Social media in public relations: Rhetorical not relational

This dissertation, Social Media in Public relations: Rhetorical not relational, investigated the question: How are social media shaping public relations practice? This research explored the concept of relating, in and around the social media spaces of a case study organisation. This research argued the participants’ use of social media enacts the rhetorical components of public relations, rather than the relational ones. Rhetorical interactions such as connecting, sharing, liking, responding, conversing, and engaging are important in realising social structures within online contexts, and are also instrumental in contributing to the possibility of relating to others online. The social media praxis, within this Case, exposed Public Relation’s inadequacy to realise the outcome of relating, suggesting current approaches need revisiting, or that the result of current online activity be described as something other than relating.