The role of new public relations practitioners as social media experts

Public Relations Review 41 (2015) 411–413

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Public Relations Review

Research in Brief

The role of new public relations practitioners as social media

experts

Nicole M. Leea,∗, Bey-Ling Sha b, David M. Dozier c, Paul Sargent c,1

a Department of Public Relations, College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University, 3003 15th Street, MS 43082, Lubbock,

TX 79409-3082, United States

b School of Journalism & Media Studies, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-4561, United States

c San Diego State University, United States

article info

Article history:

Received 30 March 2014

Received in revised form 14 April 2015

Accepted 5 May 2015

Keywords:

Social media

Public relations roles

Millennials

Pigeonholing

Mentorship

abstract

Social media is a prevalent part of public relations practice. Research and observation

suggest young practitioners are often the ones performing social media tasks. Guided by

literature on public relations roles and Millennials, this qualitative study explored whether

new professionals are in fact relegated to being social media practitioners. Analysis of 20

in-depth interviews with young professionals revealed several factors, including agency

billing rates and mentorship, that impact the tasks new professionals are assigned.

© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Conventional wisdom and some research suggest that public relations practitioners in the early stages of their careers

tend to execute social media tasks more often than practitioners with more experience. Indeed, the Millennial generation is

accustomed to having the Internet and other technologies at its disposal and may be more comfortable with new technology

(Deal, Altman, & Rogelberg, 2010). However, through a series of interviews with new practitioners, this study challenges the

assumption of why young professionals take on the role of social media practitioner in public relations.

Broom and Smith (1979) conceptualized various organizational roles for public relations practitioners, which later were

consolidated into the manager and technician roles. Technicians tend to produce and disseminate materials based on what

the client or manager deems important; managers participate in decision-making, conduct research and evaluate their

success (Dozier & Broom, 2006). No practitioner falls into a single role exclusively, but practitioners tend to have a dominant

role they enact most frequently (Dozier & Broom, 2006).

Some research has examined where social media may fit into public relations roles. Some social media activities are

more theoretically aligned with the manager role (e.g., environmental scanning), whereas others are more aligned with

the technician role (e.g., drafting tweets). However, scholars warn types of social media utilization should be treated as

consequences to role enactment and not role attributes themselves (Dozier & Broom, 2006; Sha & Dozier, 2012).

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 9515338315.

E-mail address: [email protected] (N.M. Lee).

1 Lee, Sha and Dozier dedicate this article to the memory of Paul Sargent, whose kind manner and helpful advice are sorely missed.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.05.002

0363-8111/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.