Who has the answer key?

For class, we have been reading David Meerman Scott's book, Real-Time Marketing & PR. It is a great book, with real-life case studies and examples. I have found this book to be very enjoyable to read and comprehend. I believe in all of this "real-time" talk. I agree that businesses need to know what people are saying about their products or services, and the businesses need to react immediately. Whether the people are saying positive or negative things about the business, it is important to be ready for anything.

There is one thing that I continually thing about as I read. If or when I become a PR practitioner, am I going to be able to react in real time? Scott makes reacting to a situation sound so easy and simple. Is it really that simple? I noticed in chapter six, Scott talked about the "old ways" and how large corporations used to take up to five days to react to people's comments. As I read it, I thought to myself that five days might be a bit too much, but Scott wanted the PR practitioners to react the day the comment was posted. I guess my fear comes into play when I think to myself, "Am I going to know how to react in a situation where my company is gaining negative publicity?" I wonder if I am going to know what to say or say it eloquently enough to please the consumer. I suppose that once I have a "big-girl job" my boss will hopefully tell me what to do.

Scott offers a plethora of examples and opportunities to react in real-time, but I'd love to get a more behind the scene look at what happens; to see what a PR practitioner thinks about during a crisis, or how they go about reacting to an unhappy customer. Is there any advice or examples out there that could ease my worries? In the back of my mind I wonder if I am capable of reacting in real time.