Companies' action during disaster relief

On the evening of 13 November 2015, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks occurred in Paris. Hundreds of people died or wounded in the Paris Attacks (BBC, 2015). It can be regard as the worst terrorist attack after 911.

After the attacks many large tech companies lent a helping hand during the disaster relief. Facebook activated its safety check feature which let users know whether their friends or family members are safe in Paris. More than 4 million people used the tool to let their friends and family know they were safe and 360 million users received notifications that their friends were okay. Twitter helped people find shelter with the hashtag #PorteOuverte and constant updates the information (Daily mail, 2015). Meanwhile Google, Skype, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, Uber and Airbnb offer free service to France (Time, 2015).

It is important for companies to take actions during disaster relief. Not only because of CSR, but also because they can reach good reputation and customer loyalty by satisfying customer’s emergency physiological and safety needs (Solomon, 2013). Also, Twitter gave customers a platform to meet self-actualization needs through helping other people.

References:

1.    BBC (2015) Paris attacks: What happened on the night [Internet] Available from: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34818994> [Accessed 17 November 2015]

2.    Wolff-Mann, E. (2015) These Companies Are Offering Free Services to Help After Paris Attacks. Time [Internet] Available from: <http://time.com/money/4114313/paris-attacks-companies-helping-free-services/> [Accessed 17 November 2015]

3.    Zolfagharifard, E. (2015) Facebook activates 'Safety Check' feature for people in Paris as Twitter users tweet #PorteOuverte to offer shelter to those affected by attacks. Daily mail [Internet] Available from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3318085/Are-friends-safe-Facebook-rolls-Safety-Check-wake-Paris-attacks-Twitter-users-offer-shelter-affected.html [Accessed 17 November 2015]

4.    Solomon, M.R. 2013, Consumer behavior: buying, having, and being, 10th, Global edn, Pearson Education, Boston, Mass;London