Perspectives on Mass Communication Research Methods

This report evaluates the concept of mass media into the context of public relation practitioner. It discusses the understanding of mass media research and social media, increased usage of social media amongst the public relations practitioners, and challenges brought up by social media for the public relations practitioners.

PERSPECTIVES ON MASS
COMMUNICATION
RESEARCH METHODS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Literature review..........................................................................................................................3
ESSAY.........................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

Aims -
The aim of this report is to evaluate the concept of mass media into the context of public relation
practitioner.
Objectives-
 To Understand the conception of mass media research and social media.
 To find the increased usage of social media amongst the public relations practitioners.
 To determine challenges that are brought up by the social media for the public relations
practitioners.
Literature review
Theme-1 Understanding the concept of mass media research and social media
According to Junsheng and et.al., (2019 ) Mass media is associated with the use of
television, radio, movies, advertisements, magazines, newspaper and the internet which are used
by number of companies, reporters, public relation practitioners and number of other people to
communicate the essential information covering huge part of audience in one short. It is the most
famous mean of transferring the important information across the globe. The term MASS itself
indicates that it helps in communicating to a large audience at one time. Whereas, social media
comes under the huge scope of mass media. The media in both the concepts, mass media and
social media , remain constant and both of them represent the means of communication. The
name “SOCIAL” refers to the sharing and receiving of the information with the world and
connecting with different individuals. It can be with the help of internet, newspaper, radio,
television etc. But, at the same time in the views of Anderson and Jiang, (2018)
social media is more of the internet usage that is done by the youth of the world, the most. With
the technologies evolving at every second on the globe, even the middle age people are getting
influenced by them and as a result, social media has become one of the most used thing by every
individual on earth.
In this support Auxier, and Anderson, (2021) states that where mass media is defined as
the media technologies which are used in order to cover large audience, social media is basically
a computer-based technology which enables the individuals to create the content and then share

it by participating in the social networking. The social media technologies covers a huge part it
exists beyond the use of twitter and Instagram. They are of 7 types such as traditional sites of
social networking, social review sites, video and image sharing sites, video hosting sites,
community blogs, discussion sites and economy networks. All these social networking sites are
used for specific purposes by different kinds of people. The mas media also has 4 functions
namely: Surveillance, interpretation, entertainment, correlation and socialization. Mass media is
a broad concept than social media, mass media, it is used for providing necessary information to
the world at the hard times and also provide the world with the entertainment channels through
the television or thorough the radios. But it is more like one way of communication. Whereas,
social media encompasses two-way communication and is generally connecting different parts of
the world. It is more towards connecting the individuals with the same interest and with the same
talent on big platforms such as the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. It gives an option to the
individuals to revert through the replies and comments. These days with the help of social media
different cultures and traditions are also spreading there awareness to the world. Hence, both
mass media and social media cover the large audience but at the same time, both of them, serve
different purpose to the society.
Theme-2 Discussing the increased usage of social media amongst the public relations
practitioners.
According to the Scott, (2022) it has been observed that the role of social media has been
significantly increased. The role of public relation practitioner is to influence person like
investors, business partners, shareholders, stakeholders etc. it is evident that the users of social
media are greatly impacted by the trends that is being followed on such social media sites. The
public relation practitioner uses this media platforms to gain trust of the consumer in the
products and the brand of the company. Another thing desribed as per Quesenberry, (2020)
behind increasing use in media platforms is that this platforms act as the best communication
medium between consumer and the brand which makes sure that there is no gap and doubts in
the mind of individuals. Further, this also allows real time messaging system for stronger hold of
company over its consumer. The relationship marketing has gained good result in recent times
and that has been the another reason.

As per the view of Komodromos, (2016) this has also been seen that the social media
marketing by public relation practitioner is the best way to reach large section of consumer at
once. This also allows PR to target the specific audience that the company is looking for.
Further, Social media marketing is also another way to engage audience with the products and
the brand that the practitioner belongs too. The inviting approach help practitioner to reach right
consumer also managers can involve with meaningful and impactful social programmes to built
good image of the company. For developing an effective relationship, brand awareness, creating
campaigns that ultimately reach right base of consumer can only be done with the help of social
media sites.
As per Tam and Kim, (2018) this can also be said that it the other reasons behind
increasing usages of social media platforms is to gain focus of consumer and make them aware
about the campaigns. It can also be explained that the role of social media management has
increased the ways to reach to their audience. Further, there is no doubt that it has given
connectivity at global level. Sharing information with all the world from one place has decreased
burden of the Public relation practitioner. This also turns out to be the best way for ensuring that
the organization is prepared for all the risks and profits. The opportunities can be trapped at right
time that will make sure that organization plans all the operations according to the demands in
the market. At last, This is also understood by PR practitioner that the social media already has
become a very important part of consumers and how they get influenced by using such
platforms.
Theme-3 Challenges that are brought up by the social media for the public relations practitioners.
According to the Bhandari and Bansal, (2018) the biggest challenge Is to be consistent
with the engagement rates. Gaining attention of users at the right content of the company is the
biggest challenge that is being faced by the public relation practitioner. Maintaining algorithms is
the toughest challenge while connecting with the consumer through the social media platforms
not only this the another challenges is to make campaigns that will stand out from the campaigns
of the competitors. However, as per the gben and Ilaya (2021) Establishing identity in such a
huge platform is quite difficult. There are various legacy brands that are well-established in this
industry and competing with such brands becomes hard however, these challenges can overcome
by collaborating with the influencers and the brands that make company to reach to right

consumer base. The duty to reach those influencers and the brans that will help company lies in
the hand of social media practitioner.
As per view of Toledano and Avidar (2016) the another challenges that the public
relation practitioner faces is to juggle with multiple platforms. Instagram, Facebook, twitter,
YouTube et. Has to be managed by single person which sometimes becomes problematic. The
cross – posting and responding to all the comments is another task. There are various channels
that needs to be maintained and consolidated in the same direction for achieving the goals of the
companies. But according to the Phillips and Young, (2019) There are times when stakeholders
further do not understand the concept of social media and realizing them the importance of
social media marketing is somewhere gets difficult.
As per the view of Constantinides, (2016) this can be also be discussed that the another
major challenge related with the social media is to be creative and innovative. The creativity in
the various media platforms will be engaging audience with the product and the brand. Coming
with the new content is perhaps more frustrating thing. Lack of social media presence stops
company from growing in the market and this problem is needed to be solved. Lack of strategic
direction while social media campaigns can further create problem for the company. At the same
time experiments in the social media marketing by the public relation practitioner is quite risky
as it takes attention of large section of consumer at once and it can impact goodwill of company.
The proactive action plan must be prepared in order to avoid such circumstances but on the other
side as per the Evans, (2016) all the challenges can easily avoided by setting things such as the
competitive analysis, market research, relevant matrices to handle all such problems that can
occur due to the high usage of social media platforms. Public relation manager must also set all
the meetings and collaborations that can help company to grow in market by grabbing all the
opportunities. Moreover, all this tools will make a better understanding of the presence of
company in the market.
Research methodology
Research methodology state the methods or the ways with the help of which researcher or
scholar carry out the specific research in an appropriate and successful manner. There are

basically three types of research such as qualitative research, quantitative research and mixed
research. Qualitative research involves collection as well as the analysis of non-numerical data
with the aim to understand the concept of the research topic. It covers the theoretical aspects of
the study in an appropriate manner. Qualitative research is one of the best method to understand
the attitudes and perception of the authors on the specific research topic. However, on the other
hand, quantitative research means the systematic investigation of phenomena via gathering and
analysing numerical facts and figures related to the research topic. The mixed is also one of the
type of research method under which scholar conduct the study using both qualitative as well as
quantitative method (Mohajan, 2018). Both qualitative and quantitative research method plays
vital role in conducting the research in a successful manner based on the research topic. In case,
if the research topic covers only theoretical concepts and framework that scholar should select
qualitative method. While, in case if researcher conduct study on numerical topic than
quantitative study is best.
In order to conduct the study on topic “Increasing use of social media among public
relations practitioners”, the scholar has proposed qualitative research method. Also, the data will
be collected by the researcher from secondary sources such as books, journals, articles,
newspapers, business news etc. Social media has successfully redefined the courses of mass
communication as well as the information dissemination. In simple term, the social media has
helped the public relations practitioners to surpasses the reach that the broadcast and the print
media can cover. With the help of social media, the PR practitioners able to capture all types of
audiences towards their information. It was highly used by the public parties for connecting
people all over the world. Hence, to assess the increasing use of social media by the PR
practitioners to communicate their information and ideas along with the challenges they faced
while doing so, it was proposed to scholar that they have to select qualitative research rather than
quantitative. It is because quantitative research includes numerical data collection and analysis
which is not possible in the case of current research study (Rinjit, 2020). As, the study is based
on use of social media by PR practitioners which are highly related to the theoretical concept.
The major reason behind the selection of qualitative research in the current study is incorporation
of human experience. The qualitative research can be easily adaptable or changes based on the
responses of the author which make the qualitative study more appropriate and time saving. It

also subjective in nature and generate more opportunity for collaboration. Hence, to assess the
use of social media among PR practitioners qualitative research method is being selected.
The methodology that is proposed for the research in particular is stated to be qualitative
research methodology (Silverman., 2020). There are various reasons due to which this particular
methodology is being used in the report. Qualitative research basically refers to identifying and
evaluating the theoretical information or data that is related to the topic of the research and which
is required to be evaluated in the research in particular. The major advantages of the qualitative
research is that it is possible to understand the attitudes through this methodology in particular.
This method basically understands all the changes of the changing attitudes in the audience that
is targeted in the research. The qualitative approach also provides a flexible and more
understandable approach as the usage of jargon is not present in this methodology. The major
reason of implementation of the qualitative research methodology is that it is more cost-
effective. The requirements of the professionals is also not relevant for this particular research
but in case of quantitative research methodology it is necessary to be conducted by professional
who particularly have knowledge regarding the statistical and numerical data collection and
evaluation methods or techniques.
Also, the qualitative methodology is not bound to the limitations or the barriers that are
faced in the conduction of the quantitative research methodology (Hammarberg. Kirkman. and
de Lacey., 2016). In the case of this research if the references do not particularly fit the
expectations of the researcher then the data and the time is still not wasted as that data can also
be used for adding context and further explain in more depth. And if the data is not fitting and is
very different then the researcher can make changes and improvements too without much time
consumption. The qualitative research can also be more targeted as compared to the quantitative
research. But as the research is advantageous it also has certain disadvantages that need to be
taken care of when opting for the particular methodology, so that the consequences can be
reduced or declined. The major con of this methodology is the decision regarding the size of the
sample (Rahman., 2020). Also, the samples that are being collected by the researcher can be
biased too and can be changed, this is something that should be taken care of and should not be
done. The data that has been collected can be not reliable at all and can not be trusted. The data
or the information that is being collected might be irrelevant after a particular duration of time
because of the inconsistent changes in the preferences of the people present in the market.

But the major advantage to this research in particular is that the methodology is effective.
The time consumption is also less and the costs that are particularly incurred at the time of
conduction of the research are also low. And this is one major necessity of any research that is to
be conducted.
Ethics are very necessary at the time of conduction of any research in particular. This is
so that the wrong and the unethical behaviour is not done by the researcher due to which the
harm will be caused to the people impacted from the research that is being conducted
(Knottnerus. and Tugwell., 2018). And in case of the research methods of the mass media
communication in particular, the major methods or techniques include the surveys, the
experiments, the participant observation and the content analysis in particular. The research
methods usually include the analysis or the evaluation of the media and the test subjects as well.
The methods that are involved in the test subjects are the surveys, focus groups, experiments, etc.
Ethics play a very important role in the mass media communication (Roberts. and Black.,
2021). This is mainly because the platforms of mass media mainly including the social media
platforms that are very in trend in the present are available to people of age groups and all
segments of the society. And all the content that is uploaded on this media is presented to a wide
audience but is not for all of them. Hence, it is necessary to choose the platform as well as the
way through which the information is to be communicated to the target audience in particular
should be chosen wisely. This should specifically done by doing proper evaluation and analysis
of the information that is to be communicated and the target audience need to be set, if the
information is to be passed on to a wide audience and the aspects like ages and gender do not
matter much then the social media platforms can be chosen.
Also, information regarding confidentialities should not be shared as the mass media
communication is open to mostly all individuals across the world. Hence, it is necessary to take
permission before sharing any information that could impact the self- esteem and the position of
any individual or organization in particular. One other things that should be taken care of is that
the information that is collected from the books and the journals as the secondary data is
collected in this particular research, the data is required to be from authentic and reliable sources.
This is mainly because there is a lot of data that is present in the world already related to the
social media and its impact on the public relations and any data or information that is not
appropriate can hinder the overall research performance.

The data should be precise and should be specific as well so that the motive of the
research is achieved and the research that is being conducted can be relied upon and can be
trusted as well. The major ethics that are to be considered are questioning regarding the freedom,
truth as well as honesty, responsibility, privacy, etc. It is majorly required to study the general
moral standards that are mentioned above as the ethical basis of the specific structures as well as
institutions of the society in articular.
Conclusion:
After summing up the above information, it has been concluded that the usage of social
media among the public relation practitioners is increasing day by day. The impact of which they
are also facing various challenges such as high number of social media platforms, creative and
innovation etc. It has been also summarized that use of social media has helped the public
relation practitioner to solve the ethical issues and consideration which they need to follow.
Lastly, the essay has stated that qualitative research methodology has been selected for assessing
the impact of social media usage among public relation practitioner.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Junsheng, H. and et.al., 2019. The role of mass media in communicating climate science: An
empirical evidence. Journal of Cleaner Production. 238. p.117934.
Anderson, M. and Jiang, J., 2018. Teens, social media & technology 2018. Pew Research
Center. 31(2018). pp.1673-1689.
Auxier, B. and Anderson, M., 2021. Social media use in 2021. Pew Research Center. 1. pp.1-4.
Scott, D.M., 2022. The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use content marketing,
podcasting, social media, AI, live video, and newsjacking to reach buyers directly. John
Wiley & Sons.
Komodromos, M., 2016. A STUDY OF PR PRACTITIONERS'USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
TOOLS IN CYPRUS Journal of developmental entrepreneurship, 19(02), p.1450011.
Tam, L. and Kim, J.N., 2018. Social media analytics: how they support company public
relations. Journal of Business Strategy.
Bhandari, R.S. and Bansal, S., 2018. Prospects and challenges of social media marketing: study
of Indian management institutes. Asian Journal of Business Environment, 8(4), pp.5-15.
Toledano, M. and Avidar, R., 2016. Public relations, ethics, and social media: A cross-national
study of PR practitioners. Public Relations Review, 42(1), pp.161-169.
Constantinides, E., 2016. Social media marketing: Challenges and opportunities in the web 2.0
marketplace. Consumer information systems and relationship management: Design,
implementation, and use, pp.51-73.
Evans, L., 2016. Social media marketing: strategies for engaging in Facebook, Twitter & other
social media. Pearson Education.
Mohajan, H. K., 2018. Qualitative research methodology in social sciences and related
subjects. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People. 7(1). pp.23-48.
Rinjit, K., 2020. Research methodology.
Silverman, D. ed., 2020. Qualitative research. Sage.
Hammarberg, K., Kirkman, M. and de Lacey, S., 2016. Qualitative research methods: when to
use them and how to judge them. Human reproduction. 31(3). pp.498-501.

Rahman, M.S., 2020. The advantages and disadvantages of using qualitative and quantitative
approaches and methods in language “testing and assessment” research: A literature
review.
Knottnerus, J.A. and Tugwell, P., 2018. Ethics of research methodology requires a methodology
of research ethics. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 100. pp.v-vi.
Roberts, C. and Black, J., 2021. Doing ethics in media: Theories and practical applications.
Routledge.
Igben, H.G. and Ilaya, M.E., 2021. Public relations practitioners’ perception of new media
influence on promotion of mutual understanding between organisation and strategic
publics in Nigeria. Linguistics and Culture Review, 5(S1), pp.506-528.
Phillips, D. and Young, P., 2019. Online public relations: A practical guide to developing an
online strategy in the world of social media. Kogan Page Publishers.
Quesenberry, K.A., 2020. Social media strategy: Marketing, advertising, and public relations in
the consumer revolution. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
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