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Dialogic communication in the health care context: A case study of Kaiser Permanente's social media practices
Abstract
This case study examines how one of the largest not-for-profit health care organizations in the US, Kaiser Permanente, uses social media to communicate with its stakeholders. Through content analysis and interviews, this study identifies the communication models reflected in a sample of social media posts and examines the organization's approach to using social media. The study finds evidence of both one-way and two-way communication models, as well as principles of dialogic communication. The implications of these findings are discussed.
... The models of public relations help explain how health agencies may communicate with their audiences [4]. For example, health agencies often use one-way communication, the public information model, to inform and raise awareness [5]. While traditional mass media messaging can disseminate information to the public, social media provide the capability to actively engage in two-way communication with their audiences, providing feedback and responding to concerns surrounding specific issues [3,4]. ...
... Health agencies primarily adopted traditional one-way communication to disseminate health information and community-relevant resources, which reflects the public information model [4]. This falls in line with prior research that found health organizations, as well as nonprofits, tend to mainly focus on sharing information [5,24,54,55]. In contrast, audiences expressed a variety of emotions (both positive and negative) in the comments compared to the health agencies, displaying active engagement and concerns with COVID-19-related issues that may directly affect them. ...
... While it is important for health agencies to disseminate necessary information to their audiences, especially since communicating about vaccination and COVID-19-related policies are shown to promote vaccination [56], there is a noticeable misalignment between their priorities and the priorities of their audiences. This finding is not surprising, as agencies often focus on distributing critical health information and resources and avoid potentially losing control when engaging in more dialogic communication with their audiences [5,57]. For example, if an individual with strongly held COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs decides to argue with a post, the health agency would need to consider several implications of addressing the individual, including whether the information shared in the interaction is accurate, how other audience members would perceive and interpret the information shared, as well as how the audience would perceive the health organization itself. ...
Background
Public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have prompted a need for health agencies to improve their disease preparedness strategies, informing their communities of new information and promoting preventive behaviors to help curb the spread of the virus.
Methods
We ran unsupervised machine learning and emotion analysis, validated with manual coding, on posts of health agencies (N = 1588) and their associated public comments (N = 7813) during a crucial initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2020 to February 2021) among nine different counties with a higher proportion of vaccine-hesitant communities in Northern California. In addition, we explored differences in concerns and expressed emotions by two key group-level factors, county-level COVID-19 death rate and political party affiliation.
Results
We consistently find that while health agencies primarily disseminated information about COVID-19 and the vaccine, they failed to address the concerns of their communities as expressed in public comment sections. Topics among public audiences focused on concerns with the COVID-19 vaccine safety and rollout, state mandates, flu vaccination, and frustration with politicians, and they expressed more positive and more negative emotions than health agencies. Further, there were several differences in primary topics and emotions expressed among public audiences by county-level COVID-19 death rate and political party affiliation.
Conclusion
While this research serves as a case study, findings indicate how local health agencies, and their audiences, discuss their perceptions and concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and may inform health communication researchers and practitioners on how to prepare and manage for emerging health crises.
... Similar to how people negotiate the challenges and opportunities of social media, so, too, do health organizations. While health organizations appreciate the benefits of social media and realize social media are an important part of their outreach (Hackworth & Kunz, 2011;Hether, 2014), social media also present unique challenges for health promotion. Thus, health organizations manage their online presence by negotiating both the benefits and challenges that come with these media. ...
... Unfortunately, studies indicate that health organizations tend to rely on social media more for information dissemination than for other more engaging activity with their stakeholders (Hether, 2014;Park, Reber, & Chon, 2016). However, researchers (Guo & Saxton, 2014;Lovejoy & Saxton, 2012) have also suggested that rather than reflecting a lack of initiative, the preponderance of information dissemination may, instead, reflect a hierarchy of engagement in which information dissemination forms the base of online communication, followed by dialogic communication, and culminating in mobilization and action. ...
Social media provide an innovative platform for health promotion, yet research suggests these platforms are not leveraged effectively. Instead, campaigns struggle to actively engage with participants beyond simple interactions. Inspiring user-generated content (UGC), wherein individuals create and post their own content, is a strategy that has potential to improve health promotion, especially among young people who are heavy users of social media. However, inspiring UGC is difficult. This chapter presents a comparative case study analysis of three campaigns that were highly successful in leveraging social media, and UGC in particular, in support of health-related goals. Through this analysis, four similarities were identified across all three campaigns. These similarities include the facilitation of online community, the cultivation of positive affect, the support of celebrity influencers, and the opportunity for creative self-expression. While these campaigns also received criticism, they each were, nonetheless, effective at making an impact on social media and achieving campaign goals. Through these case study analyses and a review of current research, a holistic assessment of the theory and practice of social media for health promotion is presented. Moreover, future directions for both the research and practice of health promotion on social media are identified.
... Some companies are seizing the opportunities social media offer for communicating with their publics, although most firms still have a one-direction communication on social media and are underutilizing the potential of these tools (Bortree;Seltzer, 2009;Capriotti;Moreno, 2007b;Hether, 2014;Kent, 2013;Kent;Taylor, 1998;Macnamara, 2010;Madichie;Kent;White, 2001;Watkins;Lewis, 2014;Xifra;Huertas, 2008). ...
... Although this framework was born to be applied to web- sites, last years some studies have adapted it to social ne- tworks (Adams;Agozzino, 2015;Bortree;Seltzer, 2009;Hether, 2014;Keller, 2013;Kim et al., 2014;Lim;Lee-Won, 2016;Muckensturm, 2013;Rybalko;Seltzer, 2010;Watkins, 2017). ...
Ibex 35 and Fortune 500 companies are still not fully utilizing the dialogic potential of social media. The percentage of companies with a low level of dialogic communication exceeds the percentage of companies with a high level in both groups, according to this study which assesses the level of dialogic communication developed by firms with their external audiences on blogs, Facebook and Twitter in an integrated way. Based on Kent & Taylor’s (1998) framework, a dialogic conceptual tool has been created, refined and applied to all the sample. The tool analyzes 73 variables on three dimensions: Presence, Content and Interactivity. Inter-method triangulation has been applied to carry out the research: virtual ethnography, critical discourse analysis (CDA) and interviews with experts.
... As a field, public health has often been cited for falling short of harnessing the social characteristics of social networking sites (Platt et al. 2016;Caputo et al. 2014;Neiger et al. 2012;Neiger et al. 2013;Heldman et al. 2013;Hether 2014;Ramanadhan et al. 2013;Burke-Garcia and Scally 2014). A general call has emerged from the literature on the use of social media for public health communications, encouraging organizations to Bshift from the traditional command-andcontrol approach to a more participatory approach ( Ramanadhan et al. 2013). ...
... Stimulating discussion and usergenerated content is important to the success of a Facebook campaign because interactivity influences reach and relevance as new participants observe and join the conversation and may be more likely to care about, learn from, and act on information mediated by personal connections. Conversation is also an opportunity for listening, adapting messages to address specific populations, and responding to public questions and concerns (Heldman et al. 2013;Hether 2014;Burke-Garcia and Scally 2014). In the context of newborn screening, biobanking, and genetic research, the literature has called for greater efforts to identify and develop appropriate strategies to meet the public's need for more information and input (Tarini et al. 2010a;Etchegary et al. 2013;Rothwell et al. 2012;Cunningham et al. 2015;Lemke et al. n.d.). ...
Scholarship on newborn screening, dried bloodspot retention, and large population biobanking call consistently for improved public engagement. Communication with participants likely occurs only in the context of collection, consent, or notification, if at all. We ran an 11-week advertising campaign to inform Michigan Facebook users unlikely to know that their or their children’s dried bloodspots (DBSs) were stored in a state biobank. We investigated the pattern and content of comments posted during the campaign, focusing on users’ questions, attitudes and concerns, and the role the moderator played in addressing them. We used Facebook data to quantitatively assess engagement and employed conventional content analysis to investigate themes, attitudes, and social dynamics among user and moderator comments. Five ad sets elicited comments during campaign weeks 4–8, reaching ∼800,000 Facebook users ($6000). Gravitating around broad, underlying ethical, legal, and social issues, 180 posts from 129 unique users related to newborn screening or biobanking. Thirty six conveyed negative attitudes and 33 conveyed positive attitudes; 53 posed questions. The most prevalent themes identified were consent, privacy, bloodspot use, identifiability, inclusion criteria, research benefits, (mis)trust, genetics, DBS destruction, awareness, and the role of government. The moderator’s 81 posts were responsive—answering questions, correcting or clarifying information, or providing information about opting out. Facebook ad campaigns can improve engagement by pushing out relevant content and creating dynamic, responsive, visible forums for discussion. Reduced control over messaging may be worth the trade-off for creating accessible, transparent, people-centered engagement on public health issues that are sensitive and complex.
... La transformación digital está afectando la forma en que las organizaciones interactúan con los grupos de interés, incluidas las personas donantes, voluntarias, usuarias y/o beneficiarias, entre otros (Lock, 2019). No solo estos grupos esperan más interacciones online y relaciones más transparentes, sino que también hay una mayor disponibilidad de canales y herramientas para gestionar las relaciones bidireccionales entre las partes interesadas y las organizaciones del TSAS, lo que aumenta la complejidad de dichas relaciones (Hether, 2014). Entre los nuevos canales disponibles que requieren el uso de comunicación basada en Internet, se incluyen páginas web, blogs, redes sociales, aplicaciones móviles, podcasts y otros medios en línea. ...
Rey-García, Marta, Mato-Santiso, Vanessa, Salido-Andrés, Noelia, Bouzada-Novoa, Violeta (2023). Construyendo Ecosistemas de Innovación Social. La contribución del tercer sector de acción social a una transición digital y ecológica justa en España.
Madrid: Plataforma de ONG de Acción Social (POAS). 164 pp.
Disponible en: https://www.plataformaong.org/ARCHIVO/documentos/biblioteca/1676993896_estudio-cualitativo-barometro-2022.pdf
... Oysa alan yazında sivil toplum kuruluşları ve yeni medya kullanımları ekseninde yürütülmüş çalışmalarda (Alemdar ve Kocaömer, 2019;Avidar, 2013;Greenberg ve MacAulay, 2009;Hether, 2014;Kim vd., 2014;Lovejoy ve Saxton, 2012;Waters ve Jamal, 2011;) tek yönlü bilgi akışının belirgin bir sonuç haline geldiği gözlenmektedir. ...
Ekonomi, politika, sosyoloji, pazarlama, iletişim gibi beşeri disiplinler teknoloji alanında yaşanan gelişmelere kayıtsız kalmamış, kendi içlerinde bir dönüşüm yaşamış ve yaşamaya da devam etmektedir. Özellikle, bu çalışmanın da genel bağlamını oluşturan iletişim konusundaki yenilikler, yeni araçlar, yeni sistemler alan yazında birçok çalışmanın konusunu oluşturmuştur. İletişim alanında sözü edilen bu yenilikler şüphesiz yeni medya ortamlarıdır. Günümüzde hem kişiler arası iletişim hem de kurumsal iletişimde yaygın bir biçimde yeni medya temelli teknolojiler ile aracılanan bir süreç gözlemlenmektedir. Özellikle sivil toplum kuruluşları açısından potansiyel pek çok avantajı olan yeni medya kullanımı konusunda sivil toplum kuruluşlarının farkındalıklarının ve kullanım becerilerinin artırılması bir gerekliliktir. Bu noktadan hareketle sivil toplum kuruluşlarının yeni medyadaki rolleri diyalogsal iletişim ve halkla ilişkiler modelleri etrafında merak edilmiştir. Bu araştırmada bir aktivist grup olan ve kendisini iyilik aktivisti olarak tanımlayan AHBAP oluşumunun Twitter kullanımı diyalogsal prensipler ve halkla ilişkiler modelleri (basın ajansı, kamuoyu bilgilendirme modeli, iki yönlü asimetrik ve iki yönlü simetri model) bağlamında ele alınmaktadır. Çalışmada içerik analizi tekniği kullanılmış olup, 01 Ocak 2022- 01 Mart 2022 tarih aralığında yapılan paylaşımlar incelenmiştir.
... Social media is comprised of a complex ecology of networking sites and falls in the larger context of health communication [4,5]. Social media has changed the landscape of health information by allowing for dialogic communication rather than one-sided communication from health professionals and experts, resulting in health communicators such as practitioners, policy makers, and patients monitoring, listening to, and engaging with dialogue on social media [6][7][8][9]. It has been shown that 72% of internet users search for health information online and social media is one source of such health information [10,11]. ...
Background
Despite the increased use of social media to share health-related information and the substantial impact that complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) can have on individuals’ health and wellbeing, currently, to our knowledge, there is no review that compiles research on how social media is used in the context of CAM. The objective of this study was to summarize what are the ways in which social media is used in the context of CAM.
Methods
A scoping review was conducted, following Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage methodological framework. MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, AMED, and CINAHL databases were systematically searched from inception until October 3, 2020, in addition to the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health (CADTH) website. Eligible studies had to have investigated how at least one social media platform is used in the context of a single or multiple types of CAM treatments.
Results
Searches retrieved 1714 items following deduplication, of which 1687 titles and abstracts were eliminated, leaving 94 full-text articles to be considered. Of those, 65 were not eligible, leaving a total of 29 articles eligible for review. Three themes emerged from our analysis: 1) social media is used to share user/practitioner beliefs, attitudes, and experiences about CAM, 2) social media acts as a vehicle for the spread of misinformation about CAM, and 3) there are unique challenges with social media research in the context of CAM.
Conclusions
In addition to social media being a useful tool to share user/practitioner beliefs, attitudes, and experiences about CAM, it has shown to be accessible, effective, and a viable option in delivering CAM therapies and information. Social media has also been shown to spread a large amount of misleading and false information in the context of CAM. Additionally, this review highlights the challenges with conducting social media research in the context of CAM, particularly in collecting a representative sample.
... Existe una amplia literatura sobre el uso de la comunicación dialógica a la hora de abordar la relación con diferentes públicos, la gestión de diferentes situaciones comunicativas y canales, incluidas la comunicación online y las redes sociales (Hether, 2014;Aced-Toledano & Lalueza, 2018a;Men et al., 2018;Wang & Jang, 2019;Liu et al., 2020). En este sentido, las redes sociales son una herramienta clave para favorecer el diálogo entre las empresas y sus públicos (Watkins, 2017;Emeksiz & Şimşek, 2018;Yang & Saffer, 2019;Jiang & Park, 2021;Wang & Jang, 2019;Wirtz & Zimbres, 2021;Akinci et al., 2022). ...
El trabajo analiza la comunicación realizada por parte de empresas del IBEX35 en situaciones de crisis para determinar los mecanismos que tratan de favorecer el diálogo entre organizaciones y sus stakeholders. La muestra la componen los tuits que incluyen la palabra covid y que han sido emitidos por las 27 compañías del IBEX 35 que disponían de perfiles corporativos verificados en la plataforma social Twitter durante los primeros 6 meses de la pandemia COVID-19. Tomando en consideración los principios dialógicos establecidos por Kent y Taylor (1998), que fueron adaptados por Rybalko y Seltzer (2010) para Twitter, se realizó una adaptación para establecer indicadores que aplicar en la conversación establecida en la plataforma. Para analizar las diferencias de interacción se ha utilizado la prueba t para muestras independientes y el ANOVA de un factor. Los resultados muestran que las empresas mantienen un interés por relacionarse con sus públicos pero que siguen tratando temas que no son del interés de los usuarios, lo que dificulta que exista una diálogo o conversación entre empresas y stakeholders. El artículo demuestra que los recursos más utilizados por las empresas en situaciones de crisis son la llamada a la acción y al diálogo, ya sea planteando preguntas a sus usuarios o sugiriendo la interacción deseada. Mientras que preguntar directamente a los usuarios sus opiniones no genera más diálogo, los resultados demuestran que solicitar actitudes, como comentar, difundir una imagen o dar un me gusta sí que aumenta la interacción. Esto implica que existe interés bajo por parte de los públicos por unirse a una conversación real.
... Esto implica que la relación entre las organizaciones y sus públicos fue mutando con el desarrollo de las nuevas tecnologías de información y comunicación. El principal factor de cambio fue la posibilidad de que exista una interacción mayor entre ambos, y el aumento de los espacios de participación por parte de los públicos, esta situación provocó debates sobre estos temas que aún se mantienen abiertos (Almansa y Fernández-Souto, 2020;Hether, 2014;Lane, 2020;Pieczka, 2011, entre otros). ...
This study focuses on the perceptible interactivity processes in the corporate websites of non-traditional political actors of enormous importance in increasingly unequal societies: non-governmental organizations. To carry out this study, another similar research is taken as a reference on the methodological matter (Caprioti et al, 2016; Smolak and Castillo, 2017). In the first part of the article, we make a theoretical review about how interactivity gets to establish as an issue for public relations scholars. This is a subject that has been being studied for almost twenty years in the academic field. Then, in the methodology section, to analyze the interactivity level of these websites, a sample of seven NGOs dedicated to Development Cooperation that operate in Spain is selected. These NGOs have the greatest annual budget, and we decided to pick only the ones that do not have a religious basis. The Spanish NGOs that enter on that category are: Oxfam Intermon; Plan Internacional España; Educo; Cruz Roja Española; Save The Children España; Acción contra el Hambre y Ayuda en Acción. We carry out a content analysis is that aims to identify the expression of two categories, Information Presentation Tools and Virtual Visitor Resources. To carry out the methodology, we use a model created by the studies mentioned above. Based on the detection of these categories on each NGO website, the level of interactivity offered by these entities is analyzed, and the type of relationship they establish with their audiences is interpreted from the spaces for participation and interactivity that they promote. The analysis is complemented with the study of the "call to action" present on each web page, as a singular element of web design that aims to establish a privileged contact with the public. Among the results, we can say that several NGOs are using the same tools to get in contact with their audiences. Also, they implement different kinds of digital spaces to get more interactivity with their stakeholders. Nevertheless, we also identified that the first contact that they offer from their websites is asking for money, which might be a problem for them as non-traditional political actors who depends on their capacity of influence in the political system. This action may have an impact on the way people think about them, and the symbolic capital of these entities may be at stake. The research concludes that the NGOs that are part of the study offer high levels of interactivity on their corporate websites, however, the first contact they offer from the call to action of the web pages aims to request financial contributions, which would negatively impact in generating a long-term bond between these NGOs and their audiences. With this first contact, they are communicating that their stakeholders are just money givers, and not citizens how are committed to changing the odds of unequal situations. These results are a contribution to the existing scientific literature about public relations and interactivity on the NGOs, and invite a critical reflection on the actions of digital communication from NGOs for development, non-traditional political actors of enormous importance in the current context.
... Furthermore, given the interactive nature of social media, it is crucial to monitor public sentiments and concerns about the vaccine. As research has advocated for a long time, online health communications cannot just deliver information one-way, assuming that the audiences will accept and be influenced by the messages (14,(42)(43)(44). Rather, effective communications need to be twoway interactive so that negative emotions, counterarguments, and concerns of the audiences can be addressed. ...
Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage among adolescents is lower in rural regions and remains under the 80% coverage goal by Healthy People 2030. Through both sentiment analysis and topic modeling, this research examines how local health agencies and groups in nine Northern California counties promote HPV vaccines through Facebook and how target populations react to promotion posts in comments that elucidate their sentiments and hesitancy toward HPV vaccination. In January 2021, we identified 2,105 public Facebook pages and 1,065 groups related to health within the counties and collected a total of 212 posts and 505 comments related to the HPV vaccine. The posts were published between 2010 and 2021, with the majority (83%) published after 2017. There were large variations of Facebook activities across counties. We categorized four counties with HPV vaccination initiation rates below 40% as low-coverage counties and five counties with rates above 40% as high-coverage counties. In general, low-coverage counties had fewer Facebook activities in comparison to high coverage. Results showed that, on average, comments about the HPV vaccine exhibited more positive emotion, more negative emotion, and more anger than the posts. Overall, thematic topics that emerged from posts centered around awareness and screening of HPV and cervical cancer, STI testing services, information sources, and calls to action for health services. However, comment topics did not correspond to posts and were mostly related to vaccine hesitancy, discussing vaccine risks, safety concerns, and distrust in vaccine science, citing misinformation. When comparing high- versus low-coverage counties, posts expressed similar sentiments; however, comments within high-coverage counties expressed more anger than in low-coverage counties. Comments from both high- and low-coverage counties expressed concerns with vaccine safety, risks, and injury. It is important to note that commenters exchanged information sources and tried to address misinformation themselves. Our results suggest that the promotion of HPV vaccines from public Facebook pages and groups is limited in frequency and content diversity. This illustrates problems with generalized social media vaccination promotion without community tailoring and addressing specific hesitancy concerns. Public health agencies should listen to the thoughts of targeted audiences reflected through comments and design relevant messages to address these concerns for HPV vaccination promotion.
... Digital transformation is disrupting the way NPOs manage their relationships with their stakeholders when they harness resources, strive to achieve their missions or advocate for societal support. Not only stakeholders expect more online interactions and transparent relationships; there are also more channels and tools available to manage the nonprofit-stakeholder relationship, thus increasing managerial complexity (Hether, 2014). Not by chance, marketing research has eclipsed other disciplinary approaches within nonprofit studies since the turn of this century, focusing on communication, general/strategic marketing, fundraising/donor behavior and relationship marketing as major topics (Helmig et al., 2004). ...
Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) need to maintain effective relationships with a growing multiplicity of stakeholders with potentially divergent interests. In parallel, today’s digital transformation is changing the ways in which these interactions take place through multiple channels, fomenting interconnectivity and interdependence. However, the advantages, purposes and mix of digital channels used by NPOs when nurturing their relationships with key stakeholders remain under-researched. The objective of this article is to pave the way for future research on nonprofit-stakeholder relationship marketing, incorporating insights on how nonprofits connect and interact with their multiple target audiences through various channels. To this end, we carry out a systematic review of nonprofit literature on stakeholder management, examining 169 articles from 2007 to 2019. This enables us to analyze the extant knowledge base and suggest the addition of four main topics to the future research agenda on nonprofit-stakeholder relationship marketing: 1) a broad stakeholder view; 2) enhanced two-way interactions with stakeholders; 3) the opportunities and challenges of using online resources in combination with offline channels/tools to interact with stakeholders; and 4) new theoretical developments and methodological approaches.
... Organizations employ various message platforms such as websites, blogs, and social media to communicate with publics, and these platforms occupy different positions in their capability for generating social presence (Skalski & Tamborini, 2007). Nevertheless, previous research on the effectiveness of dialogic messages has focused on the single message platform in isolation from other available platforms (Lee & Shin, 2012, 2014Lim & Lee-Won, 2017;Watkins, 2017), and thus has limited our understanding of the effect of dialogic messages. ...
Although there has been a consensus that health organizations should better utilize dialogic capabilities of online platforms, little is known about if the effectiveness of dialogic communication varies across message platforms, and if so, why. An experiment (N = 209) examined how message platforms (i.e., website vs. Twitter) moderate the effect of dialogic messages and uncovered a novel theoretical mechanism underlying such effect. Exposure to dialogic (vs. monologic) messages about a health risk yielded greater sense of direct conversation with the health organization (i.e., social presence). However, such effect was observed only when the messages were delivered via the organization’s website. In the organization’s Twitter, dialogic and monologic messages did not exert significantly differential influence. Enhanced social presence, in turn, reduced psychological distance to the risk, which subsequently induced stronger risk-preventive behavioral intentions.
... Further, categorizing museums' posts or tweets and the subsequent user responses limits or excludes exploration of whether and how users communicate with each other when interacting with content published by museums. Studies of organization communication on social media have explored whether this kind of "many-to-many" communication takes place when content is published by institutional accounts on Twitter and Facebook (Hether, 2014;Waters & Jamal, 2011). In the museum literature, Russo (2012) wrote favorably about the potential for museums to use social media to "foster community" (i.e., support communication among users, in addition to between an institution and its publics) in discussions of museum blogs and online forums, but made no reference to Twitter or Facebook. ...
Traversing disciplines, A History of Participation in Museums and Archives provides a framework for understanding how participatory modes in natural, cultural, and scientific heritage institutions intersect with practices in citizen science and citizen humanities.Drawing on perspectives in cultural history, science and technology studies, and media and communication theory, the book explores how museums and archives make science and cultural heritage relevant to people’s everyday lives, while soliciting their assistance and participation in research and citizen projects. More specifically, the book critically examines how different forms of engagement are constructed, how concepts of democratization are framed and enacted, and how epistemic practices in science and the humanities are transformed through socio-technological infrastructures. Tracking these central themes across disciplines and research from Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States, the book simultaneously considers their relevance for museum and heritage studies. A History of Participation in Museums and Archives should be essential reading for a broad academic audience, including scholars and students in museum and heritage studies, digital humanities, and the public communication of science and technology. It should also be of great interest to museum professionals working to foster public engagement through collaboration with networks and local community groups.
... Further, categorizing museums' posts or tweets and the subsequent user responses limits or excludes exploration of whether and how users communicate with each other when interacting with content published by museums. Studies of organization communication on social media have explored whether this kind of "many-to-many" communication takes place when content is published by institutional accounts on Twitter and Facebook (Hether, 2014;Waters & Jamal, 2011). In the museum literature, Russo (2012) wrote favorably about the potential for museums to use social media to "foster community" (i.e., support communication among users, in addition to between an institution and its publics) in discussions of museum blogs and online forums, but made no reference to Twitter or Facebook. ...
Citizen science (CS) and citizen humanities (CH) are increasingly engaging people in participatory and contributory activities that support research conducted by universities, museums, and archives. These relatively new terms describe different types of public interactions with tangible and intangible cultural, natural, and scientific heritage, often involving digital archives, museum-collection databases, or crowdsourcing platforms. Although public involvement with the work of science and cultural heritage research institutions is not a modern phenomenon, the rapid development and accessibility of digital tools is broadening and transforming knowledge practices in significant ways. Emerging from different trajectories of disciplinary and professional development, citizen projects in the sciences and in the humanities are not easily compared. This chapter approaches topics in CS and CH as tacking stitches, binding disciplines in the exploration of shared, pertinent questions: In which ways do perspectives on democratization inform communication models in CS and CH? How are knowledge and communication practices in citizen projects in the sciences and humanities organized? What are the respective and shared motivations of institutions and volunteers? What are some emergent trends and issues in the development of CS and CH, and how are these relevant for museum and heritage studies? The chapter identifies principles, challenges, and implications of public participation in citizen projects on both general and domain-specific levels and introduces the interdisciplinary background and approach in the book.
... Further, categorizing museums' posts or tweets and the subsequent user responses limits or excludes exploration of whether and how users communicate with each other when interacting with content published by museums. Studies of organization communication on social media have explored whether this kind of "many-to-many" communication takes place when content is published by institutional accounts on Twitter and Facebook (Hether, 2014;Waters & Jamal, 2011). In the museum literature, Russo (2012) wrote favorably about the potential for museums to use social media to "foster community" (i.e., support communication among users, in addition to between an institution and its publics) in discussions of museum blogs and online forums, but made no reference to Twitter or Facebook. ...
This chapter focuses on building knowledge infrastructures for citizen science, and the importance of reciprocity. The study is based on a web survey about Species Observation (SO), a national biodiversity mapping activity that facilitates bridging activities between science and different publics in new manners. Within citizen science, the participants’ motivation to participate is much studied. However, we claim that by building knowledge infrastructures which facilitate reciprocity, one builds a long-lasting relationship between the participants and the activity undertaken. These kinds of relationships do not primarily build on a one-way motivation to contribute, but on a reciprocal relationship where all parties gain something. Two findings are crucial. First, the new knowledge infrastructure facilitates both uploading and downloading information; downloading information is a very important activity—examples are private field diaries, searching for information, looking at recent records, looking at statistics, and looking at inventories. Second, the users emphasize individual interests—examples are competition, displaying their own pictures, studying others’ pictures, learning something new, spending more time outdoors, increasing their own knowledge, and most importantly, keeping track of their own records.
... Further, categorizing museums' posts or tweets and the subsequent user responses limits or excludes exploration of whether and how users communicate with each other when interacting with content published by museums. Studies of organization communication on social media have explored whether this kind of "many-to-many" communication takes place when content is published by institutional accounts on Twitter and Facebook (Hether, 2014;Waters & Jamal, 2011). In the museum literature, Russo (2012) wrote favorably about the potential for museums to use social media to "foster community" (i.e., support communication among users, in addition to between an institution and its publics) in discussions of museum blogs and online forums, but made no reference to Twitter or Facebook. ...
Citizen Science (CS) and Citizen Humanities (CH) are increasingly engaging people in participatory and contributory activities that support research conducted by universities, museums and archives. These relatively new terms describe different types of public interactions with tangible and intangible cultural, natural, and scientific heritage, often involving digital archives, museum collection databases, or crowdsourcing platforms. Although public involvement with the work of science and cultural heritage research institutions is not a modern phenomenon, the rapid development and accessibility of digital tools is broadening and transforming knowledge practices in significant ways. Emerging from different trajectories of disciplinary and professional development, citizen projects in the sciences and in the humanities are not easily compared. This chapter approaches topics in Citizen Science and Citizen Humanities as tacking stitches, binding disciplines in the exploration of shared, pertinent questions: In which ways do perspectives on democratization inform communication models in citizen science and citizen humanities? How are knowledge and communication practices in citizen projects in the sciences and humanities organized? What are the respective and shared motivations of institutions and volunteers? What are some emergent trends and issues in the development of citizen science and citizen humanities and how are these relevant for museum and heritage studies? The chapter identifies principles, challenges, and implications of public participation in citizen projects on both general and domain-specific levels, and introduces the interdisciplinary background and approach in this book: A History of Participation in Museums and Archives: Traversing Citizen Science and Citizen Humanities.
... Further, categorizing museums' posts or tweets and the subsequent user responses limits or excludes exploration of whether and how users communicate with each other when interacting with content published by museums. Studies of organization communication on social media have explored whether this kind of "many-to-many" communication takes place when content is published by institutional accounts on Twitter and Facebook (Hether, 2014;Waters & Jamal, 2011). In the museum literature, Russo (2012) wrote favorably about the potential for museums to use social media to "foster community" (i.e., support communication among users, in addition to between an institution and its publics) in discussions of museum blogs and online forums, but made no reference to Twitter or Facebook. ...
As the notion of citizen science (CS) has developed within the natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities, researchers and practitioners have concentrated on scientific or educational outcomes, and on the partnership between academia and society. The “citizens” in citizen science, however, have been under-theorized. A variety of terms are used to describe citizens including volunteers, participants, amateurs, lay people, and lay scientists, as well as users, publics, and audiences. This chapter focuses on three terms–users, publics, and audiences–and considers how these terms, far from being interchangeable, reflect distinct conceptions of citizens from the fields of innovation studies, science and technology studies, and media studies. Each concept describes which spaces citizens access and how they access them; how citizens interact with each other socially and communicatively; and how we think about participation. We argue, therefore, that the concepts of users, publics, and audiences can extend recent discussions that link participation in CS to the terms used to refer to people, or citizens who are involved. It is furthermore important to remember that scientists are also citizens, and that they all partake in different constructions of users, publics, and audiences.
... As an example, an article by Watkins (2017)-called Experimenting with dialogue on Twitter-uses the Kent and Taylor (1998) paper to structure her analysis without any mention of their subsequent refinements to their ideas. Similarly, Hether (2014) used Kent and Taylor's early work in her research on social media. She briefly mentions that "negative comments are viewed as opportunities for [the organization] to engage directly with its publics to move towards mutual understanding" (Hether, 2014, p. 857). ...
This paper articulates the existence of different forms of ‘dialogue’, ranging from the conduct of simple two-way communication through more interactive forms culminating in true (or capital D) Dialogue. The importance of, and rationale for, the making of these distinctions is discussed in relation to the theorizing and practice of dialogue in public relations. A framework encompassing variations on the theme of dialogue is proposed in the form of a dialogic ladder that reflects the everyday usage of the term, while also preserving the existence and distinction of the normative form. The clearer and more consistent conceptualization of dialogue resulting from the dialogic ladder will assist in developing teaching curricula and associated materials that enable future researchers and practitioners to distinguish between true Dialogue and other forms. The dialogic ladder contributes to the development of dialogue theory that either expands to include dialogue-in-name-only (Kent & Theunissen, 2016), or narrows its focus to consider only true Dialogue. It will also allow identification of situations in practice where two-way communication falls short of true Dialogue, and stimulate efforts to consider why this shortfall occurs and how it might be addressed—if the conduct of true Dialogue is deemed necessary and possible. Finally, the dialogic ladder provides an alternative perspective on the role of dialogue in the two-way symmetric model of public relations.
... Initially developed to guide communicative relationships with publics on websites, the dialogic principles have been extended to explain stakeholder communication across various social media platforms (Arturo et al., 2017;Men et al., 2018;Seltzer and Mitrook, 2007) and disciplines, including environmental activism (Bortree and Seltzer, 2009;Jahng and Lee, 2018), public relations agencies (Thelen et al., 2018), health care (Hether, 2014), higher education (McAllister-Spooner, 2012) and non-profit organizations (Lovejoy et al., 2012). Based on the theory of dialogic communication, scholars have also evaluated the role of the CEO in creating stakeholder engagement and its influence on publics' attitudinal and relational outcomes (e.g. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare Fortune 200 and top startup chief executive officers’ (CEOs) communication strategies on Twitter and the effectiveness of these strategies in influencing public engagement. Specifically, guided by the dialogic communication theory and social presence theory, this study explored CEOs’ use of dialogic communication, social presence strategies and message tactics. Additionally, public engagement on Twitter measured by total number of likes, retweets and comments was associated with communication strategies utilized by CEOs.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed the quantitative content analysis. A total sample of 720 posts from 36 CEOs were selected and analyzed. Drawing from prior studies, a coding scheme was developed and employed during the coding process. Two authors of this study served as coders and reached satisfactory inter-coder reliability. A series of χ² tests and negative binomial regressions were conducted for data analysis.
Findings
Neither Fortune 200 CEOs nor top startup CEOs fully utilized dialogic principles for Twitter communication. Although Fortune CEOs seemed to be experts in strategically tailoring messages and therefore present themselves on Twitter in a friendly manner, startup CEOs demonstrated a higher level of authenticity, animation and informality. Findings are mixed regarding the direction of associations between dialogic principles and public engagement.
Originality/value
This study expands the application of dialogic principles in examining online executive communication and its influence in public engagement on Twitter. This study was among the first that examined executive leadership communication in the context of social media setting. In this sense, the study shifted the internal focus of leadership research to investigating leaders’ interaction with a variety of online publics.
... Dialogue continues to be a source of interest and inspiration for the theory and practice of public relations. It has featured as a session theme in public relations streams at international conferences, and repeatedly featured in articles in leading academic journals in the discipline (see, for example, Adams & McCorkindale, 2013;Gálvez-Rodríguez, Sáez-Martín, García-Tabuyo, & Caba- Pérez, 2018;Hether, 2014;Watkins & Lewis, 2014, among others). Interestingly, many of these articles are based on one of the earliest articulations of dialogue from a public relations perspective in the online space, developed by Kent and Taylor (1998). ...
This paper replicates an Australian study (Lane, 2018) into how public relations practitioners understand dialogue in practice. The original study found practitioners believed they were carrying out dialogue legally required by government, but what they were doing was no more than two-way communication. It also found practitioners’ operating environments meant they could never actually undertake dialogue, even if mandated to do so. These empirically-based insights revealed the existence of gaps between theory and practice in dialogue in public relations. The study was repeated in Austria to determine if these findings were consistent internationally, and to consider what this might mean for the place of dialogue in public relations. Examples of socalled mandated ‘dialogue’ provided by Austrian public relations practitioners in semi-structured interviews were analyzed using Kent and Taylor’s (2002) five principles of dialogue. This analysis showed that despite the Austrian practitioners’ familiarity with the work of Habermas on dialogue, the mandated communication they carried out was not dialogue. The Austrian experience also showed that the nature of the underlying context of mandated communication—the need to achieve agreement between parties in varying levels of conflict; and conducting communication within boundaries of time and non-negotiable pre-existing decisions—meant dialogue could never occur. Comparing the two studies demonstrated high levels of similarity between the countries’ results, which we hope can provide the starting point for the development of a longitudinal and international perspective. This paper concludes that the place of dialogue in the theory and practice of public relations is dependent on the education of practitioners in its implementation; and a re-thinking of the role of the aspirational in situations where it can never be attained.
... Sosyal medya kurumla hedef kitleleri arasında doğrudan bir iletişim imkânı sunduğu için iki yönlü iletişimin gerçekleşmesini daha olanaklı hale getirirken (Hether, 2014;Wright & Drifka, 2009); geri bildirimlerin anında alınmasına da olanak tanımakta (Lipsman, Graham, Mike, & Sean, 2012, p. 41) ve bu nedenle geleneksel iletişim araçlarına göre çok daha fazla etkileşimli bir mecra olarak ortaya çıkmaktadır. Özellikle Facebook, Twitter, YouTube gibi sosyal paylaşım ağları; kullanıcılar arasındaki etkileşimi en yüksek seviyede sağladığı için kurumların hedef kitleleriyle olan iletişiminde çok daha etkili ortamlar haline gelmişlerdir. ...
... Dialogue continues to be a source of interest and inspiration for the theory and practice of public relations. It has featured as a session theme in public relations streams at international conferences, and repeatedly featured in articles in leading academic journals in the discipline (see, for example, Adams & McCorkindale, 2013;Gálvez-Rodríguez, Sáez-Martín, García-Tabuyo, & Caba- Pérez, 2018;Hether, 2014;Watkins & Lewis, 2014, among others). Interestingly, many of these articles are based on one of the earliest articulations of dialogue from a public relations perspective in the online space, developed by Kent and Taylor (1998). ...
True dialogue—as opposed to two-way communication—is a very specific and inescapably principled form of communication with benefits for all participants. This paper asks whether, given its highly-desirable form and function, governments could use legislation to require organizations to conduct true dialogue. An analysis of practitioner insights, however, shows the nature of the relationship between organisations and their stakeholders, and their perspectives on each other and the communication between them, preclude the conduct of true dialogue. The empirical data from this study allow the identification and articulation of these barriers to dialogue, moving the field of dialogue studies in public relations on from the assertion that true dialogue is hard to find in practice. This research allows practitioners and scholars alike to say why true dialogue does not happen. Because of this, it is possible to start developing strategies for dealing with—and perhaps overcoming—the barriers.
... There may also be value in developing national media guidelines in China that are based on the WHO guidelines. Dialogic communication is believed to be effective to activate both sets of stakeholders, journalists, and policymakers [30]. If government officials could collaborate with media professionals and suicide prevention experts to develop and implement best-practice standards or guidelines for suicide reporting, it may yield stronger results than reliance on WHO guidelines alone. ...
Public media reports about suicide are likely to influence the population's suicidal attempts and completed suicides. Irresponsible reports might trigger copycat suicidal behaviors, while responsible reports may help reduce suicide rates. The World Health Organization (WHO) released recommendations to encourage responsible suicide reports in 2008. However, little is known about whether these recommendations are reflected in the suicide news for most countries, including China. In this study, we assessed the responsibility of suicide stories published in the most influential newspaper and Internet media sources in China from 2003 to 2015, using the media reporting recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO). In total, 3965 and 1836 eligible stories from newspaper and Internet-based media, respectively, were included in the study. Newspapers and Internet-based media performed similarly in applying WHO recommendations to report suicide news. Three recommendations were applied in over 88% of suicide stories. However, four recommendations were seldom applied, including offering information about where to seek help and linking the suicide event to mental disorders. Government and the journalism industry should work together to improve media reporting of news about suicide in China.
... The closest that social media research has come to generating new theories can be seen in the various studies of dialogic social media with have included a broad range of contexts including smartphones (Avidar, Ariel, Malka, & Levy, 2015), health (Hether, 2014), dialogue and social media criticism (Kent, 2013;McAllister, 2012), presidential debates (Adams & McCorkindale, 2013), academic social media use (Linvill, McGee, & Hicks, 2012), and engagement (Wigley & Lewis, 2012). Dialogic theory applied to social media probably comes closest to building social media theory because dialogue was reintroduced to the field as a theory that informed relationships made possible through new technology (Kent & Taylor, 1998. ...
Nursing home administrators are caught in a "perfect storm" of rapidly increasing health care
costs, decreasing reimbursement, and increasing competition. This paper documents how these
pressures create cascading misalignments resulting in compromises of the quality of comfort
care. These problems are inevitable, given the increase in unfunded mandates, where
performance evaluation is decoupled from actual performance. Ambient technologies are
explored as a means of tracking actual care versus reported care. Independent quality of care
tracking and documentation of ambient data, coupled with best practice research and rewards,
are explored to promote quality care as a marketing advantage. Implications are discussed.
... The closest that social media research has come to generating new theories can be seen in the various studies of dialogic social media with have included a broad range of contexts including smartphones (Avidar, Ariel, Malka, & Levy, 2015), health (Hether, 2014), dialogue and social media criticism (Kent, 2013;McAllister, 2012), presidential debates (Adams & McCorkindale, 2013), academic social media use (Linvill, McGee, & Hicks, 2012), and engagement (Wigley & Lewis, 2012). Dialogic theory applied to social media probably comes closest to building social media theory because dialogue was reintroduced to the field as a theory that informed relationships made possible through new technology (Kent & Taylor, 1998, 2002. ...
This paper examines the state of social media theory and research by conducting a longitudinal,
meta-analysis of public relations research about social media. The current study examines the
most recent four years of Public Relations Review, extending a 2011 study that examined social
media articles in Public Relations Review from 1998–2011. The essay considers three topics: a
brief review or the history of social media technology, a report of data from the longitudinal,
meta-analysis, and a discussion about the inconsistency between social media potential and
social media practice. The essay also offers public relations professionals and scholars
suggestions for moving forward in this research area.
... Some companies are seizing the opportunities social media offer for communicating with their publics, although most firms still have a one-direction communication on social media and are underutilizing the potential of these tools (Bortree & Seltzer, 2009;Capriotti & Moreno, 2007;Hether, 2014;Kent & Taylor, 1998;Kent, 2013;Macnamara, 2010;Madichie & Hinson, 2013;McAllister-Spooner, 2009;Taylor, Kent, & White, 2001;Watkins & Lewis, 2014;Xifra & Huertas, 2008). ...
This paper assesses the level of dialogic communication developed by IBEX 35 companies and a selection of 20 Fortune 500 firms with their external audiences on blogs, Facebook and Twitter in an integrated way. With this aim, a dialogic conceptual tool based on Kent & Taylor's (1998) framework has been created and applied to all the sample. The tool analyzes 73 variables on three dimensions: Presence, Content and Interactivity. Inter-method triangulation has been applied to carry out the research: virtual ethnography, critical discourse analysis (CDA) and interviews with experts.
Results show that dialogic level of the use of social media is higher in the IBEX 35 companies than in the Fortune 500 firms. However, the percentage of companies with a low level of dialogic communication exceeds the percentage of companies with a high level, both in the IBEX 35 and the Fortune 500. Consistent with previous research, this study concludes that IBEX 35 and Fortune 500 companies are still not fully utilizing the dialogic potentials of social media.
... As a field, public health has been called to task for underutilizing the value of harnessing the social characteristics of social networking sites to advance the social service of informing, educating, and empowering the public [1,2,17,20,[22][23][24][25]. ...
Background:
The interpersonal, dialogic features of social networking sites have untapped potential for public health communication. We ran a Facebook advertising campaign to raise statewide awareness of Michigan's newborn screening and biobanking programs.
Objective:
We ran a Facebook advertising campaign to stimulate public engagement on the complex and sensitive issue of Michigan's newborn screening and biobank programs.
Methods:
We ran an 11-week, US 4125), 15,958 website clicks (US 3750). "Boosted posts" yielded 528 comments and 35,966 page post engagements (US $1500). Overall, the campaign led to 452 shares and 642 comments, including 176 discussing newborn screening and biobanking.
Conclusions:
Facebook advertising campaigns can efficiently reach large populations and achieve a range of engagement outcomes by diversifying ad types, bid types, and content. This campaign provided a population-based approach to communication that also increased transparency on a sensitive and complex topic by creating a forum for multi-way interaction.
Purpose
This study aims to explore the Facebook communication strategies of Spanish hospitals during health emergencies, focusing on their role in crisis management and public information dissemination.
Design/methodology/approach
Automatic topic modelling and deep learning sentiment analysis were applied to analyse 151,738 posts from 274 hospital Facebook pages (March 2020–Feb 2022). Regression analyses were used to explore the relationships between topics, sentiment scores and hospital characteristics.
Findings
The analysis revealed nine main topics, with the three most prevalent related to COVID-19: vaccine information, security measures and situational updates. This indicates that Spanish hospitals significantly relied on Facebook to manage the emergency. The communication strategies dynamically adapted to the intensity of the pandemic and varied across hospital types. Sentiment analysis showed a negative tone for posts about security measures and situational updates. These findings align with the Agenda-Setting Theory, suggesting that hospitals influenced public discourse. Vaccine information posts were more positive, resonating with the Uses and Gratifications Theory by fulfilling the audience’s need for reassurance and guidance.
Originality/value
Using replicable machine learning techniques, this study elucidates the communication strategies employed by Spanish hospitals to manage healthcare emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights factors that potentially influence these strategies and provides theoretical justifications for them. The variation in communication strategies on Facebook among different hospital categories underscores the imperative for stricter guidelines and regulations to guarantee consistent and reliable communication during emergencies. This research provides valuable insights for practitioners and policymakers aimed at developing effective health communication strategies on social media.
The paper examines the content and structure of professional communicative practices of helping specialists in digital professional communities, and also identifies psychological influence techniques used to manage interaction with the audience. A platform with profiles of psychologists offering their services was selected for the study. With the help of parsing methods, all the specialists' questionnaires were saved. Further, thematic modeling was carried out using LDA methods. 10 main topics and 55 unique terms describing the content of the professional discourse of helping specialists were identified. As a result, the components of the communicative strategy of using digital resources were evaluated: the presence of professional vocabulary, basic terminology, descriptions of transformational techniques, the presence of a product image, an image of the result, a description of the target audience, the presence of suggestive manipulative technologies. The model of monitoring the professional digital community as a whole, the possibilities of the platform for implementing elements of the communicative strategy of specialists were also described..Keywordsparsingdata collectionmathematical modelingpsychologyspecialists
Diyalojik İletişim ve Sosyal medya
Günümüzde teknolojinin gelişmesi ve yeni medya araçlarının ortaya çıkması ile kurumların, kamularıyla iletişim kurma şekillerinde değişiklikler meydana gelmiştir. Dijital etkileşimi etkin kılan yeni medya araçları, geleneksel medyadan farklı olarak, çift yönlü iletişime imkân tanıyan bir ortam sunmaktadır. Sosyal medya uygulamaları gibi teknolojik yenilikler, kurumların kamularıyla diyalojik iletişim kurabilmeleri açısından önemli avantajlar sunmaktadır. Bu araştırmanın konusunu (2020) Fortune 500 Türkiye listesindeki ilk 100 kurumun, kamularıyla diyalojik iletişim kurma konusunda Twitter’ı ne ölçüde kullandığı oluşturmaktadır. Yapılan incelemeler sonucunda ilk 100 kurumdan 77 kurumun Twitter hesabının olduğu ve 63 kurumun profillerinde tweet mesajları paylaştığı ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu kurumların Twitter hesapları, diyalojik ilkeler ölçeği ile bilginin kullanışlılığı, ziyaretçilerin korunması, tekrar ziyaretlerin oluşturulması ve diyalojik döngüler başlıkları altında incelenerek güncel bir durum analizinin ortaya çıkarılması amaçlanmıştır. Yapılan analiz sonucunda, kurumların profillerinde en çok bilginin kullanışlılığı ilkesine yer verdikleri; diğer taraftan tweetlerde ise, medya ve kamu kurumları için bilginin kullanışlılığı ilkesine en az düzeyde yer verdikleri sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Kurumların kamularıyla diyalojik iletişim kurma, bunu sürdürme konusunda önemli adımlar attığı fakat yeterli düzeyde olmadığı söylenebilir.
Facebook has become an essential tool for hospices in their engagement with their communities online, and during the COVID-19 pandemic it became a lifeline to many hospices as a way to continue communicating with supporters. Yet, there is a severe lack of academic research into how hospices can use the tool to successfully generate engagement. This piece of research aims to fill this gap and create practical recommendations by comparing Facebook posts curated by hospices of different sizes who use the same technique with different levels of interaction. This highlights that the focus of research needs to move away from what content charities are creating and look at how they are creating it.
As employees return to the workplace amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring safety and health at work remains a top priority for organizations. Grounded in dialogic theory and protection motivation theory, this study examines how dialogic communication, as a type of strategic internal communication, can encourage employees to engage in safety behaviors in the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic via heightened efficacy and perceived threat. An online survey of full-time employees of different industries returning to the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic is conducted. Results suggest that the communal relationship of employees with their organization, influenced by dialogic internal communication, fosters their efficacy and perceived threat of COVID-19 in the workplace, which in turn increases their safety behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications for public relations and internal communication studies are discussed.
The dissemination of preventive health care information (PHCI) can create social and economic value. Enhanced communication of health information depends upon the identification of effective channels and user preferences. Recognizing consumers find the internet and, increasingly, social media sites (Facebook and YouTube) to be important sources of PHCI, this research analyzed questionnaire responses from U.S. adults to identify the social media sites (SMSs), communication preferences, and sources consumers prefer when obtaining PHCI via social media.
Purpose
There is a growing interest in the way non-profit organizations can use Twitter strategically to communicate their message, but little attention has been paid to the way content categories and features may facilitate retweets of messages of a non-profit organization that targets women as its audience. Based on stakeholder theory, this study aims to fill this gap by analyzing Women Who Code (WWC)'s tweets to examine whether there are any differences in the number of retweets with respect to the content categories (information, community or action) and features (hashtags, emojis, photos, videos and URLs) in its Twitter communications.
Design/methodology/approach
WWC's original tweets that were posted during a one-year period from February 20, 2018 to February 20, 2019 were collected using a Twitter analytics tool. The content categories for each tweet were coded, and the number of hashtags and emojis used and the inclusion of photos, videos and URLs were noted. A negative binomial regression model was used to address the research questions.
Findings
The findings showed that with respect to the content categories, community and action-based tweets were retweeted less frequently than informational tweets. With respect to the content features, the results showed that using emojis or URLs in a tweet affected retweets positively, while including hashtags or a video affected them negatively. Further, using photos or images in a tweet had no significant effect on retweets.
Originality/value
These findings contribute to our understanding of non-profit organizations' use of Twitter and provide practical implications for the way non-profit organizations that target female audiences interested in technology can disseminate their messages more strategically.
Abstract :
In light of the transformation that the public relations field has witnessed in the last two decades from interest in the management of organizations communication to focus on building and managing organizations relationships with their audiences as a basic unit in the analysis of public relations practices in organizations, In addition to that dialogue is the optimal model of ethical public relations practices and build successful relationships between organizations and their audiences, This study aimed to monitor and evaluate the use of the organizations, operating in Yemen, of Facebook, in strengthen the dialogue with their Publics, using the survey method, by analyzing the content of the Facebook Pages of 50 organizations in Yemen Which have been selected by using the method of the intentional sample, to evaluate their dialogic and interactive capacities through the Facebook from the perspective of the theory of the dialogic communication, the study has arrived into several results, the most important :
- Most published contents on the pages of the Facebook have focused on targeting the agents and the members of the local community, While Contents targeting investors, distributors and suppliers were few. On the other hand the products and the services of the organizations have come on top of the list of these contents.
- Regarding the Dialogic capabilities of organizations through its pages on Facebook, The results showed that the indications of the dialogic communications have appeared in medium degrees except The generation of return visits which has appeared in a low degree through the organizations' pages of the Facebook.
-There were significant differences between the profit and non-profit organizations in the emergence of two indicators of Ease of interface and the dialogic loop through their pages on Facebook .
Tüm dünyada olduğu gibi Türkiye'de de en yaygın olarak kullanılan sosyal paylaşım sitelerinin başında gelen Facebook oldukça önemli bir sosyal medya ortamıdır. Hayatın her alanına girmiş ve yoğun bir kullanım olanağı bulmuş bu sosyal paylaşım sitesinin kurumsal amaçlı kullanılması ve iletişim stratejilerinin bu popüler mecraya yönelik geliştirmesi ve uygulamaya konması gerekmektedir. Bu nedenle, bu çalışma Türkiye'deki kurumların Facebook’u kurumsal amaçlı olarak kullanımlarını ortaya çıkarmayı hedeflemektedir. Bunun için de sosyal medya kullanım istatistiklerinin verildiği www.socialbakers.com web sitesinin Kasım 2016 verilerine bakılmış ve hava yolları şirketleri listede üst sıralarda yer aldığı için örneklem olarak seçilmiştir. Türkiye menşeli yedi hava yolu şirketinden listedeki ilk beş kurum ele alınmış ve çalışmanın amacı doğrultusunda analize tabi tutulmuştur. Aralık ayı boyunca hava yolu şirketlerinin kurumsal Facebook hesapları üzerindeki paylaşımları kodlanmış ve sonrasında içerik analizi yapılmıştır. Kurumların Facebook hesaplarının takipçi sayısı ve paylaşımlarının sayısı gibi ek veriler de Facebook kullanımına yönelik daha fazla bilgi sağlanması amacıyla kaydedilmiştir. Bulgulardan elde edilen verilere göre; sektörden bilgi/haber paylaşımı, trend topics'ten yararlanma, özel günlerle ilgili içerik paylaşımının yanı sıra fotoğraf ve video paylaşımlarıyla görsel algının yoğun olarak kullanıldığı belirlenmiştir.
The aim of this study is to analyse the reach of existing investigation on social media and its relation to companies throughout 2014–2015. To achieve the proposed, the study proceeds in classifying such information and identifying methods to study social media and it's relation with different marketing associated topics. The research uses a mapping process that uses the database generated from references of Web of Science's publications during 2014–2015, amounting to 185 articles. The results found that the initial method is a descriptive analysis on the usage of social media as a tool for marketing. Nevertheless, during the past years studies have proposed that social media is becoming more an instrument for marketing and business management.
Public relations (PR) practitioners strongly believe that social media are changing the way PR is practiced. While it is premature to confirm the change, previous research has found that PR practitioners remain trialing with social media for purposes related to organizational communication. By conducting in-depth interviews with 19 practitioners from corporate, governmental and non-profit organizations in Kuwait, this qualitative study aims to understand how Kuwaiti organizations use social media to achieve PR objectives, the advantages and barriers PR practitioners face when using them as well as the extent whether or not social media have changed PR. Kuwaiti organizations were found to use Twitter and Instagram the most for promotion and information dissemination, but the use is generally occasional and reactive. Extending the organizations’ reach and popularity of social media among Kuwaitis were the main advantages for using this type of media, while lack of social media strategy, lack of technical skills, and confusion of the two-way communication approach were the main barriers. A new finding can be added to the literature where insufficient educational background was found to contribute to the practitioners’ reluctance to adopt and adapt to using social media. As to any causing change to PR, the respondents believe that social media have broadened the field and have made organizations look less official and more mainstream in the popular culture. The implications of the findings suggest the need for a strategic approach in terms of purpose, roles, responsibilities, policies and guidelines toward the management of social media between higher management and PR practitioners. Improvements to PR curriculum and practicum are also needed to integrate communication technologies into PR practice.
The objective of the study was to assess how banks adopt a two-way communication approach in communicating with their customers. It further examined the difference that exists between the websites of locally and foreign owned banks operating in Ghana with respect to their dialogic potentials. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Data was obtained from the contents of the websites as well as from customers of the banks considered. A two-sample t-test was used to test the hypotheses. The results show that all the banks incorporate ease of interface, usefulness of information and conservation of visitors’ features in their websites. Again, the results show that significant differences exist between locally-owned banks and foreign-owned banks with regards to user perceptions of the conservation of visitors’ principles on bank websites. The findings are that user perceptions must be taken into consideration in the development of websites. Firms should avoid the temptation of blindly imitating other websites without considering the input of specific users and other stakeholders. The novelty of the research stems from the data triangulation approach used.
This is a classic textbook in public relations, which emphasizes a theoretical, managerial approach to public relations.
Viewed through the lens of the dialogic theory of public relations, this study examines if universities use new media tools and how the world's top universities use Facebook as an interactive forum that give voice to key stakeholders. With the declining economy and limited access to resources, it is important to know how organizations utilize Web-based tools to build and maintain relationships at national and global levels. Because prior research found that users had negative feelings about lack of dialogue on college websites, it is also important to know whether universities are tapping into the dialogic potential. The content analyses of the websites and Facebook platforms show that more than half of the universities have Facebook pages. The results also show that users cannot post content or photos, or participate in discussions and wall posts. In essence, the voices of key stakeholders are being silenced via a media that is intended to provide open forums for dialogue.
This paper follows a critical approach in exploring the philosophical underpinnings and key features of dialogue in public relations practice and thinking. It argues that dialogue has been uncritically equated to two-way symmetrical communication, which has not done justice to the nature of dialogue, and has effectively stifled concrete development of a dialogic theory in public relations. The paper draws from a range of literature, including mainstream public relations and communication philosophy—in particular the philosophy of Martin Buber. The purpose of this paper is to inform public relations thinking by encouraging debate rather than proposing a new theoretical approach. As such, it sets out to explore the concept of dialogue and its philosophical underpinning, considers its practical application and suggests that it should not be seen as superior to persuasion.
Many of the relationship cultivation strategies and the dialogic principles assume symmetrical communication is taking place. However, significant amounts of information are shared in a one-way manner. Although they have fallen out of favor with many academics, the four models of public relations can provide significant insights into how organizations communicate. Using the models as the guiding framework, this brief study examines how nonprofit organizations from the Philanthropy 200 communicate on Twitter. The findings reveal that the organizations are more likely to use one-way models despite the potential for dialogue and community building on the social networking site.
The current study extends the investigation of online relationship building by examining how Fortune 500 companies use the popular social network site Twitter to facilitate dialogic communication with stakeholders. A content analysis of a random sample of the Twitter profiles maintained by Fortune 500 companies (n = 93) and individual tweets posted on those profiles (n = 930) examined the use of dialogic features within the Twitter profiles as well as the individual tweets. Results indicated that organizations that have a dialogic orientation to Twitter use (61%) employed the principle of conservation of visitors to a greater degree and generation of return visits to a lesser degree than organizations with a non-dialogic orientation to Twitter (39%).
This article provides a theory-based, strategic framework to facilitate relationship building with publics through the World Wide Web. Although many essays on the Web have appeared in professional and technical periodicals, most treatments of the Web have lacked theoretical frameworks. Strategic communication on the World Wide Web can benefit from a consideration of dialogic communication.This article offers dialogic communication as a theoretical framework to guide relationship building between organizations and publics. Five strategies are provided for communication professionals use to create dialogic relationships with Internet publics.