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Social Media and Strategie Communications pp 101–118Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Exploring Social Media Empowerment of Public Relations: A Case Study of Health Communication Practitioner Roles and the Use of Social Media

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Abstract

Much has been written on the influence of digital media on public relations. Scholarship purports that an investment in digital media (including online communication and social media) stands to improve public relations practitioners’ power and management responsibilities (Porter, Sweetser, & Chung, 2009). And yet, the context of digital media innovation — Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) — may limit the role of public relations in management, rendering it a marketing support function (Hallahan, 2007). Exploratory research is necessary to reconcile this dichotomy: the empowerment of public relations via use of digital communication on the one hand, and the potential subservience of public relations to marketing in an IMC structure on the other.

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Authors
  1. Brian G. Smith
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA

    Hana S. Noor Al-Deen

  2. Stephen F. Austin State University, USA

    John Allen Hendricks

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© 2013 Brian G. Smith

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Smith, B.G. (2013). Exploring Social Media Empowerment of Public Relations: A Case Study of Health Communication Practitioner Roles and the Use of Social Media. In: Al-Deen, H.S.N., Hendricks, J.A. (eds) Social Media and Strategie Communications. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137287052_6

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