Tools of Twitter

Tools and Tactics of Twitter Page 1 of 23
Running head: Public Relations: Tools of Twitter
Public Relations: Tools of Twitter
Jonathan Barba
California State University Fullerton

Abstract
The social media site Twitter has emerged as a recognized tool for public
relations practitioners. While many public relations practitioners are now aware of
the ability of social media tools like Twitter to reach target audiences, only a
comparatively small portion of professionals are actually equipped with adequate
understanding of the tools to effectively utilize this communications platform.
This study will examine the existing Twitter tools for public relations practice, and
analyze past uses of this social media platform for effective public relations
campaigns. Through anecdotal examination of campaigns, specific tools of
Twitter are identified and tactics for utilizing these tools are explored. By
examining these public relations tools and tactics of Twitter, this study seeks to
provide foundation for practitioners to incorporate social media into their
standing public relations practices.

Introduction
Twitter has emerged as a necessary tool of public relations practitioners. Industry
wide, practitioners are using the social media micro blog Twitter to disseminate
messages to publics, pitch stories to journalists, and to bolster the reach of
traditional PR tools like press releases, media alerts, and promotions. The
importance and potential uses of Twitter in public relations campaigns are
thoroughly recognized throughout public relations, however the methods and
tools for utilizing and incorporating Twitter into campaigns is less clearly
understood. This study seeks to define public relations tools and tactics of
Twitter by anecdotally examining effective uses of Twitter in public relations
campaigns. The tools and tactics identified in this study can serve as a guide for
public relations practitioners to incorporate Twitter as a supplemental part of their
campaign tactics
Literature Review
Current academic and professional literature in the field of public relations
illustrates three general trends in Twitter usage among public relations
practitioners: 1) Public Relations practitioners are increasingly recognizing twitter
as an influential tool for public relations practice. Conversely, of the public
relations practitioners who recognize the influence of Twitter, many still lack the
understanding and tools to actually engage the social media platform. 2) Twitter
has a fixed number of tools which are available to public relations practitioners to
supplement existing campaign practices. These tools serve as the vehicles for
delivering public relations messages to target publics. 3) Current literature also
shows that journalists are turning to the internet and social media for leads and
material. These three characteristics identified in current social media literature
make the argument for incorporating social media into established public
relations practices.
The need for discussing the application of Twitter to the practice of public
relations arises from a more general trend of increasing online social media use.
According to the 2008 Forrester Research book Groundswell published by the
Harvard Business Press the emergence of social media in public discourse is
attributed to “people’s desire to connect” and the availability of powerful
“ubiquitous” online technology (Bernoff, pg. 10-11) To illustrate this relationship
Groundwell cites Tim O Reily, prominent internet observer and founder of the
term “Web 2.0”, “Technology is just an enabler, it’s the technology in the hands of
the almost-always-connected people that makes it so powerful.” (Bernoff, pg. 10)
This power is one that public relations practitioners can leverage for their own
practice.
Groundswell quantifies how internet technology is growing to an
omnipresent medium in communications stating that as early as 2006 nearly two
thirds of Americans were “online.” (Bernoff, pg, 10) The large number of people
using the internet, and the advanced interactive nature of social media today
creates the opportunity for public relations practitioners to engage a robust public
through Twitter.
A recent contributing factor to the importance of social media, in addition
to the large online public, is the increasing use of social media by public relations
professionals. A 2008 study, PR Practitioners’ use of Social Media Tools and
Communication Technology, published in the professional journal Public
Relations Review found that 28% of public relations professionals surveyed
utilized social networking. That same study also found that in 2008 almost 2% of
practitioners reported using “micro-blogging applications” such as Twitter in their
professional use.(Eyrich et al., pg. 413)
According to a TED.com video lecture by co-founder of twitter Evan
Williams, Twitter emerged in popularity very recently, in 2007.(TED.com) Since
Twitter’s emergence, the pace of social media’s influence in public relations has
grown significantly. One year after Twitter gained recognition a quarter of public
relations professionals were using social media and only 2% were using micro
blogging.
The same 2008 social media study asked public relation practitioners,
“How prevalent do practitioners see social media in the industry,” and found an
“overall perception that social media was being used in the industry.” (Eyrich et
al., pg. 413) The results of this study indicate two important trends. The first is
that practitioners do in fact recognize social media as an emerging force in public
relations. The second trend, however, is that while a significant portion of the
public relations community is engaging social media there is still a portion of the
profession that’s is struggling to adapt to the tool.
Accounting for the relatively low percentage of practitioners using “micro-
blogging applications” such as Twitter compared to more general social media,
research literatrure indicates that a lack of technological understanding may be
attributed. The same study comments on this learning gap stating, “They
(practitioners) are slower to integrate more technologically complicated tools that
cater to niche audiences.” (Eyrich et al., pg 414) The results of the survey and the
conclusions of the study indicate that practitioners are not aware of how the tools
of twitter can be applied to their profession and also how public relations tactics
can be translated to available Twitter tools.
Despite the facet that investigations suggests such a learning curve
associated with Twitter exists, many public relations professionals have moved
ahead of the curve, seamlessly integrating Twitter into their public relations
practices. The 2010 study, Nanoblogging PR: The Discourse on Public Relations
in Twitter, also published in the professional journal Publication Relations Review
found that there are indeed professionals adapting to twitter and utilizing it to
supplement their professional tactics. The study found that out of a sample of
Twitter messages on the topic of public relations over 15% of those messages
reflected professional use of Twitter by public relations practitioners and that
4.3% of those Twitter messages were actually press releases executed through
Twitter.(Grau, pg 173) This study indicates that now in Twitter’s third year of
popularity, public relations practitioners are learning the tools of Twitter and
utilizing the social media forum to disseminate existing public relations practices
such as press releases.
The use of Twitter to disseminate press information is a valuable tool for
public relations practitioners, especially in the presence of a large journalist
community on Twitter. A 2009 study in the Public Relations Review journal titled
An Examination of the Role of Online Social Media in Journalists’ Source Mix
indicates that journalists are turning to social media as a source for information
and leads in writing stories. The study found that 18.5% of journalists surveyed
“identified a social media tool they first utilize when writing a story.” (Lariscy et al.,
pg 315) In addition 24.8% of journalists said that they visit social media sites
frequently, or every time they are pitched a story. (Lariscy et al. pg 315) This
makes the argument that stories should be pitched on Twitter because there is
an audience of journalists to receive them.
Interestingly, the same gap between the recognition of Twitter’s
importance and ability to engage the medium exists in journalists just as it does
in public relations professionals. This learning curve between the recognition of
the importance of Twitter, and a slow adaptation means that Twitter is likely to
continue to grow in relevance to the public relations industry. Also, this slow
learning curve presents an opportunity for individuals to move ahead of the curve
by learning how to effectively use the tools of twitter to effectively apply public
relations tactics. According to the same 2009 study, “It behooves public relations
practitioners to begin engaging social media in preparation for the day social
media may contribute to agenda building.” (Lariscy et al., 2009 316)

Some in the PR community believe that the day that social media will
contribute to agenda setting has already arrived. According to Maggie Fox, CEO
of the Social Media Group Twitter has already risen as the “circulatory system of
the news cycle.”(Capstick, 2010 pg 2) Whether Twitter has come to fruition or
not, it is clear that its influence is rising and public relations practitioners should
learn the platform if they aim to remain relevant in today’s dynamic public
relations climate.
The pace at which Twitter has his risen to prominence is notable. It moved
from an emerging trend in 2007, to a recognized tool in 2008, and in 2010 has
displayed traction as a functional element of public relations campaigns.
The increase in popularity of this communication platform, it’s large online
audience, its growing reputation in the public relations community, it’s integration
into public relations practices by practitioners, and the participation of journalists
in the forum indicates a significant opportunity for growing public relations uses in
coming years. These collective characteristics of Twitter demand that public
relations practitioners asses the tools available on Twitter and design models for
incorporating public relations practices to this new communications platform.
Methods
Using anecdotal analysis of public relations case studies on Twitter, this
exploratory investigation seeks to answer three research questions: 1) What are
the relevant tools available on Twitter that can be utilized by public relations
practitioners. 2) How can existing public relations practices that be incorporated
with or supplemented by Twitter? 3) What are the situational opportunities and
campaign characteristics most ideal for employing Twitter in public relations
campaigns?
Methodology for researching these questions is comprised of an
evaluation of multiple case studies. This study identifies three prevalent tools
used by public relations practitioners in successful Twitter campaigns. It also
explores the existing application of public relations strategies and tactics that
have been integrated into Twitter by public relations professionals. Finally
opportunities for the use of Twitter in public relations will are explored shared
situational characteristics of executed Twitter campaigns. The overall goal is to
provide a foundation of tools and analysis of application of those tools to aid
public relations practitioners in bridging the gap between recognizing Twitter as
an influential tool and utilizing Twitter as a functional tool within more traditional
public relations practices.
Results
Analyses of Twitter campaigns show that there are three essential tools
within Twitter for public relations professionals. These three are discussed by
Evan Williams, cofounder of Twitter, in a video lecture for TED.com. He identifies
the functions of these tools as in turn as the ability to aggregate news feeds,
communicate directly with individuals, and the include linked material into Twitter
messages (Ted.com)
According to Williams the first tool of twitter capitalizes on the fact that, “If
you have millions of people around the world talking about what they’re doing
and what’s around them you have an incredible resource to find out what’s
happening among any topic, as it’s going on.”(TED.com) The tool being
described is called a hashtag. Hashtags serve to organize tweets by searchable
subjects or topics of discussion.
To understand hashtags, one must understand the streaming messaging
system of Twitter. Twitter is comprised of streaming messages that an individual
can manipulate to gather specific information they seek. For example, a user can
choose to see a stream of messages from a chosen group of friends. This
stream of messages would update itself in real time as that select group sends
out message. Similary a “hashtag” can aggregate real-time feed of Twitter
messages regarding a particular subject.
The way this is done is by including the subject of a Twitter message in
the text of the message and placing a hash symbol (#) directly in front of that
word. An example of this would be if one wanted to categorize their message as
falling under the topic of communications they would include “#communications”
in their tweet.
What the hashtag does is create a clickable link out of the word that has
been tagged. Clicking on that word will take you to a stream of Twitter messages
where every Twitter Message using the “#communications” hash tag is posted in
real-time onto the stream. This system allows users to speak about particular
subjects, enter conversations about that subject and to find others who are also
tweeting about the same subject.
The public relations applications of this hashtag system are important for
two reasons. First it allows public relations professionals to stay current on
almost any subject imaginable. Second, it allows public relations practitioners to
categorize their tweets so that they are more easily searchable by others.
The listening aspect of this hashtag system is a valuable asset for public
relations research. According to Steve Rubel, a public relations partner for
Edelman Digital, “Every PR professional needs some level of situational
awareness about what is going on in a given community at a given time and will
need to check into Twitter accordingly.”(Capstick, pg. 3) The hashtag features
ability to aggregate Twitter messages into streams by subject provides up to the
minute research where professionals can gather real time information on the
subject or event they are interested in.
The converse function of this hashtag feature, making your Twitter
messages easily searchable, was executed with great effectiveness by the 2009
Sunset Strip Music Festival. This music festival consisted of 6 different music
venues but was branded as one singular event. In order to aggregate Twitter
messages from six venues referring to one music festival this campaign created
and utilized the hashtag “#SSMF”. Clicking on the #SSMF hashtag or searching
for it by name leads to an aggregated stream where all six venues could talk
about the event in one central location. This use of the hashtag creates the effect
of a message board where promoters could announce line ups, publish show
times or promote deals. This tool also allowed patrons to join the conversation
about the festival by simply including the #ssmf hashtag in their Twitter
messages. (Twitter.com/thesunsetstrip, 2009)
The Sunset Strip Music festival also took their use of hashtags one step
further. The campaign mentioned the #SSMF hashtag in their hard copy press
releases. (The Sunset, 2009) Recognizing that hashtags help aggregate news
into a single feed, the SSMF campaign provided journalists a tool to access
additional information about the festival, from all six participating venues right off
of Twitter. This use of hashtags exploited the fact that 18.5% of journalists
consulting social media when writing stories. (Eyrich, et al., 2008) It also
demonstrates how hashtags can be used to aggregate relevant Twitter
messages and present them to the press.
Another tool of Twitter stems from the desire of twitter users to converse
with each other. (Ted.com) This tool is the @ symbol which when placed
immediately prior to a Twitter username in a Twitter messages indicates that your
are speaking to that particular person. This @ symbol feature is known as the
“@username syntax” according to Williams. (TED.com, 2009, online) This syntax
creates a clickable link within the Twitter message text. This link directs users to
a stream of all the Twitter messages mentioning that particular user name.
An effective illustration of this device is illustrated by the Hollywood music
venue The Roxy. This venue regularly announces upcoming acts, and
incorporates the @username syntax for mentioning bands’ that will be performing
at the venue. (Twitter.com/theroxy, 2010) This allows followers of The Roxy
Twitter stream to click through and discover what others are saying about a
particular band, and in some cases leads to Twitter messages with embedded
videos and reviews.
Another effective use of the @username syntax tool for mentioning other
Twitter accounts can be seen on the Beth Krom for Congress campaign page.
This page utilized the @username system of mentioning others to promote a two
day 12 city tour of California’s 48th Congressional District. By identifying twitter
accounts for each of the 12 cities, the campaign was able to target event
information at individual cities by mentioning each cities username with the
@username syntax, and loading individual tweets with information specific to
each city. (Twitter.com/Krom4Congress, 2009)
This allowed the Beth Krom campaign to target geographic locations with
customized information for each stop along the tour. The campaign also targeted
reporters from each city by mentioning them with the @username syntax in
Twitter messages. By utilizing the @username syntax feature of Twitter, the
campaign was able to direct their message at geographic locations and at
targeted individuals.
The targeting of geographic locations, specific cities, and individual
reporters can be paralleled to the existing public relations strategy of targeting
publics. In this way, this Twitter tool was used to execute long standing public
relations practices.
The use of hashtags and the @username syntax by these campaigns
illustrates how the tools of twitter can be used for aggregating information, and
strategically placing messages within target publics. While most public relations
professionals are familiar with the idea of research and targeting publics,
knowledge of these two tools allows for these practices to be executed on
Twitter.
The third tool of Twitter is embedded links. While these first two tools of
Twitter provide public relations practitioners with tools for message placement,
the third tool relates to the actual message content.
Twitter allows users to embed clickable links to any internet URL. However
each Twitter message is limited to only 140 characters, so many URLs are too
long to include, especially with space for descriptive text. The solution to this
problem is a host of URL shortners that take long URLs and shrink them to much
smaller URLs that fit better within the 140 character limit.
The importance of these URL shorteners is that they allow individuals to
link to any content, anywhere on the web. This is important because it allows
public relations practitioners to post a variety of content with their Twitter
Messages. Many campaigns, like afore mentioned Sunset Strip Music Festival,
are looking to expand on press releases by utilizing social media. The ability to
include video, pictures, and links to documents in Twitter is a powerful Twitter
tool for maximizing the appeal of a public relations pitch.
Martin Waxman, president of Palette Public relations elaborates on the
idea of integrating public relations deliverables onto social media in a 2010 PBS
article titled, Social Media Press Release must evolve to Replace Press Release.
In reference to digital press releases Waxman states, “I like to go one step
further to create a social media newsroom, with all the information, visuals, video,
background materials, story ideas and contact easily accessible and searchable.”
(Capstick, 2010) Waxman and others like him are transforming the press release
into a highly interactive, content loaded model. Twitter, with its ability to link to a
multiple mediums like audio, photos and video is a tool that can be used to stay
up to date with the new era of press releases.
With the use of only three tools, Twitter demonstrates the ability to aid
public relations professionals in campaign research, strategic targeting,
innovative message placement and an unlimited ability to link to the copious
selection of media available online. These three tools provide the foundation to
execute a vast array of public relations strategies and lend themselves to a
variety of Twitter specific tactics.
Although the use of these tools will surely evolve, and despite the fact that
they could allow for seamless integration with almost any public relations tactics,
it does serve a purpose to explore campaigns that have employed these tools
and analyze these models for future use.
One innovative use of the Twitter tools discussed was executed to
promote the venues of the Sunset Strip to local patrons. The campaign was
branded under the hashtag “#stripcrawl” and was essentially the twitter version of
a pub crawl. The six prominent venues of the Sunset Strip in Hollywood,
California were seeking a way to draw crowds to their venues. They decided to
create an event called the “stripcrawl,” which utilized Twitter to activate patrons to
attend the venues. The venues created the hashtag #stripcrawl and promoted
the event on all six Twitter accounts associated with the promotion. On the day
of the strip crawl one of the venues announced drink specials for at a set time
frame through the Twitter interface. Twitter users monitoring the #stripcrawl
hashtag then congregated at that venue for the drink special. As soon as that
special was about to end, the next venue announced their drink special. In this
way the campaign utilized the hashtag #stripcrawl to create a central location
where drink specials were announced in real time and patrons moved on
command from one venue to another, eventually moving a standing room only
crowd to all six venues. (Tweet Crawl, 2009 online)
Analysis of this campaign reveals a model for activating publics in real
time on twitter. The model for this campaign has three parts. The first is an action
request, which in this case is to drink at a stated location. The second element of
this model is a reward or incentive, in this case it is discounted drinks. And the
last element is a constraining mechanism such as a time restriction or limited
quantity of rewards. In a unified statement the model is to provide an incentive for
an action request that must occur under a constraint of time or quantity.
This particular model can be seen in other Twitter campaigns as well.
Lance Armstrong, knowingly or not, utilized the same model for a commuity bike
ride at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles Times Lance
sent out the following Twitter message in September 2009:

Hey LA – get out of your cars and get on your bikes. Time to ride
7:30 tomorrow am. Griffith Park, La Zoo parking lot. See you there.
(Bloomekatz, 2009) This Twitter message, although subtle, contains all three
elements of the model previously discussed. The action request is to ride your
bike at Griffith Park, the incentive is the chance to ride with Lance Armstrong,
and the time constraint is that the event starts at 7:30 am. Using the exact same
model as the Stripcrawl, the bike ride attracted hundreds of riders out to the
event. (Bloomekatz, 2009)
Clearly the ability to activated masses of people on command is an
exciting prospect for Twitter use in public relations campaigns. This model is just
one many more to come as twitter develops in the coming years. Through
careful analysis of twitter campaigns public relations practitioners can replicate
models like this and even innovate use of twitter tools to create new models for
public engagement.
Another key to utilizing Twitter as an effective tool is to understand the
characteristics of effective Twitter usage. The most prevalent characteristic of
twitter is the idea of real time information. In the case of the stripcrawl, it was the
real time dissemination of the next venue drink promotion that added to the
excitement of the campaign.
Other examples of the relationship between Twitter and real time
publishing of information can be seen in examples where press stories are
published on Twitter before they hit the main stream press. An example of this is
highlighted in a MediaShift article titled, The Spill Effect Brought Color,

Collaboration to media Tweets. The article highlights how a breaking political
story in Australia forced traditional journalists to adapt to the fast paced media
cycle of Twitter. According to one seasoned Australian reporter, “I thought
working in radio [that] I knew what “instant” meant, but that’s been completely
redefined now that I’ve covered the spill via Twitter.” This instant nature of twitter
is at the core of the communication platform. It is why public relations
practitioners can turn to Twitter for the most recent updates on a topic, event or
situation. This instant characteristic of Twitter is one that should be accounted for
when designing tactics and strategy.
The final aspect to maximizing Twitter effectiveness is to use all the tools
of twitter in conjunction. When this is done public relations practitioners are able
to speak directly at target publics by using the @username syntax. They are
able to categorize the subject matter for easy searching using the hashtag tool,
and they are able to provide extended content beyond the 140 character limit of
Twitter by including a link to external supplemental materials. An example of this
can be seen in the Beth Krom for Congress Campaigns Twitter Message:
Congressional Candidate Beth Krom in #LagunaNiguel this
weekend. http://bit.ly/4OljrY #CA @LagunaNiguelCA@ocrlagunanig
uel @lagunaini (twitter.com/Krom4congress)
In this example the twitter message is categorized under the subject of Laguna
Niguel, and CA. The link directs people to an event invitation which contains
directions to the location. Also the message is speaking directly at the Laguna
Niguel Twitter account as well as two reporters who cover the stories in the
Laguna Niguel community. By using all of the twitter tools in conjunction, this
tweet was able to garner approximately 10 times more click throughs to the link
than the average for Twitter messages for the Beth Krom for Congress campaign.
(http://bit.ly/4OljrY+, 2009)
Discussion:
In general, Twitter serves as another channel for public relations
practitioners to communicate their messages. The tools of twitter align
themselves well with public relations practices. From research to evaluation the
tools of Twitter can be a valuable aid to any campaign.
In the research phase of public relations a practitioner can find information
by navigating hashtags on any given subject and get real time information and
opinions on the matter. Additionally navigating the @username syntax can find
information on individuals, businesses, or organizations. The real time nature of
this research can aid public relations practitioners in staying up to date on rapidly
changing situations.
In the action planning phase of a public relations campaign Twitter can be
used to segment and target specific groups. Targeted publics can be monitored
on twitter to decipher communication preferences and key opportunities for
communications.
Moving into the communications area of a public relations model, Twitter
provides tools for very precise placement of messages and content into select
subject discussions, geographic regions, and directly at individuals and
organizations.
While there are essentially only three tools of Twitter to be mastered by
public relations professionals, the application of these tools to public relations
practices is literally unlimited as to their integration with long standing public
relations tactics.
While specific campaign applications and Twitter specific communication
models were highlighted in this exploratory investigation an exhaustive study of
how the full spectrum of public relations tactics can be executed using the tools
identified in this paper would greatly advance the practical uses of Twitter for
public relations professionals. As twitter advances, so will communication
models and public relations applications for the forum. Studies of the Twitter
platform are essential to understand the dynamic nature of this forum, and it is
worth mentioning in this dynamism that what we know about Twitter today will not
essentially be true tomorrow. Constant monitoring of Twitter trends and
applications is necessary for public relations professionals to remain ahead of the
curve in this emergent communication technology.

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Tools and Tactics of Twitter Page 1 of 23

Running head: Public Relations: Tools of Twitter

Public Relations: Tools of Twitter

California State University Fullerton

comparatively small portion of professionals are actually equipped with adequate

understanding of the tools to effectively utilize this communications platform.

campaigns. Through anecdotal examination of campaigns, specific tools of

provide foundation for practitioners to incorporate social media into their

standing public relations practices.

Twitter has emerged as a necessary tool of public relations practitioners. Industry

messages to publics, pitch stories to journalists, and to bolster the reach of

importance and potential uses of Twitter in public relations campaigns are

thoroughly recognized throughout public relations, however the methods and

Twitter by anecdotally examining effective uses of Twitter in public relations

public relations practitioners to incorporate Twitter as a supplemental part of their

Current academic and professional literature in the field of public relations

illustrates three general trends in Twitter usage among public relations

practitioners: 1) Public Relations practitioners are increasingly recognizing twitter

as an influential tool for public relations practice. Conversely, of the public

delivering public relations messages to target publics. 3) Current literature also

material. These three characteristics identified in current social media literature

According to the 2008 Forrester Research book Groundswell published by the

Harvard Business Press the emergence of social media in public discourse is

attributed to “people’s desire to connect” and the availability of powerful

“ubiquitous” online technology (Bernoff, pg. 10-11) To illustrate this relationship

the almost-always-connected people that makes it so powerful.” (Bernoff, pg. 10)

Groundswell quantifies how internet technology is growing to an

omnipresent medium in communications stating that as early as 2006 nearly two

A recent contributing factor to the importance of social media, in addition

professionals. A 2008 study, PR Practitioners’ use of Social Media Tools and

Communication Technology, published in the professional journal Public

Relations Review found that 28% of public relations professionals surveyed

practitioners reported using “micro-blogging applications” such as Twitter in their

professional use.(Eyrich et al., pg. 413)

According to a TED.com video lecture by co-founder of twitter Evan

Williams, Twitter emerged in popularity very recently, in 2007.(TED.com) Since

that practitioners do in fact recognize social media as an emerging force in public

profession that’s is struggling to adapt to the tool.

Accounting for the relatively low percentage of practitioners using “micro-

blogging applications” such as Twitter compared to more general social media,

research literatrure indicates that a lack of technological understanding may be

(practitioners) are slower to integrate more technologically complicated tools that

can be translated to available Twitter tools.

Despite the facet that investigations suggests such a learning curve

in Twitter, also published in the professional journal Publication Relations Review

reflected professional use of Twitter by public relations practitioners and that

such as press releases.

The use of Twitter to disseminate press information is a valuable tool for

public relations practitioners, especially in the presence of a large journalist

An Examination of the Role of Online Social Media in Journalists’ Source Mix

an audience of journalists to receive them.

Interestingly, the same gap between the recognition of Twitter’s

in public relations professionals. This learning curve between the recognition of

media may contribute to agenda building.” (Lariscy et al., 2009 316)

the news cycle.”(Capstick, 2010 pg 2) Whether Twitter has come to fruition or

displayed traction as a functional element of public relations campaigns.

The increase in popularity of this communication platform, it’s large online

into public relations practices by practitioners, and the participation of journalists

coming years. These collective characteristics of Twitter demand that public

incorporating public relations practices to this new communications platform.

Using anecdotal analysis of public relations case studies on Twitter, this

exploratory investigation seeks to answer three research questions: 1) What are

practitioners. 2) How can existing public relations practices that be incorporated