Military’s public relations practice in the social media era: exploring the Chinese military’s use of WeChat and public engagement

ABSTRACT

Militaries worldwide have adopted various social media platforms to influence, inform and build relationships with strategic publics. Guided by the organization–public engagement framework, this study conducted a content analysis to examine the Chinese military’s social media practices for reaching out to the public. It analyzed the content patterns, message features, targeted publics, and engagement levels on WeChat. This study discovered that the Chinese military mainly used WeChat for information dissemination, promotion, mobilization, and interacting with intended publics (e.g. its internal servicemen). It also found that WeChat articles that used the promotion strategy, emotional appeal, fear appeal, conversational tone, and vividness strategy generated higher levels of public engagement. Theoretical and practical implications were also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Military
• WeChat
• social media
• military public relations
• social media engagement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wei Huang

Wei Huang (M.A., Hong Kong Baptist University) is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include journalism, social media, and political communication.

Yuan Wang

Yuan Wang (Ph.D., The University of Alabama) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong. His research interests focus on examining the role of information and communication technology (e.g. social media, mobile technology, and artificial intelligence) in public relations processes and outcomes through social scientific approaches. He has published dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals, such as Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, New Media & Society, Public Relations Review, Mass Communication and Society, and International Journal of Communication.