It's every organization's worst nightmare: A controversial, perhaps embarrassing incident takes place, then hits the internet and news outlets at lightning speed. Panic sets in. What's next? A drop in revenue? Layoffs? A complete shutdown?

The best, most recent example of a public relations nightmare took place on April 9, when a United Airlines passenger – a doctor who said he had patients to see at his destination – was forcibly dragged off an overbooked flight by security officers. A cell phone camera captured it all, and the video quickly went viral. The United CEO's insufficient initial response, in which he claimed the passenger "defied" officers and called the violent act a "re-accommodation," sparked a public outcry (the company later apologized profusely).

Then just a week later, there was the "Facebook Killer," the Cleveland man who used the social network to post a video of himself murdering an elderly man. It remained live on the site for two hours, raising questions about Facebook's content monitoring policy. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was criticized for his mediocre response: A brief statement at the company's annual developer conference two days after the murder.