The Institute for Public Relations Digital Media Research Center, Ragan Communications, and the University of Florida collaborated on this research project to study the careers and roles of social media managers. We surveyed more than 400 social media managers to determine their job roles and responsibilities, reporting and management structure, history and levels of experience, performance review systems, and career ambitions.
This summary is provided by the IPR Digital Media Research Center. Summary Crafting a timely response to a crisis is imperative for communicators. The increased use of social media for crisis management has been beneficial in that it has allowed crisis managers to react quickly and directly; however, it has also increased stakeholder expectation for immediate … Continue reading Responding to a Health Crisis on Facebook: The Effects of Response Timing and Message Appeal
This post is a part of the IPR Digital Media Research Center. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect, May 25th, and not everyone is ready, and that includes Corporate PR professionals. The GDPR was officially adopted by the European Union in 2016. The regulation gave companies two-years to get compliant, which originally … Continue reading What PR Pros Need to Know for GDPR Compliance Day
Since 1975, the Commission for Public Relations Education (CPRE) has been at the forefront of public relations education through publication of research-based recommendations identified by an independent body of public relations educators and practitioners. Today, the CPRE is comprised of 65 academics and professionals representing universities, organizations, and associations, including representatives from: Arthur W. Page … Continue reading Contributions to Education: Exploring the Work of the Commission for Public Relations Education
Marcia DiStaso, Ph.D. and director of the Social Media Research Center, reflects on the development of social media research in honor of IPR’s 60th Anniversary. In 2006, MySpace was the most popular social networking site in the United States. Facebook had fewer than one million users, and few organizations realized the potential impact of social media. A couple years … Continue reading The Evolution of Social Media Research
Walden, Justin, Bortree, Denise and DiStaso, Marcia. (2015). This blog brought to you by … exploring blogger perceptions of a product endorsement policy and reviews. Journal of Communication Management, 19(3), 1-17. Summary This study investigates how bloggers produce product reviews and their views on the quality of their relationship with firms that pitch products for … Continue reading Exploring the Policies of Blogger Product Endorsements
DiStaso, Marcia Watson, Vafeiadis, Michail, & Amaral, Chelsea (2014). Managing a health crisis on Facebook: How the response strategies of apology, sympathy, and information influence public relations. Public Relations Review, 41(1), 222-231. Summary This study investigated what response strategies are the most effective on Facebook in the wake of a health crisis. Overall, it was … Continue reading Managing a Health Crisis on Facebook: How the Response Strategies of Apology, Sympathy, and Information Influence Public Relations
Few would debate the value of data-driven insights in public relations, but many question what this actually means. In April 2015, at the Page Society Spring Seminar, Jack Welch said data is a tool, and like any other tool, it “has the capacity to be valuable only if it is applied with strategic purpose toward … Continue reading Becoming a Data Scientist
This is a blog post sponsored by the Social Science for Social Media Research Center at the Institute for Public Relations. Toward the end of 2014, I had the opportunity to spend a week with Asif Khan, founder and president of the Location Based Marketing Association (LBMA), as part of the Arthur W. Page Center/Robert … Continue reading What You Should Know About Location-Based Services
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
Dr. Tina McCorkindale (Appalachian State) and Dr. Marcia W. DiStaso (Penn State) review public relations and social media research exploring where we were, where we are now, and the impact of social media research. relations.
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