2010 - Public Relations Society of America
2010 - Public Relations Society of America
2010 - Public Relations Society of America
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social media. One focus <strong>of</strong> the article discussed the importance <strong>of</strong> being able to accurately<br />
measure how social media impacts an organization. This study helps practitioners fulfill some <strong>of</strong><br />
this need, particularly within the Millennial market. Findings from this study can help public<br />
relations practitioners allocate resources to social media tools that are most frequently being<br />
interacted with by Millennials. For the companies/brands that were emphasized in the study,<br />
further knowledge can be gleaned from public relations practitioners from those particular<br />
organizations in regard to social media tool usage and their company/brand. Lessons in which<br />
social media tools are being used and even which combination <strong>of</strong> tools is strongest for each<br />
company/brand can be gathered and used for future allocation <strong>of</strong> time and resources.<br />
Communication scholars <strong>of</strong> the early 1900s remember the days <strong>of</strong> media effects with<br />
terms as “magic bullet theory” or the “hypodermic needle theory” to describe the times when<br />
mass communication was assumed to have great effects on the public through one message<br />
through one medium to the entire public (Windahl, Signitzer & Olson, 2009). Findings in this<br />
study suggest that Millennials demand specific mediums to have their messages arrive to them.<br />
When public relations practitioners do not take into consideration targeting their messages, those<br />
messages fall upon the mass society as a blanket with only hopes <strong>of</strong> the targeting audience being<br />
able to pick up the message. Millennials are unlike any other generation in the way they that they<br />
have surrounded themselves with new ways to build relationships: through a communications<br />
medium (Tapscott, 1996). Social media tools have provided new ways for key publics to build<br />
and maintain relationships with companies/brands. Much work remains to be done in the<br />
academic realm to further examine the variety <strong>of</strong> relationship dimensions that can all work to the<br />
organizations’ advantage in building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with key<br />
publics. However, the current study helps shed some light on how public relations practitioners<br />
are using social media tools to effectively reach the Millennial audiences.<br />
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