Presentation Type

Oral Presentation

Symposium Date

4-20-2011

Abstract

Organizations have found Twitter and Facebook to be the most effective way to converse with audiences. Current positions now require new skills to understand, shape, and engage with social networks and online communities. This study examines how organizations structure the management of social media. As the field develops, it is crucial to understand the current trends. By surveying the perception of social media management, one can better understand how organizations will handle digital communication in the future. Professionals were categorized into six professional specialties: Public Relations Agency, Marketing Agency, Corporate Public Relations, Corporate Marketing, Non-Profit Public Relations, and Non-Profit Marketing. In the survey, participants were asked how social media is used in marketing and/or public relations. By bringing the co-orientation model of communication into the research analysis (a comparison of perceptions vs. actual usage to determine gap), the study compared responses from public relations and marketing professionals to represent their specialty. The results indicate there is a division of labor in social media usage for each profession. Public relations professionals utilize social media as a dialogic approach (two-way communication) and marketing professionals do less environmental monitoring and utilize primarily an asymmetrical approach (one-way communication).

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