Engaging stakeholders through Twitter: How nonprofit organizations are getting more out of 140 characters or less

While it may seem difficult to communicate in a meaningful manner with 140 characters or less, Twitter users have found creative ways to get the most out of each Tweet by using different communication tools. This paper looks into how 73 nonprofit organizations use Twitter to engage stakeholders not only through their tweets, but also through other various communication methods. Specifically it looks into the organizations utilization of tweet frequency, following behavior, hyperlinks, hashtags, public messages, retweets, and multimedia files. After analyzing 4655 tweets, the study found that the nation's largest nonprofits are not using Twitter to maximize stakeholder involvement. Instead, they continue to use social media as a one-way communication channel as less than 20% of their total tweets demonstrate conversations and roughly 16% demonstrate indirect connections to specific users.     

Colleges’ and universities’ use of Twitter: A content analysis

This study explored how colleges and universities are employing Twitter, a popular micro-blogging tool. Using Kent and Taylor's principles of dialogic communication, a content analysis was performed on individual tweets (n = 1130) from 113 colleges and universities. Tweets were coded for whether or not they met each principle of dialogical communication and why. It was found that institutions are not employing Twitter in a dialogic way and they are, instead, employing it primarily as an institutional news feed to a general audience. The implications of this finding are discussed.     

Terms of engagement: Facebook and Twitter use among nonprofit human service organizations

This study uses Lovejoy and Saxton's (2012) hierarchy of engagement to analyze how nonprofit human service organizations use Facebook and Twitter to engage stakeholders. Their framework has not been applied to this nonprofit subgroup, and most previous scholarship on this topic focuses on just one platform. We also contribute by drawing on organizational theory to better understand variation in the modes of engagement organizations emphasize. Based on our analysis, we add new subcategories to the hierarchy of engagement. In addition, we find that compared to other nonprofit subgroups examined in previous research, the organizations in our sample placed a greater emphasis on using social media messages to ask stakeholders to take action. We report only modest variations in how organizations were using Facebook and Twitter. Finally, according to our results, resource dependence and stewardship theories help explain the modes of engagement organizations prioritize.     

Social presence for strategic health messages: An examination of state governments' use of Twitter to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic

Scholars investigated the role of social presence theory in numerous communication contexts. However, we have limited knowledge about the impact of social presence strategies on public attention during a pandemic. This study fills this gap by investigating the connections between social presence strategies, Covid-19 strategies, and public attention. Twitter data of state governments from January 21, 2020 to July 21, 2020 were downloaded for this study. Content analysis of 1500 randomly selected posts revealed that social presence strategies were effective in generating public attention on Twitter. Furthermore, expressing appreciation, providing guidance, and informing the publics about governments' actions generated public attention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Utilizing Social Media to Promote Civic Engagement in the Social Studies Classroom

The United States of America's government relies on the people. Unfortunately, research illuminates a gradual decline in the civic and political participation among youth, ages 18-29, in the U.S. since the 1970s. While the decline takes shape in multiple forms other than voting, this article argues that teachers can improve students' civic engagement through the aide of social media. In order to achieve that goal, the article begins by defining civic engagement, especially within context of a digital age. Then describes three prominent classroom techniques for using social media found in the literature: micro-blogging, backchanneling, and virtual social networks. Finally, the article provides classroom-tested examples of how teachers can utilize the three techniques to promote the kind of civic and political engagement first defined.     

The strategic use of Twitter to manage personal public relations

This study examined the effect of personal public relations developed through Twitter on cognitive and attitudinal aspects, particularly focusing on the use of Twitter by CEOs. According to the responses of young consumers who participated in this study, their attitudes toward the use of Twitter by CEOs positively influenced their perception of transformational leadership (H1). Further, perceived transformational leadership was positively associated with attitudes toward CEOs using Twitter; this in turn positively influenced attitudes toward corporations (H2). The positive evaluation of the use of Twitter by CEOs directly influenced attitudes toward such CEOs (H3), whereas attitudes toward such use did not influence attitudes toward corporations. The results indicated that microblogging is beneficial for the development of effective personal public relations by corporate leaders.     

Tweet, tweet, tweet: A content analysis of nonprofit organizations’ Twitter updates

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.     

Bridging semantic and social network analyses: the case of the hashtag #precisamosfalarsobreaborto (we need to talk about abortion) on Twitter

This paper presents an innovative method design that combines semantic with social network analysis in order to measure opinion leadership in social networking sites in a more accurate way. We used this method to assess the efficacy of the TPM magazine in disseminating its pro-decriminalization of abortion frames (contained in the cover story of its 148th issue) that were associated with the hashtag #precisamosfalarsobreaborto (a trending topic in November 2014). The data were collected from Twitter through the data-mining application NodeXL (N?=?1010). A content analysis of a random sample was carried out (N?=?376; margin of error?=?4%; confidence interval?=?95%; Krippendorff’s alpha?=?0.661). Using the software Gephi, we plotted the data on a socio-semantic graph, which indicates that (a) the border of the social network does not represent a semantic gap with the center and (b) despite the network being extremely like-minded, one of its hubs appears to be what we conceptualize as a hotspot of contestation. We discuss how future research may replicate and refine our methodology to handle population datasets and big data as well.     

Dialogic communication in 140 characters or less: How Fortune 500 companies engage stakeholders using Twitter

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%).     

Experimenting with dialogue on Twitter: An examination of the influence of the dialogic principles on engagement,interaction, and attitude

Much of the public relations research on online relationship building has examined social media content for the use of the dialogic principles outlined by Kent and Taylor (1998). These studies, using content analysis as the primary methodology, have found that the dialogic capabilities of social media are under-utilized. However, there is limited research on the effectiveness of these methods. Therefore, the goal of this study is to examine the influence of social media content utilizing these principles on engagement, interactivity, and attitude. Results of this study indicate that usefulness of information can have a significant influence on engagement and attitude.     

Public framing organizational crisis situations: Social media versus news media

This study examines framing of organizational crises by news media and the public. Due to the rapidly evolving and escalating character of crises, this study emphasizes the initial phase of a crisis, in which public social media manifestations (tweets) play a crucial role. Moreover, this study uses automated content analysis to obtain latent frames embedded in text. Through analyzing the Dutch Moerdijk crisis, this study reveals the dynamic characteristics of public crisis framing and the media framing potential to prevent crisis escalation.     

The use of Facebook for information seeking,decision support,and self-organization following a significant disaster

The wide-spread proliferation of the Internet has revolutionized the ways that individuals obtain, interpret, and respond to information in the aftermath of disaster. An F3 tornado that impacted the community of Goderich, Ontario, on 21 August 2011 provided the opportunity to examine how people utilized Facebook and Facebook groups to seek out information, self-organize, and provide support. This mixed-methods project was conducted in two phases. First, semi-structured interviews (n?=?35) were conducted with Goderich area residents on their experiences using social media after the tornado. Next, all of the publicly available posts and replies on the Goderich Ontario Tornado Victims and Support (GOTVS) Facebook group were gathered and analysed using computer-assisted content analysis. The results demonstrate that Facebook was a highly influential source of information and support, particularly in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. Although misinformation and gossip occurred, the tendency was for the group to self-moderate inaccurate information. Public engagement by local officials may further reduce misinformation and encourage public confidence. The results also show that GOTVS activity significantly declined after two weeks. This abrupt decrease in public attention suggests that the window for engagement by public officials is narrow. As such, officials should have a social media plan in place so that they may engage with the public during the critical response phase when their participation may yield the greatest benefit. Finally, this research underscores the potential for analysing Facebook content using computer-assisted content analysis, a method that may be of interest across the social sciences.     

Hope for Haiti: An analysis of Facebook and Twitter usage during the earthquake relief efforts

The Haitian earthquake devastated the small island of Hispaniola, leaving thousands dead and billions of dollars in property damage. The earthquake also ignited a firestorm of social media use by organizations. By applying framing theory to the analysis of Facebook posts and tweets sent by nonprofits and media organizations, this study discovered differences between nonprofits and media in terms of social media use. Nonprofits and media organizations used information dissemination and disclosure effectively, but failed to capitalize on the innate two-way communication nature of social media.     

A typology of political participation online: how citizens used Twitter to mobilize during the 2015 British general elections

This study investigates how, and to what extent, citizens use Twitter as a platform for political mobilization in an electoral context. Conceptualizing political participation as a process, we develop a typology of political participation designed to isolate mobilizing calls for action from the rest of the political discussion online. Based on Twitter data collected one week prior to the 2015 British general election, we then identify the top 100 most retweeted accounts using the hashtag #GE2015, classify them by actor type, and perform a content analysis of their Twitter posts according to our typology. Our results show that citizens – not political parties – are the primary initiators and sharers of political calls for action leading up to the election. However, this finding is largely due to an uneven distribution of citizen-driven mobilizing activity. A small number of highly active users, typically supporters of nationalist parties, are by far the most active users in our dataset. We also identify four primary strategies used by citizens to enact mobilization through Twitter: in-text calls for action, hashtag commands, sharing mobilizing content, and frequent postings. Citizens predominantly expressed political calls for action through Twitter’s hashtag feature, a finding that supports the notion that traditional conceptions of political participation require nuance to accommodate the new ways citizens are participating in the politics of the digital age.     

What is gained and what is left to be done when content analysis is added to network analysis in the study of a social movement: Twitter use during Gezi Park

As social movements relying on the weak ties found in social networks have spread around the world, researchers have taken several approaches to understanding how networks function in such instances as the Arab Spring. While social scientists have primarily relied on survey or content analysis methodology, network scientists have used social network analysis. This research combines content analysis with the automated techniques of network analysis to determine the roles played by those using Twitter to communicate during the Turkish Gezi Park uprising. Based on a network analysis of nearly 2.4 million tweets and a content analysis of a subset of 5126 of those tweets, we found that information sharing was by far the most common use of the tweets and retweets, while tweets that indicated leadership of the movement constituted a small percentage of the overall number of tweets. Using automated techniques, we experimented with coded variables from content analysis to compute the most discriminative tokens and to predict values for each variable using only textual information. We achieved 0.61 precision on identifying types of shared information. Our results on detecting the position of user in the protest and purpose of the tweets achieved 0.42 and 0.33 precision, respectively, illustrating the necessity of user cooperation and the shortcomings of automated techniques. Based on annotated values of user tweets, we computed similarities between users considering their information production and consumption. User similarities are used to compute clusters of individuals with similar behaviors, and we interpreted average activities for those groups.     

I do not believe you: how providing a source corrects health misperceptions across social media platforms

Social media are often criticized as serving as a source of misinformation, but in this study we examine how they may also function to correct misperceptions on an emerging health issue. We use an experimental design to consider social correction that occurs via peers, testing both the type of correction (i.e., whether a source is provided or not) and the platform on which the correction ocratcurs (i.e., Facebook versus Twitter). Our results suggest that a source is necessary to correct misperceptions about the causes of the Zika virus on both Facebook and Twitter, but the mechanism by which such correction occurs differs across platforms. Implications for successful social media campaigns to address health misinformation are addressed.     

How publics react to situational and renewing organizational responses across crises: Examining SCCT and DOR in social-mediated crises

The prevalence of social media among networked publics calls for more research regarding how organizations can conduct effective crisis communication on social networking sites. Based on the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and the discourse of renewal (DOR) theory, this study examined how social media publics’ sentiments were affected by situational and renewing organizational responses in various clusters of crises. Twitter data of six crises representing three crisis clusters varying in the responsibility attribution (i.e., ambiguous, accidental, and preventable) were collected. We conducted a content analysis on organizations’ official tweets during crises (N = 59) and sentiment analysis on publics’ replies on Twitter (N = 4,340). The results showed that publics’ positive sentiments toward organizations were affected by organizational crisis responses that included instructing information, sympathy, systemic organizational learning, and effective organizational rhetoric. We recommend that crisis managers express sympathy toward publics as well as organizational learning that prevents a crisis from happening again.     

A survey of social media use, motivation and leadership among public relations practitioners

This study investigates the relationship between motivation, leadership and social media use among a sample of public relations practitioners who recently had begun using Twitter to follow Universal Accreditation Board (UAB)-affiliated organizations. A majority of the survey respondents were classified as “everyday users.” A series of Twitter leadership indicators correlated positively with internal motivation and correlated negatively with amotivation. Several word-of-mouth variables also were investigated with regard to motivation.     

‘Warren Buffet is my cousin’: shaping public understanding of big data biotechnology,direct-to-consumer genomics,and 23andMe on Twitter

Scholars, educators, regulators, pundits, and other observers are advocating for regulation and oversight of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genomic testing. As a result, the technology has been subject of highly visible public and regulatory controversy. In this article, we explore the nature and the shape of the sentiment of public discourse about the DTC company, 23andMe. We conduct a quantitative content analysis and qualitative framing analysis on Tweets. We find that the discourse surrounding DTC genomics and 23andMe is largely positive. We also identify a number of frames users deploy to debate, discuss, and share their experiences with DTC genomics and 23andMe. We argue that these frames create meaning around this emerging technology for its users.     

Dialogic communication in the health care context: A case study of Kaiser Permanente's social media practices

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.