Applications and implementations of new media in corporate communications: An action research approach

Advances in new media and web technology are making it easier for organizations and their employees, suppliers, customers and stakeholders to participate in the creation and management of content. It is therefore, useful to understand how a corporate communication strategy can leverage these trends. Purpose; this paper discusses the take-up and use of new media in organizations, highlighting a current approach to implementation issues. Methodology/approach; we review and explore new media in organizations from three ecological layers: the social, discursive and technical, addressing who is communicating, the communication content and new media technology used. Findings; the paper recommends a customer-centered approach to implementing new media adoption in organisations using action research. Practical implications; new media and Web 2.0 services can be employed to work in tandem with conventional communication tools such as phone, fax and corporate intranets. Such a hybrid approach enables organizations to maintain and strengthen existing stakeholder relationships, but also reach out and build relationships with new stakeholders who were previously inaccessible or invisible. Research limitations/implications; academic literature is lagging behind the pace of technological change, and evaluation studies are limited.