Status of social media public relations research: An analysis of recent developments and trends

This study examined the development of social media public relations research by analyzing 189 articles published between 2008 and 2018 from two leading academic public relations journals. It focused on research topics, research subjects, theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, and research perspectives. Key findings suggest a boom in production, a trend toward more theoretical rigor, a set of newly favored theories, a more balanced methodological approach, and a multi-perspective orientation on research in social media public relations research. The findings depict the status of social media public relations research to date and provide a macro-level understanding of social media public relations. They also inform possible future development of this line of research.