Updates about the massive Toyota recall are coming out daily,sometimes hourly. There are more recalls and more concerns fromdrivers—a public relations nightmare of the worst kind. Not onlyare huge dollar amounts and a company's reputation at stake, butpotentially people's lives.

Yesterday a statement in the media by Chris Gidez, director ofrisk management and crisis communications at Hill & Knowlton, apublic relations firm, got my attention. He made this point: “Todaycompanies have to be Johnny-on-the spot as soon as something hits,”he said. “We live in a Facebook world and you have to move fast tokeep consumers informed.”

I contacted Mr. Gidez for an interview and posted a story on ourWeb site today at http://property-casualty.com.He made some good observations comparing the two cases.