New MOOC “Reputation Crisis? Facebook meets Cambridge Analytica” launched

With companies such as Facebook having so much influence and power to the effect where it is even thought to have influenced the result of US presidential election and Brexit, studying cases like this one of Facebook and Cambridge Analytica can help us better understand how we can learn from it moving forward. 

Background
The Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal was an incident where millions of Facebook users' personal data was acquired without the individuals' consent by Cambridge Analytica, predominantly to be used for political advertising. It was claimed to be the "largest known leak in Facebook history" at the time. Even though there was a huge public backlash when the scandal came to light and brand as well as the trust that users have in the company took a beating, Facebook continued to grow in terms of its user base as well as the revenues.

Massive Open Online Course 
A massive open online course (MOOC) is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and online open access. It is titled “Reputation Crisis? Facebook meets Cambridge Analytica” is a collaborative effort of Dr. Vidhi Chaudhri, Assistant Professor of Media and Communication, ESHCC and Tao Yue, Managing Editor, Case Development Center, RSM.

The case invites students to analyze the implications of the scandal on Facebook by exploring how they handled the crisis as well as the ongoing public and internal debate regarding the stance taken by the company. It also prompts students to identify potential routes for Facebook moving forward by applying the frameworks and other theoretical knowledge learnt in the MOOC. Students will look into the case from different angles of reputation (the key drivers of reputation): governance, leadership, corporate culture, whistleblowing, and citizenship, as well as reputation as a whole.
It starts by tracing the story of Facebook, its ascent as a formidable tech player, and its involvement with Cambridge Analytica. Drawing on relevant academic concepts, users can reflect on the paradoxes confronting Facebook as the ramifications of the scandal unraveled.

Topics covered in the MOOC include:

• Reputation management: What, why, and how
• Data privacy as a reputation issue
• The challenges of leadership in a multi-vocal, digital landscape

Dr. Vidhi Chaudhri
Dr. Vidhi Chaudhri: There were many highlights, from conceptualizing a while MOOC around a case to the many meetings, storyboarding, learning from other MOOCs and colleagues, and much more. A very enjoyable and rich learning experience which confirmed that you need a village to realize such a project! We worked very well as a team. 
Thinking about what would make the MOOC appealing to our audience, finding the balance between theory and case facts, formulating learning activities and resources that are accessible to a wide and diverse group of users was an interesting puzzle—one that I hope we solved well! I am particularly curious to see is the response of our users.

As potential future reputation and crisis managers, students will analyze and learn from Facebook’s response to the scandal(s), potential explanations behind the ups and downs the company has been facing in terms of privacy, data handling, and misinformation on its platform, the potential steps they could take to tackle these problems, as well as the implications are for other tech companies, and what they could do to become more responsible societal actors.

Are you curious? 
The case invites students to analyze the implications of the scandal on Facebook by exploring how they handled the crisis as well as the ongoing public and internal debate regarding the stance taken by the company. It also prompts students to identify potential routes for Facebook moving forward by applying the frameworks and other theoretical knowledge learnt in the MOOC. Students will look into the case from different angles of reputation (the key drivers of reputation): governance, leadership, corporate culture, whistleblowing, and citizenship, as well as reputation as a whole.

Check out the trailer here below and find the course here for free on the Coursera platform.