Hi guys, I lead this discussion by analyzing the article
“Dialogic Communication and Thought Leadership: Twitter Use by Public Relations Agencies in the United States”. Questions are at the end.
Brief Summary:
The study examined the application of dialogic principles to their communication strategies. It analyzed how U.S. public relations agencies use Twitter to communicate with their public and thought leadership practices. Thelen et al.(2021) used content analysis to investigate the Twitter profiles of the 117 U.S. agencies in the Holmes Report and the 1,120 tweets they posted in 2017. From there, the application of dialogic principles to their communication strategies was examined.
Methods:
Thelen et al.(2021) applied content analysis to assess how agencies are using the social platform for thought leadership communication. The analysis included features such as information of interest to stakeholders, conservation of visitors, and generation of return visits. In addition, this study used statistical tests, such as independent sample t-tests, to measure the impact of these features on user stickiness metrics such as likes, retweets, and replies (Thelen et al., 2021)
Findings:
The findings of this study are based on a combination of the Dialogic principle. For instance, tweets that are related to an event and award will gain plenty of engagement metrics (likes, replies, and retweets). Additionally, tweets with information that is stakeholder-related will also obtain high participant metrics. However, once the return feature or conservation of visitors is used, the number of likes will then decrease. The results of this study suggest that even though institutional links to blogs do help organizations share thought leadership, institutions often fail to make an effort towards conversation and seeking on Twitter. Moreover, the vividness of the media does increase public engagement, but interactivity does not always have a positive impact either.
My Assessment of the Study Design:
This research offers valuable insights for social media to advance PR practices and assists organizations in identifying the gaps in attaining effective use of conversational communication. I appreciate that Thelen et al. can facilitate more effective two-way communication by explaining in detail the dialogic principles employed and their theoretical basis. Besides, the study is commendable for examining strategies such as enhancing user stickiness by focusing on specific features and themes in Twitter posts. But the results did challenge my assumption that the benefits of an organization’s social media interactions with the public always need to be considered and do not far outweigh the negative impacts.
Choose two of the questions below, each citing at least one example in each from the study. Reply to your classmates throughout the week.
1. What are the potential challenges and opportunities for PR agencies in implementing the dialogic principles identified in the study across various social media channels to strengthen their communication strategies? In your answer, cite at least one example/quote from the course.
2. The inverse relationship between interactivity and engagement is interesting. Could it be hypothesized that there’s a standard of interactivity beyond which it becomes overwhelming or perceived as insincere by the audience, thus reducing engagement? In your answer, cite at least one example/quote from the course.
3. Considering the foundation principles of dialogic communication as they were used in this research, how the foundation principles will evolve as they are applied to modern digital platforms? Discuss and hypothesize some new principles or modifications to existing principles thus better suited to the dynamics of social media engagement. In your answer, cite at least one example/quote from the course.
Reference:
Thelen, P. D., Robinson, K. L., Yue, C. A., & Men, R. L. (2021). Dialogic Communication and Thought Leadership: Twitter Use by Public Relations Agencies in the United States.
Journal of Promotion Management,
27(1), 27–49.
