Tweeting but not Talking: The Missing Element in Talk Radio's Institutional Use of Twitter

Abstract

The interplay between Twitter and media organizations has been an increasing area of research. This article examines how talk radio stations have adopted Twitter at an institutional level, based on a comparative study of the official accounts of three prominent talk radio stations in Canada in 2010 and 2011. While talk radio is considered an interpersonal medium, our analysis shows the stations mainly use Twitter as a one-way medium to broadcast news updates, rather than to engage with audiences. Our findings suggest a divergence between institutional and individual social media practices, with official accounts as formal channels of communication.

Notes

Notes

¹ Cfr. its Website, available at http://www.cjob.com/

² Cfr. Wikipedia, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CJOB.

³ Cfr. its Web site, available at http://www.cjad.com/

⁴ Cfr. Wikipedia, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CJAD.

⁵ Cfr. its Web site, available at http://www.cknw.com/

⁶ This is the case of NPR, Rockford Register Star, Bloomberg, Orlando Sentinel, The Guardian, Reuters, Freedom Communications, The Roanoke Times, and ASNE policies. Cfr. Herrera, 2014.

⁷ Cfr. for instance, Tsui (2008) or Stray (2010). Among the reasons to explain the few external links, Tsui (2008) points to the fear of losing control over audiences, advertising revenue, as well as technical and organizational habits.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Susana Herrera-Damas

Susana Herrera-Damas (Ph.D., University of Navarra) is an associate journalism professor at the University Carlos III of Madrid. Her research interests include how mainstream media can best embrace social media to increase the quality of journalism.

Alfred Hermida

Alfred Hermida (M.A., University College London) is an associate professor in the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of British Columbia. His research interests include emerging genres of journalism, social media, and computational journalism.