Sarah Ford | December 14, 2012

How Social Media Helped Livestrong Weather a Tough Time

As online community manager at the Livestrong Foundation, Brooke McMillan has been the social-media face for an organization that has spent months at the center of an unrelenting crisis.

Last month the organization announced that its founder, Lance Armstrong, was stepping away from the group’s board and that his name would no longer be part of the organization’s official identity.  That decision came after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency issued a detailed report about Mr. Armstrong’s use of performance-enhancement drugs and the Tour de France stripped him of medals he won.

Ms. McMillan says the constant storm of criticism of Mr. Armstrong meant she was spending time on social networks like Twitter and Facebook almost around the clock—largely working to nurture and protect an online community that still cared about the organization, despite its founder’s transgressions.

Click here to listen to Ms. McMillan’s conversation at the Austin meeting, where she spoke about using social networks when a crisis or challenge erupts.

Get Resources and Insights Straight To Your Inbox

Explore More Articles

Productive Partnerships: Supporting Nonprofits Through CSR Initiatives, hosted by NXUnite by Nexus Marketing

Productive Partnerships: Supporting Nonprofits Through CSR Initiatives

October 21, 2024

Join America’s Charities President and CEO, Jim Starr, along with other panelists on October 30, 2024 at 3:00 PM ET for NXUnite’s panel on Productive…

Read Article

Animal Rescue Team and Disaster Response

September 30, 2024

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Animal Rescue Team (ART) is on call 24/7, ready to deploy whenever animals are caught in large-scale…

Read Article

Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Together We Can End Domestic Abuse

September 24, 2024

The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are victims of physical violence by a partner every year. People who are…

Read Article

Get Resources and Insights Straight To Your Inbox

Receive our monthly/bi-monthly newsletter filled with information about causes, nonprofit impact, and topics important for corporate social responsibility and employee engagement professionals, including disaster response, workplace giving, matching gifts, employee assistance funds, volunteering, scholarship award program management, grantmaking, and other philanthropic initiatives.

newsletter-mock