A major offshore exercise this week was brought to life by the social media simulator, Triton.
The platform, developed by London-based Navigate Response, pulled no punches as media and public responses were generated to rigorously test corporate and operational responders.
Exercise Shen was run in Aberdeen, Scotland over two consecutive days in February. Hosted at the UK offices of Nexen Energy, the Canadian-owned oil major, the exercise was a fully collaborative operational exercise including regional services and UK government.
The fictional scenario was a major oil well incident some 60 miles north east of Aberdeen with a massive oil spill threatening the Norwegian coast. Principally those being tested were company and stakeholder employees as they grappled with escalating developments and communications. This was where the Navigate Response team brought the Triton social media simulator to the party.
Operating in real time, Triton delivered the breaking story narrative to reflect the reality of conflicting information updates against public speculation and divisive opinion. Triton cleverly generated myriad fictional social media posts and tweets, while a team of journalists uploaded copy in response to scenario developments and company statements.
The pressure built on Nexen UK’s executive team and government officials. Information was confused and antagonised as activists and Norwegian fisherman – Triton-generated personas – fuelled a fast-moving narrative of environmental devastation.
As we play along the fictional situation deteriorates and simulated headlines start predicting that the spill will “cripple ecosystems and the UK and Norwegian fishing industries”.
In the boardroom corporate and technical management teams kept in constant touch with the oil platform, whilst they also kept one eye on the Triton simulated social media feeds that were visible to all participants.
Triton challenged all participants while also serving as a platform for an impressive response by all players.
