Branding and communication on Twitter

Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,Elliot School of CommunicationNew media developed in the 21st century allows for conversations and interactions among people and organizations online. This capacity is referred to as social media (Safko & Brake, 2009). Twitter is the most active social media tool and influences the use of other social networks (Webster, 2010). Companies are entering Twitter to engage in conversations with their publics and modifying their branding strategies to work within this new medium (Jansen et al., 2009). This study attempts to understand how news media companies that use traditional media, are integrating social media branding strategies into their efforts to engage consumers. The main research question posed in this study is: How are news media companies using branding strategies to create a relationship with their target audiences through social media? To answer this research question, a literature review was developed, which presented definitions and theories of media, social media and branding. Additionally, data were analyzed from six news media companies present on Twitter through a thematic analysis. Specifically, tweets posted by three national and three local news media organizations collected over a two month period from February 1 – April 1, 2011 were analyzed considering premises and theories from McLuhan and Powers (1989); McLuhan (1994; 2002), Ong (2002), Poster (1995), Lévy, Li and Bernoff (2008), Jansen, Zhang, Sobel, and Chowdury (2009), Kotler and Keller (2006), Hatch & Schultz (2002), and others. The results showed that news media companies are communicating to their audience in three manners: spreading information, promoting marketing strategies, and generating conversations. This study also presents the potential that companies have to develop an organizational identity on Twitter and social medi