A1 Journal article (refereed)
A Relational Approach to How Media Engage With Their Audiences in Social Media (2022)

Badham, M., & Mykkänen, M. (2022). A Relational Approach to How Media Engage With Their Audiences in Social Media. Media and Communication, 10(1), 54-65. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i1.4409

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Badham, Mark; Mykkänen, Markus

Journal or series: Media and Communication

eISSN: 2183-2439

Publication year: 2022

Publication date: 20/01/2022

Volume: 10

Issue number: 1

Pages range: 54-65

Publisher: Cogitatio

Publication country: Portugal

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i1.4409

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/79451

Additional information: This article is part of the issue “New Forms of Media Work and Its Organizational and Institutional Conditions” edited by Salla‐Maaria Laaksonen (University of Helsinki) and Mikko Villi (University of Jyväskylä).

Abstract

People are increasingly turning to social media for their news and for sharing and discussing news with others. Simultaneously, media organizations are becoming platform-dependent and posting short forms of their news on their social media sites in the hope that audiences will not only consume this news but also comment on and share it. This article joins other media and journalism studies exploring this phenomenon through a relational approach to media audiences to better understand how media organizations, particularly newspapers, are cultivating relationships with audiences via social media. Drawing on public relations theory about organization–public relationships, the article examines how news organizations nurture relationships with audiences via social media, such as through engagement and dialogic communication strategies. This article empirically examines organization–public relationships strategies (disclosure, access, information dissemination, and engagement) of nine newspapers with the largest reach in Australia, the US, and the UK. A content analysis is conducted of these newspapers’ posts (total 1807) published in March 2021 on their Twitter and Facebook sites to identify and examine these strategies. Findings show that their social media accounts are predominantly used for news dissemination rather than audience engagement. The implications are that although media professionals are frequently distributing news content among their audiences via their social media sites, they are not adequately engaging with them.

Keywords: media; journalism; news; social media; network communication; online discussion; public discussion; audience; target groups; committing someone; public relations; media companies

Free keywords: audiences; engagement; media organizations; news dissemination; organization–public relationship strategies; relational approach; social media

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

VIRTA submission year: 2022

JUFO rating: 1