ABSTRACT
While public relations practitioners have long focused on the relationship between organizations and their stakeholders, there has never been a time when that relationship was so dominated by public participation. The new model of multiple messages originating from multiple publics at varying levels of engagement is widely acknowledged, but not widely explored in scholarly texts.
The established model of one-way communication and message control no longer exists. Social media and an increasingly participatory culture means that fans are taking a more active role in the production and co-creation of messages, communication, and meaning. These fans have significant power in the relationship dynamic between the message, the communicator, and the larger audience, yet they have not been defined using current theory and discourse. Our existing conceptions fail to identify these active and engaged publics, let alone understand virtual communities who are highly motivated to communicate with organizations and brands.
This innovative and original research collection attempts to address this deficit by exploring these interactive, engaged publics, and open up the complexities of establishing and maintaining relationships in fan-created communities.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|18 pages
Foundations
part II|97 pages
Theoretical approaches to public relations, engagement, and fandom
chapter 4|12 pages
Encouraging the rise of fan publics
chapter 9|14 pages
Gearing toward excellence in corporate social media communications
chapter 10|13 pages
New media, new media relations
part III|76 pages
Brand perspectives: applying theories of public relations and fandom in corporate, government, and nonprofit spaces
chapter 12|12 pages
Boosters, idealized citizens, and cranks
chapter 14|12 pages
What's at stake in the fan sphere?
chapter 15|12 pages
Riding the wave
chapter 16|12 pages
Facilitating the “charged public” through social media
part IV|50 pages
Stakeholder engagement and communication in traditional fan spaces