Open AccessMACRO-PUBLIC RELATIONS: CRISIS COMMUNICATION IN THE AGE OF INTERNET
Author(s) -
Zhongxuan Lin,
Yuhan Guo,
Yingying Chen
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international journal of cyber society and education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2410-857X
pISSN - 1995-6649
DOI - 10.7903/ijcse.1072
Subject(s) - the internet , macro , crisis communication , public relations , macro level , political science , function (biology) , sociology , power (physics) , economics , computer science , economic system , physics , quantum mechanics , evolutionary biology , world wide web , biology , programming language
In order to study the crisis communication in the age of Internet, the study takes the battle between two Internet companies, Tencent and Qihoo, as a case study, but focuses more on their huge public audiences, which may be defined as a “macro-public” crowd. The study employs multiple research methods including survey, focus groups interviews and content analysis to explore their “macro-public relations” which may be driven by the spiral of silence and crowd psychology. This dynamic underground power is the reason that two companies employed similar public relations strategies in crisis communication but the results of the crisis were different. The study attempts to contribute to the knowledge base by defining and highlighting the power and function of “macro-public relations” for crisis communication in the age of Internet