Corporate Communication on Facebook: A Multi-Method Approach to Corporate Use and Stakeholder Perceptions of Social Media
Abstract
This study looked at how corporations are currently using Facebook and what
stakeholders' perceptions are of current corporate Facebook usage. A content analysis of
nine corporate profile pages was conducted. Pages were coded for the presence or absence
of relational development strategies under the categories of information dissemination,
disclosure and involvement. A survey was also distributed to the fans of the nine corporate
profiles in order to gain the fan perspective. Results showed that while corporations
include disclosure and information dissemination strategies, they rarely use involvement
strategies. This lack of interactivity is inconsistent with the fan perspective of corporate
profiles, where fans called for more interaction and use of all relational development
strategies on the corporate profile.