Authors

Kathy Stalbaum

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Symposium Date

4-20-2011

Abstract

Professionals in the areas of public relations and news adopt social media extensively in their respective disciplines. Thus the focus of this study is to ascertain how social media was used in professional communication. A questionnaire sent to both journalists and public relations practitioners was distributed via email. The questions focused on professional usage (minutes and hours), identifying both professional and/or social usage. The respondents evaluated Facebook, email, texting, Twitter, FourSquare, LinkedIn, blogs and other internet sites for the following qualities: trust, value, reliability, density of information, and usefulness of information. There was special attention given to social media preference in sending versus receiving communication. The final analysis stressed the respondent's identification of the strengths of social media for professional reasons. This questionnaire (Likert Scale) stressed postmodern perspectives through the use of ethical dimensions as integrated by the views of respondents. For the news media, regardless of age, e-mail was preferred and these reporters did not integrate Facebook into communication. The public relations practitioners’ preferences were split more evenly by age with those under 45 preferring social media.

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