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.