However, even with all of these options, Spanish universities still need to adopt some principles that already comprise part of the work of many educational centres on social networks, such as listening to followers or being consistent when interacting with them (Paniagua and Gomez, 2012: 362). One of the biggest risks to an organization is being embroiled in a crisis. When an organization finds itself in one of these situations, its image and reputation in the mind of its various stakeholders is at risk.

Marín (2009: 8-9) defines a crisis as a situation “that produces a gradual or sudden breakdown of the aspects of balance that support an organization and results in a process of destabilization, which if not halted in a timely manner can cause a serious, or even a gravely serious change to the affected entity”. The author goes on to explain the common characteristics of all crises: they are unavoidable, they occur for various reasons, they always come as a surprise (although it is possible to avoid their being so sudden with good monitoring and an effective follow-up system), they must be dealt with urgently, they expose all areas of the organisation to risk, and they do not occur two times in the same way, so consequently there is no crisis exactly like another.

In the communication management of an organization there must always be a place for crisis communication. Moreover, in crisis situations, maximum efficiency is required, which is why it must be integrated into the communication plan (Saura and García, 2010: 43). Some of the consequences of a crisis include monitoring by the press, effects on the development of the organization’s activity, the incessant request for information by authorities, and what is striking about the case study at hand is the resulting damage to image and reputation. For this reason, it is advisable to be prepared to face these situations, and we must be prepared with the right tools.

Piñuel (1997:7) presents a typology of crises according to the nature of the events that cause them, or based on the duration of their development. Depending on their origin, crises can arise in the environment of social relations, internal or external, in the human environment of the organization, also internal or external, or in the communicative environment, again either internal or external. In order to manage a crisis in a way that causes minimal damage to the image and reputation of a company, it is necessary to have a Crisis Plan. As Piazzo (2012: 88-89) explains, when we find ourselves in an emergency, we are not in a position to decide how to act and what measures to take to solve the problem. The most effective prevention is to develop an in-depth analysis of the company in advance that is able to compile possible problematic situations that may occur, and then develop an action plan to carry out in the event that those situations occur. As Saura and García (2010: 44) explain, “in times of crisis, it is necessary to make decisions with great agility, attend to the people affected quickly, and in most cases respond to many questions from the media. In this sense, news that is bad for companies or institutions becomes news that is interesting for the press”.

4. Results

The sample of the research presented is composed of the communications issued by Rey Juan Carlos University during the period from March to September of 2018, and the objective is to analyse the crisis management experienced by this institution.