2010 - Public Relations Society of America

around the country are seeking guidance on understanding this new media behavior and its
application to the wider public relations world. Hood (2007) commented on the increasing need
for a more consistent social media presence in academia. In her article in PRWeek, Hood
explained that educators need to begin making changes to the traditional programs in order to
accommodate the growing trend of social media within the PR field. Hood challenges those
teaching in the public relations field. “We all need to be much more active about making sure
that it [better understanding for students of new social media] happens, so that the industry
continues to attract the best, and they [students] are equipped with the tools they need to do the
job as it continually changes” (Hood, 2007, p. 11).
Social media are changing public relations careers, whether the field is ready or not. Scott
(2007) pointed out how social media have changed the look of public relations, beginning with
the rise of the Web:
PR is no longer just an esoteric discipline where great efforts are spent by companies to
communicate exclusively to a handful of reporters who then tell the company’s story,
generating a clip for the PR people to show their bosses. Now, great PR includes
programs to reach buyers directly. The Web allows direct access to information about
your products, and smart companies understand and use this phenomenal resource to
great advantage. (p. 11)
Literature on how practitioners are using social media is scarce at this point, primarily
because social media is in its infancy. It is helpful to further analyze the existing public relations
literature to support the thought structure concerning how these emerging communication
technologies fit alongside and/or within existing traditional communication tools. For decades,
professionals and scholars alike in the field of public relations have turned to the foundational
block of relationship building in order to establish and maintain mutually beneficial relationships
between the public and the organization. Hallahan (2008) asserted that one way to demonstrate a
company/brand commitment to key publics was to make technology-based access available. In
an effort to expand the knowledge in building key relationships, the current study looks at a
particular technology-based medium, namely social media, to understand better what effect these
social media tools have in establishing relationships. Because of its extensive use of technology,
the Millennial Generation was chosen as the target public. Although others have looked at key
publics through the relationship management lens (Yang, 2005; Banning & Schoen 2007; Brønn,
2008; O’Neil, 2007; Ristino, 2007; Hong, 2008; Vorvoreanu, 2008), none have looked
specifically within a generational demographic. Hence, the current study contributes to a
theoretical body of knowledge in the public relations field by providing acute in-depth
understanding into the personal commitment relationship dimension, specifically with a younger
demographic, the Millennial Generation.
Social media tools have provided new ways for key publics to build and maintain
relationships with companies/brands. Much work remains to be done in the academic realm to
further examine the variety of relationship dimensions that may be able to work to the
organizations’ advantage in building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with key
publics. However, the current study hopes to uncover how public relations practitioners are using
social media tools to effectively reach the Millennial audiences.
Relationship and Public Relations
The study of the relationship between the organization and its public within the public
relations field is a growing area of research (Yang, 2005; Banning & Schoen 2007; Brønn, 2008;
O’Neil, 2007; Ristino, 2007; Hong, 2008; Vorvoreanu, 2008). The organization-public
8