Chapter 1. Introduction

The field of public relations has been traditionally associated with communication. Whether it was regarded as the primary focus of the field, or only as a means to an end – a vehicle to achieve strategic goals, communication has always been a key component in public relations theory and practice.

Throughout the last decade, communication has been revolutionized. Not unlike the telegraph in the 1840s, technology once again has changed the way people communicate. Personal communication was forever altered by email and instant messaging. Mass communication saw the emergence of the World Wide Web, connecting millions, then billions of pieces of content. Anyone with a computer gained access to a global library of information. Then came Web 2.0 – a term which signifies the shift towards user-generated content: discussion forums, blogs, wikis and various social networking sites are gradually replacing the traditional Web publishing paradigm. The global library is turning into a global community, and anyone with a computer can participate.

Needless to say, these massive changes in communication have had a major impact on public relations – a field which historically prided itself as an expert on communication and, at the same time, has been considered by many a communication gatekeeper “controlling the message.” This thesis examines a specific PR approach in the context of new communication realities. The results of this study may question one of the fundamental principles of contemporary public relations.

Study Background

The focus of this thesis is the general public and its significance for organizations in a public relations context.

Public relations theory suggests that the profession should focus its activities on a select number of groups, referred to as key constituents, target audiences or publics, as opposed to addressing the mass audience, or the general public. This approach can be explained by the following rationale.

The literature review will demonstrate that the underlying purpose of public relations is to prevent negative consequences, which may be caused for an organization by members of the public. Over the years, the field’s methods might have evolved, to a certain extent, from manipulation of public opinion to persuasive communication to building mutually beneficial relationships. However, regardless of the approach, the field’s focus remains on those members of the public who may cause an organization negative consequences. It is believed that these consequences cannot be caused by the general public, but, rather, are caused by individual publics, which constitute the general public. Based on this reasoning, the field focuses its communication and/or relationship-building efforts on specific publics, while considering the general public to be insignificant and powerless.

This concept has been criticized by many scholars. Some found that an organization and its social environment simply cannot be segmented into discreet entities. Others argued that an organization is an organic part of society, or the global community, and, therefore, is responsible to all members of the community, regardless of their perceived importance. However, there has been no empirical evidence of the general public causing direct negative consequences for an organization.

John Dewey believed that the public could regain its power through a restored sense of community, which could be achieved with the help of communication technologies facilitating conversation. Almost a century later, such communication technologies have become reality, primarily, in the form of blogs. A blog is a frequently updated website, with its content arranged chronologically. The conversation carried out through blogs is facilitated by blog authors referring to each other through contextual links and comments. The collective network of all blogs is referred to as the blogosphere.

In this thesis, I will argue that the blogosphere has created a global community, which can be described, in the terms of public relations theory, as the general public. I will attempt to show that this public may cause negative consequences for an organization.

Research Hypothesis

I disagree with the assertion about the general public being insignificant and powerless.

My research hypothesis is that new communication technologies have given the general public the power to cause direct negative consequences for organizations.

To investigate this hypothesis, I will conduct an empirical study of a situation involving an organization receiving negative publicity, both in mainstream media and on the Internet. The new communication technologies component of my research will be represented by the blogosphere. I expect the results of this study to support the following statements about the situation in question:

Statement 1. The organization suffered significant negative consequences.

Statement 2. These consequences were caused primarily by blogs.

Statement 3. The consequences cannot be isolated on a “per blog” basis: i.e., they have an impact only as collective action.

Statement 4. The individuals and groups behind these blogs represent multiple publics and cannot be defined as one specific public according to existing theory.

The first two statements imply that the blogosphere was responsible for causing an organization significant negative consequences. The third statement affirms that these consequences could not have been caused by individual blogs and, therefore, were caused by some public represented by all blogs simultaneously. However, the forth statement argues that no such public can be defined according to existing public relations theory, which means that these blogs are represented by a mix of multiple publics, which can be also described as the general public.

Therefore, if the results of this study support these statements, it is possible to conclude that this particular situation provides empirical evidence of the general public causing direct negative consequences for an organization.

Significance of the Thesis

1. This thesis deals with a fundamental concept in public relations theory. In 1987, Pavlik observed that most research on public relations was concerned with problems in the field. (p. 119) The subjects he brought up – “negative publicity, communication campaign effectiveness, the “professional” status of the PR practitioner” – are still some of the most common topics in modern PR research, which makes Pavlik’s concern an issue, still valid today:

Because of the practical focus of such investigations, the research generally has not involved the use or development of theory. Instead, most studies are descriptive. These studies … are limited in terms of generalizability. Since they deal with specific problems, they must be repeated frequently as circumstances change. (p. 119)

The research conducted in this study involves an examination of theoretical concepts and an empirical testing of hypotheses, thus, qualifying as “basic research,” which Pavlik described as “‘theory’ [that] can be applied to a variety of situations, and thus has more generalizability that descriptive research.” (p. 119)

2. This thesis provides a critical examination of the field. Pavlik (1987) observed that critical research on public relations was usually offered as “a vehicle for improving the profession, rather than questioning its role or function in society.” (p. 123) He argued that critical research was much needed:

We need to examine the institution itself. What positive function does public relation serve in society? To what extent do PR efforts actually inform, and to what extent are they merely veiled persuasion? (p. 124)

By challenging a fundamental assumption, both in public relations theory and practice, this study offers a critical examination of an important aspect of the field’s relationship with society.

3. This thesis introduces a computer science approach to collecting, storing and analyzing empirical data. According to my knowledge, this kind of approach has not been used in public relations research and, therefore, can be considered a unique contribution to the field. I believe computer science can be successfully applied to research in communication in general, and public relations in particular. This study, being an example of this application, may stimulate and improve communication research in other areas.

Structure of the Thesis

This thesis consists of an introduction, a literature review, a description of the methodology, an overview and analysis of the collected data, a discussion of the results, and a conclusion.

Chapter 2 will cover theories and recent research findings on the relationship-building approach to public relations, principles of segmenting the general public, as well as the concepts of the public at large, community and new communication technologies applied to contemporary public relations theory and practice.

Chapter 3 will provide a justification of the selected method of gathering and analyzing the data. I will explain why blog posts were selected as the main source of data and the Edelman/Wal-Mart blog campaign as the subject of the study. I will provide a detailed overview of the data collection methodology, including a description of the obtained data set, as well as the quantitative and qualitative analysis approaches used to examine the data. The chapter will conclude with a discussion of the limitations of the selected methodology.

Chapter 4 will describe the results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the collected data. The chapter will identify a set of the most influential blogs in the context of this study.

Chapter 5 will discuss the results of the data analysis carried out in the previous chapter, their implications for this study’s hypothesis, as well as for some of the theories discussed in the literature review.

Chapter 6 will summarize the results of this study and will suggest possibilities for further research in this area.