Summary When Lowe’s pulled its advertising from the TLC program All-American Muslim, critics from both sides responded. Some organized a boycott of the home improvement giant, and others applauded the decision. Lowe’s posted a response and apology on Facebook to only step further into a heated controversy as thousands of comments, many vitriolic, were posted … Continue reading Pulling Ads, Making Apologies: Lowe’s Use of Facebook to Communicate with Stakeholders
Archives
Summary Although public relations practitioners and researchers frequently tout the ability of Facebook to foster relationships between organizations and publics, sparse research has empirically investigated the specifics of that process. Corporations and nonprofit organizations have different missions and publics with whom they communicate, because they likely use different relationship cultivation strategies via Facebook. This study … Continue reading An Examination of Fortune 500 Companies’ and Philanthropy 200 Nonprofit Organizations’ Relationship Cultivation Strategies on Facebook →
Summary This exploratory qualitative case study examines the role of participatory media in nonprofit public relations. Through a case study of the “It Gets Better Project,” this research examines how nonprofit organizations can provide a platform for publics to amplify their voices, and in turn how publics can work to carry forth the message of … Continue reading Advocacy and Amplification: Nonprofit Outreach and Empowerment Through Participatory Media →
Summary This study focused on the potential of smartphones for engagement and relationship building between organizations and young publics. The findings reveal that the smartphone gratifies both interaction-related and cognitive-related needs; nonetheless, organizations do not utilize the full dialogic potential of the smartphone to engage and to build relationships with young publics. Method The data … Continue reading Smartphones and Young Publics: A New Challenge for Public Relations Practice and Relationship Building →
This is the third in a series of blog posts sponsored by the Social Science for Social Media Research Center at the Institute for Public Relations. When Joseph Campbell talked about the power of myth, he described the vast mystery of our human life that lies fathomless underneath the surface of ocean: It can be … Continue reading “When You Are Falling…Dive” – A Psychological Approach to Understanding Conflicts and Crises on Social Media →
Wikipedia has a guideline that strongly discourages public relations and communications professionals from editing articles about their company or clients. While this guideline has been in place for many years, my research found that few public relations professionals are familiar with it and even less understand how to handle Wikipedia. In February 2014, I was … Continue reading New Wikipedia Manual for PR Professionals →
PDF: Wikipedia and the Communications Professional – A Primer Written By William Beutler, Beutler Ink Presented By Council of Public Relations Firms and the Institute for Public Relations “Wikipedia and the Communications Professional—A Primer”, provides valuable insights for dealing with the world’s foremost user-generated online encyclopedia WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 16, 2014 – Wikipedia is one … Continue reading The PR Professional’s Ultimate Guide to Wikipedia Now Available as E-Book →
This is the second in a series of blog posts sponsored by the Social Science for Social Media Research Center at the Institute for Public Relations Today’s savvy PR experts are utilizing social listening and analysis for myriad purposes in the course of their day-to-day work – not merely during a crisis. Psychographic profiling, campaign … Continue reading Social Intelligence: Beyond Crisis Management →
Since the Internet’s creation, one universal truth is that “whatever is put online stays online forever.” In May of 2014 the Court of Justice of the European Union turned that adage on its head when it ruled that search engines must remove specific material from websites when formally requested by individual users. In short, that … Continue reading The “Right to Be Forgotten” in International PR Practice: Four Things Practitioners Need to Know →
Navigating social media ethically can be especially challenging since the tools keep changing and companies are constantly faced with staying current, entertaining, and engaged. These challenges were what led Denise Bortree and I to edit the book Ethical Practice of Social Media in Public Relations. Our goal was to work with scholars to provide research … Continue reading Ethical Practice of Social Media in Public Relations →
Wikipedia and the field of public relations have long had a challenging relationship. As one of the top websites in the world, Wikipedia plays a large role in defining and shaping corporate reputations. Unfortunately, due to bad actors over the years, Wikipedia has a policy that requires public relations and communications professionals to go through … Continue reading Multi-Agency Commitment to Follow Wikipedia Rules →
You own your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts right? After all, it’s your pictures, your name, and your connections. However, recent lawsuits show that ownership of social media accounts is not as clear-cut as commonly thought. Organizations increasingly argue they have a proprietary interest not only in social media accounts associated with their businesses, but … Continue reading Is Your Social Media Account Really Yours? Guidelines for PR Practitioners and Organizations to Determine Social Media Ownership →