ABSTRACT
This chapter explores digital social advocacy as a form of public communication that is fundamentally different from previous forms of grassroots public relations. The main argument is that digital technologies have expanded the public sphere by increasing the ability of citizens and organizations to directly communicate, collaborate, and express support or dissent in ways that were not possible before the advent of these tools. Digital technologies offer great promise for helping public relations practice the normative model of collaborative advocacy. Digital media can give voice to groups that would otherwise be marginalized and, in doing so, serve the greater good. It illustrates how a novel form of grassroots public relations-digital social advocacy-has expanded "the contours within which groups and individuals can voice concerns". This expansion means that citizens outside of formal structures can communicate, collaborate, and agitate for social change among themselves and with the organizations they oppose.
