Why Would the Rise of Social Media Increase the Influence of Traditional Media on Collective Judgments? A Response to Blevins and Ragozzino

In our original article (Etter, Ravasi & Colleoni, 2018), we argued that the rise of social media is changing how evaluations are made public and impact the formation of organizational reputation. In their counterpoint, [authors] argue in favour of a separation between the construct of media reputation and social media reputation. They further argue that the rise of social media is actually strengthening the impact of traditional media on the evaluations of key stakeholders. Finally, they urge scholars to take a cautious approach to the assumption that social media are introducing more dynamism in the formation of (media) reputation. We agree that, in some circumstances, a conceptual distinction between (traditional) media reputation and social media reputation might be useful to advance future research and theorization of reputational dynamics. In fact, in our original article we highlighted the importance to acknowledge the potential existence of different and separate “reputational arenas” (Aula & Mantere, 2013; see also Bromberg & Fine, 2002). We are less persuaded, however, by the other objections that [authors] raise.