Deployment of social media in public relations practice by Tanzanian quoted companies

Abstract

The overall objective of the study was to analyze deployment of social media in public relations practice in Tanzania. The problem statement was derived from the phenomenon of social media which the literature indicates is changing public relations practice for the better. This study set out to determine if social media is being deployed in local Tanzanian companies using companies quoted on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange as a case study and how impactful this has been. The research design used in this study was qualitative to gather enough data about the phenomenon. Data was collected through intensive interviews with Public Relations Executives in fourteen (that agreed to participate in the study) of the seventeen quoted companies. The study found that social media is deployed in seven companies out of the fourteen which participated in the study and eleven practitioners see social media as positively impacting public relations practice. Overall, PR practitioners have a positive attitude towards social media even though not all are comfortable with the use of social media thus raising the real possibility that training institutions by giving these much-needed skills can position graduates to fill this gap. One managerial implication of the findings is that continuing professional education is needed so that local PR practitioners can utilize and derive benefits from the deployment of social media in their activities and events.