As I write this, I'm about 14 hours into a broadband outage from my provider, Bresnan Communications. No, this isn't going to be some WTH???-laden anti-Bresnan tirade. I've been pretty happy with their broadband service--this is the first major failure. Rather, this is an opportunity to talk about something more companies need to recognize: the need to use social media for crisis communication. Already on Twitter, there's a #bresnanfail hashtag. There are stories about the outage popping up on local media sites in Bresnan's markets. And Bresnan's response has been...nothing. Depending on how long this lasts, the misery could snowball for them. Some things they could have done already to mitigate this:

• Have employees with Twitter accounts replying to tweets as they appear. That's the beauty of microblogging--you can communicate even if your servers are melting down.
• Posting status updates on the company homepage. Instead, they have the "corporate" home page up, as if nothing's wrong. Put up a simple "We're sorry for the outages, and we're working on the problem. We'll update you again at noon MDT." Apologize, say you're working on the issue, promise an update. It's really that simple. As it stands, I'm betting folks might feel Bresnan is ignoring the problem.
• Use your technology to communicate. Bresnan could send an automated phone message to broadband customers, giving status updates. (They're also experiencing problems with their VOIP, but my phone has been back up for several hours--I think a call could have been made in that time. Especially if they anticipated this kind of problem and set up an automated call system ahead of time.) Or here's an idea: their cable TV service is unaffected; why not run a crawler with updates on the cable system?
• Look for opportunities to do something unexpected. Turn the failure into something noteworthy by partnering with a coffee chain to offer a free cup of Joe to Bresnan customers. Offer a free on-demand movie through their cable connection. Do something to acknowledge the problem. Frankly, nothing is more endearing than people (or companies) who go out of their way to say "I'm sorry."

Learn from Bresnan. Anticipate a crisis, and map out how social media can work for you. If you don't, it will work against you.

UPDATE: As of 9:30 am, internet service is back up. And, I notice a message acknowledging the network outage on Bresnan's home page--not sure when that went up, but as the Aussies say, good on ya, Bresnan.