Should I stay silent or respond?
If we respond we’ll amplify it; if we don’t we’ll look guilty. This is the hardest call in crisis management, and it is not made on instinct. ⚖️
Silence is not always avoidance; in some situations it is the right move. What is wrong is making the call with panic rather than criteria.
Short answer: decide with four questions. If most answers are yes, you speak; if not, you wait. 📋
The four questions
In order, in ten minutes. ❓
When do you speak?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- When the claim is true
- When safety or health is involved
- When legal notification or customer action is needed
- When the team is waiting
In four situations, without hesitation. 🗣️
When the claim is true
Acknowledgement is always cheaper than delayed acknowledgement. ✅
When safety or health is involved
Where product, service or data security is at stake, a statement is obligatory. ⚠️
When legal notification or customer action is needed
In matters such as a data breach, regulation may require notification and the process runs with a lawyer. If customers must change a password or stop using a product, silence causes harm. 🔔
When the team is waiting
Even if you say nothing publicly, you speak internally. 👥
When do you wait?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- When information is incomplete
- When it is not spreading
- When legal proceedings are running
- When it is provocation
In four situations silence is correct. 🤫
When information is incomplete
A statement made on wrong information is what creates the real crisis. An interim note suffices. 🔎
When it is not spreading
A corporate reply to a post seen by a handful of people turns it into news. 📉
When legal proceedings are running
Speaking publicly during an ongoing case can damage the file. ⚖️
When it is provocation
If the aim is to get a reaction, reacting delivers the product. 🎣
How is silence managed?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Increase monitoring
- Keep the text ready
- Answer those who ask
- Write the threshold in advance
Silence is not doing nothing. 🔇
Increase monitoring
Even while quiet, tracking intensifies; if the threshold is crossed you move immediately. 📡
Keep the text ready
The statement sits written and approved; if needed it publishes within minutes. 📝
Answer those who ask
Not making a public statement does not mean leaving a direct question unanswered. 📩
Write the threshold in advance
“If this happens, we speak” takes the decision out of emotion. 🎚️
How is the decision recorded?
One line is enough. 📓
What should I do today?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Step 1: write the four questions
- Step 2: set the threshold
- Step 3: keep the text ready
- If you want help
Three steps, one hour. 🪜
Step 1: write the four questions
True, spreading, harm, being asked? That is the decision sheet. 📋
Step 2: set the threshold
What brings you out of silence? Written in advance. 🎚️
Step 3: keep the text ready
Written and approved; the structure sits in the crisis statement guide. 📝
If you want help
Let us write your decision criteria: use the consult your expert form. For your digital assets see the brand digital audit; the whole sits on the brand consulting page. 🎯
Related reading from the archive: brand language and tone · brand trust.
📝 Notes From the Field
A corporate statement prepared for a small account’s false claim was run against the four questions before publishing: it was not true, it was not spreading, nobody was being harmed, nobody was asking. The statement was never published and monitoring was stepped up. The post became invisible on its own within two days.
📖 Short Glossary
Threshold: the pre-written condition requiring you to break silence. Interim note: a short statement issued before information is complete. Decision sheet: the single page holding the answers to the four questions. Provocation: a post constructed to draw a reaction.
⚡ Quick Summary
The call is made with four questions: is it true, is it spreading, is anyone harmed, are we being asked? ⚖️ You speak when the claim is true, safety is involved, notification is required or customers must act. You wait when information is incomplete, nothing is spreading, proceedings are running or it is provocation.
🎯 Next Step
Let us write your decision criteria: use the consult your expert form. The statement structure sits in the crisis statement guide; for an asset sweep see the brand digital audit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sık Sorulan Sorular
If the claim is accurate, silence is not an option. What is true eventually gets accepted. ✅
A reply to a dormant post carries it to new audiences. 📈
If customers are being deceived or deciding on wrong information, you speak. 🛡️
If a journalist, customer or partner is asking, silence is no longer silence. 📞
A name is written. An ownerless decision makes everyone responsible when it grows. 👤
The answers to the four questions. Looked at later, the logic is visible. 📋
The condition that would reverse it: spread, questions arriving, new information. 🎚️
Every few hours. A decision to stay silent is periodic, not permanent. ⏱️
In public perception it is sometimes read that way, which is why silence is wrong in the face of a true claim. Against an unfounded claim that is not spreading, however, silence is the most effective way to keep it small.
Not if you wrote your threshold in advance; the ready text publishes in minutes. Lateness usually happens where the text only starts being written during the crisis.
What happened, what you decided, and what to say if asked. Not speaking internally does not stop people finding out; it only produces rumour.
Source: Turkish Personal Data Protection Authority — breach notification