Public Relations and Online Engagement: Audiences, Fandom and Influencers

As media continues to evolve, social media has become even more integral to public relations activities, presenting new opportunities and challenges for practitioners. Relationships between publics and organizations continue to be first and foremost, but the process and possibilities for mutually beneficial relationships are being rewritten in situ.

This volume aims to explore and understand highly engaged publics in a variety of social media contexts and across networks. The hope is the expansion and extension of public relations theories and models in this book helps move the discipline forward to keep up with the practice and the media environment. Contributors analyzed a range of organizations and industries, including corporate, entertainment, government, and political movements, to consider how public relations practitioners can facilitate ethical and effective communication between parties. A consistent thread was the need for organizations and practitioners to better understand the diverse backgrounds of publics, including age, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, beyond surface-level demographic stereotypes and assumptions.

This book will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the field of public relations and communication, especially those with a particular interest in online engagement and social media as a PR tool.

Amber L. Hutchins, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Communication at the School of Media and Communication at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia.

Natalie T. J. Tindall, Ph.D., serves as Department Chair and is Professor in the Department of Communication and Media at Lamar University.