The phatic nature of the online social sphere: Implications for public relations

This article considers the importance of phatic exchanges—a communication exchange that fulfils a social objective rather than imparting information—on social technologies, such as Facebook and Twitter. Social media and social networks have transformed the communication environment and the way organisations manage their stakeholder relationships. As new social technologies emerge so does the diversity of corresponding communication behaviours, and culture dimensions that underpin the connectivity and requirements for relationship building. Communication characteristics demonstrated by social media users challenge existing notions of relationship management and two-way communication flow. This paper concludes that in order for communication professionals to communicate effectively, they first need to understand the composition and expectations of relationships in the online social sphere