Further, as events unfolded, Japanese and foreigners found

that they were using these platforms as aggregators to get

up-to-the-minute news, information and commentary

from official and unofficial sources. Then bad turned

to worse and we all became aware of the existence of a

nuclear power station called Fukushima.

We found that, in a crisis, official information sources can

present a delayed, incomplete and even misleading story.

Faced with conflicting information about the nuclear

disaster and the attendant health consequences, Japanese

have learned to rely on a triangulation of official and

unofficial sources. Social media is a key facilitator of this.

Against a background of diminished trust in society

and hoards of super-empowered net-influencers, those

tasked with the stewardship of brands face a hair-trigger

environment. This is especially so in times of crisis,

where events are fluid and it is by no means assured that

the company can control the conversation.

Marc Wesseling of Press Army K.K., a Tokyo based

social media monitoring company, feels it is imperative

that marketers realize that we are working under a whole

new paradigm.