scholarly journals Social Media Use in the Public Sector: The Evolving Legal Landscape & Unique Challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Shamima Ahmed

Social media, originally started as a personal and social networking tool, is now an essential resource in the workplace. The use of Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Flickr, LinkedIn, YouTube and other social media applications in the workplace are not only widespread but are increasingly viewed as an essential resource. Employers use social media for recruitment, public relations, fundraising, disseminating information, instantaneous communication with stakeholders, and for many other purposes. Employees, on the other hand, use it for networking, job related activities, communication with colleagues about workplace issues, and often times for non-work related matters. The practical benefits of use of social media in the workplace cannot be overemphasized.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy R. Fitzpatrick ◽  
Paula L. Weissman

PurposeThe aim of this study was to understand how public relations leaders view and use social media analytics (SMA) and the impact of SMA on the public relations function.Design/methodology/approachThe research involved in-depth interviews with chief communication officers (CCOs) from leading multinational corporate brands.FindingsThe findings revealed that although CCOs perceive social media analytics as strategically important to the advancement of public relations, the use of social media data is slowed by challenges associated with building SMA capacity.Theoretical and practical implications – The research extends public relations theory on public relations as a strategic management function and provides practical insights for building SMA capabilities.Originality/valueThe study is among the first to provide empirical evidence of how companies are using social media analytics to enhance public relations efforts.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (6(J)) ◽  
pp. 150-161
Author(s):  
G. Nchabeleng ◽  
CJ. Botha ◽  
CA Bisschoff

Social media can be a useful tool in public relations in non-governmental organisations (NGOs), but do NGOs make use of social media in their quest for service delivery in South Africa? Social networking sites, blogging, email, instant messaging, and online journals are some of the technological changes that changed the way interaction between people and how they gather information. Although social media is mainly used for interactive dialogue and social interaction, the private sector soon realised that the web-based technologies (especially Facebook and Twitter) could also be a competitive business tool. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) soon followed suit however at a slower pace than the general communication growth rate of social media in South Africa. This article examines if social networking sites have any impact on public relations practices of NGOs in South Africa – an environment where both customers and employees still struggle to take full advantage of social media. The critical literature findings increase the understanding of the current and future challenges of social media use in public relations at NGOs in South Africa. The study explores the main differences between traditional and social media, how social media is redefining public relations role, and shed some light on defining public relations practices, identify the uses, limitations and benefits of social media by public relations practitioners in NGOs. Recommendations for future communication research are given. Based on the literature, a qualitative research design collected data using semi-structured, individual interviews. The results revealed that social media platforms such as Facebook do have an effect, and even changed the way in which NGOs communicate. The study also revealed that social media certainly has an impact on public relations relationships. This means that it has become crucial that public relations practitioners at NOGs embrace and take advantage of social media, and that they should also invest in proper electronic platforms to reap the benefits of improved communication internally and externally.


Author(s):  
Priyanka Garg ◽  
Saloni Pahuja

In this age of digitisation social media has become an integral part of our lives. It is an important tool for business decision makers as it enables them to stay connected with their consumers. The firms intend to make profitable use of social media applications such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Mobile Apps. This chapter details out the concept of social media, how it differs from traditional media, the specific categories such as content communities, micro blogging, collaborative websites, social networking sites, live casting, virtual game and social worlds, etc. Further the impact of social media on youth is highlighted. This chapter presents guidelines regarding optimum utilization of social media. Also the strategies to handle different social media activities are discussed


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Tam ◽  
Jeong-Nam Kim

Purpose In the midst of practitioners’ increasing use of social media analytics (SMA) in guiding public relations (PR) strategy, this paper aims to present the capabilities and limitations of these tools and offers suggestions on how to best use them to gain research-based insights. Design/methodology/approach This review assesses the capabilities and limitations of SMA tools based on industry reports and research articles on trends in PR and SMA. Findings The strengths of SMA tools lie in their capability to gather and aggregate a large quantity of real-time social media data, use algorithms to analyze the data and present the results in ways meaningful to organizations and understand networks of issues and publics. However, there are also challenges, including the increasing restricted access to social media data, the increased use of bots, skewing social conversations in the public sphere, the lack of capability to analyze certain types of data, such as visual data and the discrepancy between data collected on social media and through other methods. Originality/value This review suggests that PR professionals acknowledge the capabilities and limitations of SMA tools when using them to inform strategy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-25
Author(s):  
Nyabera N. Samwel ◽  
Agnes Lucy Lando

This paper investigates the use of Social Media by Public Relations departments in two large private universities in Kenya. Social media are web-based applications where the creation of profiles and connections of people takes place. Social media use is constantly growing amongst organizations, as technology and globalization evolve, so do the role of Public Relations hence becoming inevitable in everyday practice. Despite the availability of social media platforms, little is known on how they are used to communicate. Contrariwise, the extant literature discloses that at present, there is moderately negligible research with focus on the use of social media in public relations in private organizations. This study is grounded on the outcomes of a research submitted in lieu of a Doctoral degree in Mass Communication at the St Augustine University of Tanzania involving 270 survey participants and 2 in-depth interviews. Data was generated using questionnaires and analysed using SPSS version 23 whereas interviews were analysed thematically. Findings reveal that University K and St Paul University use social media to: publicize activities; send information to the public; change public opinion; enhance information value; lobby public support as well as to provide the public with a question-and-answer platform. This paper highlights need to pay more attention to the content and public’s need besides embracing other available social media tools and technologies to promote trust amongst the public and the organization. And also, need to devise means of adjusting to the inevitable changes regularly besides diverse approaches in strengthening PR practice and regulation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
G. Nchabeleng ◽  
CJ. Botha ◽  
CA Bisschoff

Social media can be a useful tool in public relations in non-governmental organisations (NGOs), but do NGOs make use of social media in their quest for service delivery in South Africa? Social networking sites, blogging, email, instant messaging, and online journals are some of the technological changes that changed the way interaction between people and how they gather information. Although social media is mainly used for interactive dialogue and social interaction, the private sector soon realised that the web-based technologies (especially Facebook and Twitter) could also be a competitive business tool. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) soon followed suit however at a slower pace than the general communication growth rate of social media in South Africa. This article examines if social networking sites have any impact on public relations practices of NGOs in South Africa – an environment where both customers and employees still struggle to take full advantage of social media. The critical literature findings increase the understanding of the current and future challenges of social media use in public relations at NGOs in South Africa. The study explores the main differences between traditional and social media, how social media is redefining public relations role, and shed some light on defining public relations practices, identify the uses, limitations and benefits of social media by public relations practitioners in NGOs. Recommendations for future communication research are given. Based on the literature, a qualitative research design collected data using semi-structured, individual interviews. The results revealed that social media platforms such as Facebook do have an effect, and even changed the way in which NGOs communicate. The study also revealed that social media certainly has an impact on public relations relationships. This means that it has become crucial that public relations practitioners at NOGs embrace and take advantage of social media, and that they should also invest in proper electronic platforms to reap the benefits of improved communication internally and externally.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Puja Ningsih ◽  
Tia Ayu Ningrum

The purpose of this research is to reveal about (1) PR efforts, (2) creating a corporate image (3) the use of social media in building a corporate image. The results showed that the company's image would be better if PR in a company used social media as a tool to inform the company's excellence to the public. Because at this time the public tends to use social media at all levels of age, be it children, spiritual, adult to old age. technological developments allow people to communicate easily. A company must be able to keep abreast of market developments and demands because the movement of information and communication, internal or external knowledge and public awareness increases. Industrial competition requires everything to be communicated transparently. The problem might appear unexpectedly. Small problems can become big if they are not taken seriously. This demand makes the need for Public Relations must use social media in building the company's image. Public Relations emerged as a helper in a crisis and was responsible for developing the company's positive image. Positive images are not simply formed, but efforts are needed to build and maintain them. A positive reputation is a way to get a positive image. The success of Public Relations in gaining publicity can be obtained from harmonious relations with social media in this globalization era.


2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (02) ◽  
pp. 1450011 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARCOS KOMODROMOS

This study is aimed at both researchers and public relations (PR) practitioners. The use of social media tools and technologies — such as blogs, social networking, microblogging, podcasts, etc. — is a very important factor for PR practitioners, helping them to improve important organizational processes. The research employs a mixed methodology, with data being analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. A sample of 25 senior PR practitioners was purposively selected from different sectors in Cyprus using a mixed methodology approach. Understanding how PR practitioners use social media tools in organizations in Cyprus can have a positive impact in terms of more effective branding, stronger brand loyalty and improved marketing, including stronger customer dialogue, reduced internal communications costs, ability to mine and analyze customer data more effectively, improved customer service and support, increased customer satisfaction, and better product development (such as social networking). Previous studies describe the implementation of social media in terms of yes/no. This paper is original and innovative in that it explores how PR practitioners use social media in Cyprus (and to what extent), and how this can benefit their organization as a whole.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Muhammad Munadi

This study aims to determine the management of social media, the trend of followers of each social media, as well as the use of social media in universities under the Ministry of Religion Affairs, especially in the area of the island of Java. This study used content analysis research with data derived from the website, documents that can be downloaded from the website relating to social media university activities and its development. Social media used as research are all types of social media used by IAIN Ponorogo, IAIN Surakarta, IAIN Kudus, IAIN Pekalongan, IAIN Salatiga, UIN Walisongo Semarang, and IAIN Ponorogo. Data analysis used interactive analysis and descriptive statistical analysis. The results showed that the management of social media is in the Public Relations and Publications sub-section of each PTKI with one admin operating on each social media made. the most followers on Instagram social media are IAIN Salatiga. For social media youtube is IAIN Ponorogo, while the most Twitter follower IAIN Surakarta and Facebook followers the most is IAIN Pekalongan. The use of diverse social media, on Instagram for academic activities including promotion for prospective new students dominant in all research locations and balanced with greeting content of national and religious activities by 83.3%, for YouTube by 66.6% dominant content of academic activities and this is the same as what happened to the Twitter, while on social media Facebook a percentage of 66. 6% in the content of academic activities and balanced with the greeting content of national and religious activities. The development of social media content lies in quoting national and religious activities Utilization of social media can be used for all higher education service activities within the scope of the tri dharma of higher education, both the dharma of education/teaching, research, and community service.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Adelia Masrifah Cahyani

This article discusses how the communication strategy of the Surabaya City Government Public Relations in serving and exploring the potential of the community through social media. This study used a qualitative descriptive method. From the results of this study, four findings were obtained. Firstly, in conveying messages through social media, the Surabaya City Government Public Relations, especially in conducting discussions with the social media team, to determine the market for the message. Secondly, social media content which is so varied according to what is happening in the community, especially in the city of Surabaya. Thirdly, the Public Relations of the Surabaya City Government holds a photo contest on social media every month. It is also a place to facilitate the aspirations and work of the citizens of the city of Surabaya. Fourth, in the use of social media, the Surabaya City Government Public Relations has its own segmentation which aims to make it easier for the public to sort out the information needed through social media


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