scandal” (lying he had a computer science degree, he did not), and coverage of him stepping down from his job, his apology, and Ross
				Viral content. In 2012, “PSY – Gangnam Style” was the most viewed (and liked) video ever on YouTube. Other viral hits were “KONY 2012,” a half-hour video about Ugandan guerrilla leader Joseph Kony (which started the worldwide #StopKony trend), and Felix B
				Tech regulation. The keyword “Regulation” generated one big story that happened at the beginning of 2012: the online protest against SOPA/PIPA (the Stop Online Privacy Act and the Protect IP Act). It included a (full or partial) “blackout” of Craigslist,
				Product Journalism. The combination of all of the timelines illustrates the point of the Product Journalism concept, as it was, by far, the most dominant type of coverage for the leading tech companies.
The Techlash Era
	Chapter 2:Big Tech – Big Scandals
		The Emerging Techlash Background
		Tech’s Biggest Scandals in 2017
			Apple
			Uber
			Facebook
			Google (Alphabet)
			Twitter
			Samsung
			Data breaches and cybersecurity attacks
				Yahoo (Altaba, Oath). Yahoo’s three peaks of coverage were around its past data breaches:
				Microsoft. Microsoft had its regular coverage with the “Microsoft Build” conference and the E3 Xbox event. However, in May, it also experienced the first global ransomware outbreak, the “WannaCry” attack, which shut down significant organizations. The cyb
				Equifax. Equifax didn’t have any media attention until its dramatic announcement in September 2017. The credit rating firm revealed that the personal information of nearly 145 million customers (about half of the US population) had been stolen, making it
			Why not these Companies?
				Amazon. Amazon’s three main peaks of coverage in 2017 were the Whole Food acquisition (which the FTC allowed), when it launched the search for a second headquarter in North America, and when the Amazon Prime video app arrived on Apple TV.
				IBM. IBM’s four main peaks of coverage in 2017 were when it launched a new Q division to commercialize quantum computing; announced that the IBM Z mainframe keeps everything encrypted; when it joined other tech firms to slam Donald Trump for ending the DA
				Intel. Intel’s four main peaks of coverage in 2017 were when its CEO met with Trump and announced a $7 billion investment in an Arizona factory; when it bought Israel’s Mobileye for more than $15 billion (autonomous driving tech); during Computex, it reve
				Tesla. Tesla’s three main peaks of coverage in 2017 were when Model 3 began production; its Q2 earnings (e.g., 1,800 Model 3 reservations per day); and when it revealed the Tesla Roadster (sports car) and a new semi-truck.
				Even Apple and Microsoft. Looking at the Techlash’s pivotal year (2017), two top-valued tech giants – Apple and Microsoft – generated less scrutiny in general and in comparison to the advertising-based companies in particular.
		Tech Giants – from Saviors to Threats
			The broader shift in Tech Coverage
		The Formation of the Techlash: Tech Media and
PR Perceptions
			The aftermath of Trump’s victory
				Cambridge Analytica’s “firestorm”. “In the tech-backlash shift, there is such a competition for eyeballs and headlines, that you got to find the next ‘fire festival,’” said the PR professional, Brett Weiner.63 The Cambridge Analytica scandal provided the
			Pack Journalism: Techlash agenda across all the news media
			The tech companies’ scale and bigness
			The Political Pushback
			Moral Panic, Anyone?
			Lack of diversity
	Chapter 3:
Tech Crisis Communication
		Background to Crisis Communication
		Big Tech – Big Scandals – Little Responsibility
			Scapegoat-Excuse-Reminder-Victimage (SERV)
				Backlash: It is the art of avoiding responsibility. “There is still DNA in Silicon Valley that most technology companies are trying to innovate and to do the right things. Some do fall victim, have created something that is used in ways that the founders
			Pseudo-apologies and “we need to do better”
				Actions should Follow Words. The increased use of pseudo-apologies as a crisis strategy backfired, as well. For instance, following “Facebook’s apology tour” in 2017,35 the criticism addressed the impression that the apologies were tangled with reducing r
			Corrective Action Messages
				They ignore the system. The companies’ corrective action messages drew their own discontents. For example, Kashmir Hill from the New York Times told me she finds it frustrating when “they don’t really take corrective action. Journalists point-out problems
			“But Our Work Will Never be Done”
				Because you Avoid Fundamental Changes. The sentence that drew most of the reactions from the research interviewees was, “But our work will never be done.” Perhaps since this phrase symbolizes the never-ending challenge.
			Exceptions: Denied allegations or “No Comment”
				Both are used to Buy More Time. The anonymous senior PR executive suggested that even before the first step of the “Tech PR template for crises” (summarized in the next section), there is a lot of times that the strategy is a simple denial: “We are aware
			Tech PR template for crises
				Continual use of the Tech PR Template. The tech companies, who used the typical “tech crisis communication” in 2017, realized that each of its crisis response strategies backfired and sparked a further backlash against them. Nonetheless, looking at their
			The role of humanity Versus Technology
	Chapter 4:
Evolving Techlash Issues
		From Techno-Utopianism to Techno-Dystopianism
			Techlash books (2017–2019)
		Deteriorated Trust in Big Tech
		Usage is Growing and Tech Companies are Thriving
		Tech Regulation
		Tech Conferences and Interviews with Tech CEOs
		Tech Employees’ Activism
		More Investigative Stories
			Some Positive Views
The Post-Techlash Era
	Chapter 5:
Never-ending Criticism?
		The Techlash’s Shortest Pause: COVID-19 and
“Tech Deserves a Second Honeymoon” Phase
		Tech Giants – From Saviors back to Threats
		Tech Coverage and Tech PR Moving Forward
		Recommendations for Future Studies
Appendix
	Methodology
		Tech Media Collection and Analysis
			Keywords
			Research Tool and Timelines Analysis
		Tech PR Collection and Analysis
			Constant Comparison Analysis
		Expert Interviews
Notes
	Introduction
	Chapter 1
	Chapter 2
	Chapter 3
	Chapter 4
	Chapter 5
	Appendix
References
Index