Between hope and fear : the use of social media guidelines in companies

This paper uses the dialogic theory of public relations to get more insight in the use of social media by companies. In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 communication and HR managers of companies in Belgium to gain insight into the following aspects: the use of social media in the workplace and the development of social media guidelines. It is clear from our research that the use of social media guidelines has become commonplace. The fact that more and more customers and employees - together with the company - have become active on social media is, for most companies in our research, an argument to put something on paper. We discuss these insights in the light of the dialogic theory and conclude that companies in Belgium do in fact consider the importance of dialogue in the business context and the opportunities that social media provide in this regard.This paper uses the dialogic theory of public relations to get more insight in the use of social media by companies. In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 communication and HR managers of companies in Belgium to gain insight into the following aspects: the use of social media in the workplace and the development of social media guidelines. It is clear from our research that the use of social media guidelines has become commonplace. The fact that more and more customers and employees - together with the company - have become active on social media is, for most companies in our research, an argument to put something on paper. We discuss these insights in the light of the dialogic theory and conclude that companies in Belgium do in fact consider the importance of dialogue in the business context and the opportunities that social media provide in this regard.C