Strategies for News Professionals to Mitigate Negative Social Media Posts

Walden University Walden University

ScholarWorks ScholarWorks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Collection

2020

Strategies for News Professionals to Mitigate Negative Social Strategies for News Professionals to Mitigate Negative Social

Media Posts Media Posts

Airielle J. Vincent

Walden University

Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations

Part of the Communication Commons

This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Collection at ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies by an

authorized administrator of ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected].

Walden University

College of Management and Technology

This is to certify that the doctoral dissertation by

Airielle J. Vincent

has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects,

and that any and all revisions required by

the review committee have been made.

Review Committee

Dr. Branford McAllister, Committee Chairperson, Management Faculty

Dr. Stephanie Hoon, Committee Member, Management Faculty

Dr. Raghu Korrapati, University Reviewer, Management Faculty

Chief Academic Officer and Provost

Sue Subocz, Ph.D.

Walden University

2020

Abstract

Strategies for News Professionals to Mitigate Negative Social Media Posts

Airielle J. Vincent

MA, Walden University, 2019

MBA, Wayne State University, 2015

BA, University of Michigan, 2010

Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Management

Walden University

December 2020

APA 6

Abstract

Businesses use social media to promote services and products as well as connect with

current and potential customers. The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was

to explore and understand the strategies that effectively remedy negative social media

comments, the skills used to employ remedial actions, the reasons why organizations fail

to develop effective strategies, and the motivations to develop them among the

participants and their organizations. The conceptual framework of this study combined

elements from the skills approach to leadership and e-leadership theory. The target

population included news directors, assignment managers, and executive producers who

have used social media for 1 year or more to increase news channel ratings. Data

collection included semistructured interviews with a sample of 20. The data analysis

process involved cross-case thematic analysis. The findings indicated that social media

positively influenced organizational reputations through building the brand

and reaching a bigger audience. The main factor that prevents news organizations from

developing effective social media strategies was the lack of resources to organize

effectively a specialized social media team. A dominant theme was the dilemma whether

to respond to a negative comment or to ignore and delete it. Among the leadership skills

that help in combating negative social media posts, the research participants identified

communication skills, professionalism, creativity, and understanding as the most useful.

This study contributes to positive social change by explaining the strategies and

constraints within news organizations while dealing with negative social media.

Strategies for News Professionals to Mitigate Negative Social Media Posts

Airielle J. Vincent

MA, Walden University, 2019

MBA, Wayne State University, 2015

BA, University of Michigan, 2010

Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Management

Walden University

December 2020

Dedication

I am grateful to God for giving me the determination and perseverance to pursue a

doctoral degree. I dedicate this doctoral study to my family, especially my mom, who has

always pushed me to excel in education.

Acknowledgments

I am extending my sincere thanks to everyone who supported me throughout this

process. To my team of committee members, words cannot express my gratitude for

making this dream of mine a reality. To Dr. Branford McAllister, thank you for all of

your commitment and support. To Dr. Stephanie Hoon and Dr. Raghu Korrapati, thank

you for your patience, guidance, and assistance. To my friends and colleagues, thank you

for listening, sending encouragement, and your patience during this process.

Table of Contents

List of Tables ....................................................................................................................... v

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study ................................................................................... 1

Background of the Study ............................................................................................... 2

Problem Statement ......................................................................................................... 4

Purpose of the Study ...................................................................................................... 5

Research Questions ....................................................................................................... 5

Conceptual Framework ................................................................................................. 6

Nature of the Study ........................................................................................................ 7

Definitions ..................................................................................................................... 9

Assumptions ................................................................................................................ 10

Scope and Delimitations .............................................................................................. 10

Limitations ................................................................................................................... 12

Significance of the Study ............................................................................................. 12

Significance to Practice ......................................................................................... 12

Significance to Theory .......................................................................................... 13

Significance to Social Change ............................................................................... 13

Summary and Transition ............................................................................................. 14

Literature Search Strategy ........................................................................................... 15

Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................... 16

Literature Review ........................................................................................................ 19

Social Media in Organizations .............................................................................. 19

Social Media in News Organizations .................................................................... 23

Social Media and Organizational Reputation ........................................................ 33

Strategies for Managing Social Media in Organizations ....................................... 37

Social Media Management in News Organizations .............................................. 42

Social Media and Leadership ................................................................................ 46

Summary and Conclusions .......................................................................................... 49

Chapter 3: Research Method ............................................................................................. 51

Research Design and Rationale ................................................................................... 51

Role of the Researcher ................................................................................................. 52

Methodology ................................................................................................................ 53

Participant Selection Logic .................................................................................... 54

Instrumentation ...................................................................................................... 55

Pilot Study ............................................................................................................. 56

Procedures for Recruitment, Participation, and Data Collection .......................... 57

Data Analysis Plan ................................................................................................ 58

Issues of Trustworthiness ............................................................................................ 61

Credibility .............................................................................................................. 61

Transferability ....................................................................................................... 61

Dependability ........................................................................................................ 62

Confirmability ....................................................................................................... 62

Ethical Procedures ................................................................................................. 63

Summary ...................................................................................................................... 63

Chapter 4: Results .............................................................................................................. 65

Pilot Study ................................................................................................................... 65

iii

Research Setting .......................................................................................................... 66

Demographics .............................................................................................................. 67

Data Collection ............................................................................................................ 68

Data Analysis ............................................................................................................... 68

Evidence of Trustworthiness ....................................................................................... 71

Credibility .............................................................................................................. 71

Transferability ....................................................................................................... 72

Dependability ........................................................................................................ 72

Confirmability ....................................................................................................... 72

Study Results ............................................................................................................... 73

RQ1: Influence on Reputation ............................................................................... 73

RQ2: Factors for Developing Strategies ................................................................ 76

RQ3: Strategies ...................................................................................................... 79

RQ4: Leadership Skills .......................................................................................... 84

Summary ...................................................................................................................... 86

Chapter 5: Discussion, Conclusions, and Recommendations ........................................... 88

Interpretation of Findings ............................................................................................ 88

The Influence of Social Media on Organizations .................................................. 88

Social Media Strategies ......................................................................................... 89

Leadership Skills for Combating Negative Social Media ..................................... 91

Limitations of the Study .............................................................................................. 93

Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 94

Implications ................................................................................................................. 95

Positive Social Change Implications ..................................................................... 97

Theoretical, Methodological, and Empirical Implications .................................... 98

Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 100

References ....................................................................................................................... 103

Appendix A: Interview Guide ......................................................................................... 117

Appendix B: Twitter Data Collection Form .................................................................... 118

List of Tables

Table 1. Participants .......................................................................................................... 67

Table 2. Themes ................................................................................................................ 69

Table 3. Codebook for RQ1 (Influence on Reputation) .................................................... 70

Table 4. Codebook for RQ2 (Factors for Developing Strategies) ..................................... 70

Table 5. Codebook for RQ3 (Strategies) ........................................................................... 71

Table 6. Codebook for RQ4 (Leadership Skills) ............................................................... 71

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study

This study centered on social media management, skills, and strategies. Social

media use has increased significantly in recent years, with 74% of U.S. adults using

social media as of 2017 (Weeks, Ardèvol-Abreu, & de Zúñiga, 2017). Businesses, in

particular, are seeking growth and connection with consumers through social media

platforms (Mishra, 2015). Negative and unresolved social media comments hurt

businesses because negative posts reach a wider audience and the effects last longer than

positive feedback (Lee & Ro, 2016). Creating and maintaining a social media strategy is

one of the most pressing leadership and management challenges in the current business

environment as a result of the modern prevalence and reliance on social media. Some

organizations can harness social media in a positive manner to increase success; for

others, the strategy backfires when negative social media interactions or attention damage

an organization’s reputation (Katsyri, Kinnunen, Kusumoto, Ottinen, & Ravaja, 2016;

Lambret & Barki, 2018). Determining which skills and strategies are ideal to address and

mitigate negative social media attention effectively could help businesses and

professionals succeed and avoid lasting reputation damage should a social media crisis

occur (Turan & Kara, 2018).

This chapter serves as an overview of the study. First, I explain the background,

provide the problem statement, and present the purpose of the study. The research

questions are then listed, followed by the conceptual framework of the study.

Subsequently, I explain the nature of the study and provide key terms and definitions.

The assumptions, scope, and delimitations of the study are discussed, followed by the

limitations of the study. I explain the significance of the study before concluding the

chapter with a summary.

Background of the Study

Social media platforms have become an outlet for individuals to voice their

opinions about the goods, services, and media they consume, whether positive or

negative. As more people around the globe turn to social media for their personal and

business lives, organizational leaders need to realize the impact social media platforms

can have when building relationships with existing and new customers (Turan & Kara,

2018). However, organizational leaders also need to be aware of the damages that

negative word of mouth can cause to organizational performance and reputation (Lambret

& Barki, 2018). The social media environment has posed new challenges for business

leaders because now, not only do they need to consider the individual comment while

constructing their response, but also how other Internet users are reacting to the comment

(Mishra, 2015). Specifically, public social media complaints can be damaging when they

gain support from other users and organizations have no control in stopping it (Mishra,

2015). Therefore, an active social media presence can be a powerful tool to facilitate

business growth and success or a platform that facilitates lasting damage to a company’s

brand or image (Mishra, 2015).

Ascertaining the proper corporate response to negativity on social media is critical

(Mishra, 2015). Many organizations that aim to develop a positive reputation on social

media platforms do so by maintaining a social media policy that dictates best practices,

recommendations, or rules of engagement (Jankauskaite & Urboniene, 2016). However,

previous research (for example, Kwayu, Lal, & Abubakre, 2018; Lambret & Barki, 2018)

has focused on nonmedia organizations or the composition of general guidelines and

skills for managing social media content. However, prior research has not been specific

to a context.

The use of social media sites can help news organizations become more

competitive and established by acquiring or sharing information immediately (Cole,

DeNardin, & Clow, 2017). Some researchers (for example, Katsyri et al., 2016; Winter,

Bruckner, & Kramer, 2015) have suggested that social media management is essential for

television channels, including the news; however, the ways in which news organizations

connect with viewers through social media and the policies that govern those interactions

differ from social media use within nonmedia organizations. Social media management

strategies that are effective within the context of nonmedia organizations may have

different implications for news organizations (Al-Rawi, 2017; Winter et al., 2015).

Accordingly, researchers have argued for the importance of assessing how news

organizations address citizen concerns; responding to concerns correctly is important

because media reputation influences the development of collective reputational

judgments (see Etter, Ravasi, & Colleoni, 2019). Therefore, it was imperative to study

social media management and best practices within the context of diverse organizations,

including news organizations.

Problem Statement

Organizations and businesses involved in a myriad of industries have increasingly

used social media to promote services and products and to connect with current and

potential customers (Balan & Rege, 2017; Etter et al., 2019). Oyza and Edwin (2016)

found that 62% of business leaders revealed cultivating an efficient social media strategy

as one of the most significant challenges they face. The social problem in my study was

that harmful and unresolved social media comments hurt businesses because negative

posts reach a wider audience and the effects last longer than positive feedback. Some

organizations create and maintain a social media strategy and harness social media in a

positive manner to increase success, while others have no plan or their strategy backfires

when negative social media interactions or attention damage an organization’s reputation

(Katsyri et al., 2016; Lambret & Barki, 2018).

Recent research has indicated that social media management, policies, and

strategies are effective for reducing negative attention and enhancing organizational

reputation (for example, Kwayu et al., 2018; Mishra, 2015). Additionally, effective social

media management requires leadership skills such as decision-making, problem-solving,

communication, and e-leadership (Jiang, Luo, & Kulemeka, 2017; Luo, Jiang, &

Kulemeka, 2015). However, there remains a lack of research concerning social media

management within the context of news media organizations (Katsyri et al., 2016). The

research problem in my study was a lack of knowledge and understanding regarding the

specific content needed in social media management policies and strategies. Furthermore,

researchers have yet to develop a list of strategies and/or skills associated with effective

management of social media content within the context of news organizations (Kwayu et

al., 2018; Lambret & Barki, 2018). As a result, leaders in the news business who manage

social media sites do not employ a specific and relevant set of skills to effectively

manage negative posts (von Nordheim, Boczek, & Koppers, 2018; Welbers &

Opgenhaffen, 2019).

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to explore and understand

the strategies that effectively remedy negative social media comments, the skills used to

employ remedial actions, the reasons why organizations fail to develop effective

strategies, and the motivations to develop them. The target population consisted of news

directors, assignment managers, and executive producers in a Midwestern metropolitan

area who have used social media for 1 year or more to increase news channel ratings. In

this study, I explored the experiences of these news leaders who manage social media

sites for news organizations and have the responsibility to oversee and strategize the

handling of negative comments posted on social media. I planned to select at least 20

leaders including news directors, assignment managers, and executive producers among

five news organizations, which represented the cases. I conducted a cross-case analysis

using interviews and an examination of Twitter posts to identify central themes.

Research Questions

The primary research questions that guided this study were the following:

RQ1: How do leaders in the news business perceive the influence of social media

on their organizations’ reputations?

RQ2: What are the factors that prevent news organizations from developing

effective social media strategies and the motivations for developing them?

RQ3: What strategies do news professionals use to manage negative comments

posted on social media sites?

RQ4: What leadership skills do news professionals perceive as useful in

combating negative social media posts?

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework that guided this study involved elements from the

skills approach to leadership (Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, Jacobs, & Fleishman, 2000)

and e-leadership (Avolio, Kahai, & Dodge, 2000). The skills approach to leadership

includes five factors that influence leader performance: “competencies, individual

attributes, leadership outcomes, career experiences, and environmental influences”

(Northouse, 2016, p. 47). The skills approach to leadership is the counter perspective to

the notion that leadership traits and skills are inherent, or natural, for effective leaders;

the skills approach conceptualizes leadership skills as something that is possible to

improve through training or education (Mumford et al., 2000). The skills approach to

leadership informed my study as a means of understanding how effective social media

management results from individuals employing specific leadership skills related to

factors, such as social judgement, problem-solving, and technological knowledge.

Abdul-Ridha and Jader (2018) described e-leadership as the ability to facilitate

changes in individuals’ thinking, feelings, attitudes, behavior, or performance through

advanced information technology. In other words, e-leadership describes leadership

within the era of information. Several processes and operations that occur within many

industries are mediated by technology; therefore, modern organizations frequently require

leadership that addresses the role of technology within the organization (Abdul-Ridha &

Jader, 2018). In my study, e-leadership was used to view how leaders apply their skillset

to manage an organization’s social media presence. When considering use of social

media within news organizations, e-leaders, who may be news directors, assignment

managers, and executive producers who manage the organization’s social media, use

social media to encourage viewership and better understand public perspectives (Luo et

al., 2015). The concept of e-leadership informed my study by framing the exploration of

the strategies and skills necessary for effective social media management within news

organizations.

Nature of the Study

The study was qualitative in nature. A qualitative method is useful when the goal

of a study is to gather detail-rich data for in-depth exploration of a phenomenon (Merriam

& Tisdell, 2016). Furthermore, qualitative research is useful for understanding human

behavior and perspectives (Burkholder, Cox, & Crawford, 2016). Quantitative research,

by contrast, centers on determining the frequency, or extent, of a research phenomenon

(Tracy, 2019). A quantitative methodology was not as appropriate for my study because I

aimed to determine how a research phenomenon (i.e., social media management) occurs

rather than to quantify aspects of the phenomenon. Mixed methods research involves the

use of both qualitative and quantitative methods (Burkholder et al., 2016). A mixed

methods approach was not suitable for my study because the research questions did not

necessitate quantitative data collection.

In this study, I employed a multiple case study design. A case study research

design was beneficial to conduct an in-depth examination of social media management

within the context of news organizations. Case study research allows researchers to

examine issues by understanding the facets of the business problem, specifically the how

and why (Tsang, 2013; Yin, 2017). Case studies designs can be used to portray how the

interactions of elements involved in one or more cases affect a phenomenon (Burkholder

et al., 2016). I chose a multiple case study design because the aim was to examine the

nature of the research phenomenon within the context of multiple news organizations in

the selected Midwestern metropolitan area.

Other qualitative designs, such as phenomenology, ethnography, and grounded

theory, were not appropriate. Researchers use an ethnography design to study the culture

of people (Thomas, 2015; Yin, 2017). A researcher uses phenomenology to examine a

lived experience from the viewpoint of someone experiencing the phenomena (Thomas,

2015). The primary goal for grounded theory is to build theory from social relationships

and behavior that has limited exploration (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Conducting

multiple case study research was the most appropriate approach to understand the social

media strategy phenomena in the context of news organizations in the selected

Midwestern metropolitan area.

Each participating news organization represented a case. From each news

organization, I planned to choose at least 20 leaders including news directors, assignment

managers, and executive producers to participate in semistructured interviews. Twitter

posts from the participating news organizations were also collected prior to the interviews

to contextualize participants’ responses. I used thematic analysis to analyze both forms of

data (see Braun & Clarke, 2006). I obtained informed consent from each participant prior

to data collection.

Definitions

The following key terms and definitions were relevant to this study:

e-leadership: “A social influence process mediated by AIT (advanced information

technology) to produce a change in attitudes, feelings, thinking, behavior, and/or

performance with individuals, groups, and/or organizations” (Abdul-Ridha & Jader,

2018, p. 46).

Skills approach to leadership: A conceptualization of leadership that centers on

the role of technology and information in modern leadership roles (Mumford et al.,

2000).

Social media: Platforms and websites with the primary goal to enable social

networking and interactions among users (Winter et al., 2015). Some of the most

frequently utilized social media websites in the United States include Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram, and Snapchat.

Social media management: The process of managing social media operations for

an organization or business. More specifically, social media management involves

developing and implementing social media activity, analyzing the results of social media

campaigns, and engaging with followers (Luo et al., 2015).

Assumptions

Certain research assumptions informed this study. First, I assumed that

participants were open to sharing their responses to the interview questions and that the

information they provided was truthful to the best of their knowledge. I advised the

participants that they could leave the study at any time and that their perspectives would

remain anonymous. Another assumption was that participants would not edit or alter

existing Twitter posts or delete comments before I analyzed them to misrepresent the

organization’s social media interactions. Participants were not aware of which specific

Twitter posts I analyzed until I published the results in order to prevent manipulation.

Furthermore, multiple news organizations were involved in this research because I

assumed that the nature of social media management in individual organizations involves

key similarities and/or differences that would lend useful information for analysis.

Scope and Delimitations

This study was a qualitative investigation of social media management strategies

and skills used to manage negative comments posted on the social media sites of news

organizations. I chose the focus of the study due to the significant and potentially

negative implications of news media organizations and other businesses failing to address

negative social media interactions on their social media pages (see Turan & Kara, 2018).

Furthermore, there was a significant gap in the literature pertaining to skills and strategies

enacted by news organizations when negative social media comments arise. The unique

relationship and forms of engagement between news organizations and their audiences

warranted further investigation to determine how news professionals seek to manage the

potentially harmful implications of negative social media interactions (see Al-Rawi,

2017).

I delimited the research scope to a Midwestern metropolitan area due to ease of

access and to ensure the results were not confounded by differences related to

geographical region. At least 20 leaders from news organizations were involved so that I

could compare the strategies and skills that were uncovered from each organization. I

delimited participants to news directors, assignment managers, and executive producers

because these leaders of news organizations interact most frequently with viewers and

critics on social media. While the findings may be generalizable to other news

organizations and stakeholders, the unique relationship between news organizations and

social media audiences makes it unlikely that the findings are transferrable to other types

of organizations or media companies.

Limitations

This study involved limitations, challenges, and/or barriers. Because I collected

information about the management of negative social media comments during this study,

interviewees may have tried to misrepresent an organization’s social media presence or

management strategies in their responses. Another potential limitation pertaining to

analysis of Twitter posts was that few or no negative comments may have been posted

during the data collection phase.

Significance of the Study

In this study, I aimed to identify strategies employed by news professionals who

manage social media sites to combat the potentially negative implications of unfavorable

social media comments. The study offers an original contribution to existing literature

related to social media management and business outcomes by addressing a gap

pertaining to the strategies and skills used within news organizations. Previous research

investigations have generally centered on nonmedia organizations and/or a general set of

guidelines and social media management skills that did not address the importance of

tailoring social media best practices according to industry and organizational context

(Kwayu et al., 2018; Lambret & Barki, 2018).

Significance to Practice

The results of this study are significant for organizations, particularly news

organizations, aiming to mitigate the negative consequences of unfavorable social media

interactions. Determining the strategies and skills that professionals actively use for this

purpose within news organizations may also be useful for determining the extent of the

research problem. Strategies that the participants identify as being successfully used to

address social media challenges could be useful for other news organizations.

Furthermore, elucidating effective strategies used by news professionals may enhance

news organizations’ capacities to remain competitive in their market among other news

organizations that are on social media. The findings may also help new and established

news professionals remedy their own social media crises and/or enhance the skills they

employ within their news organization and when interacting with the public.

Significance to Theory

The results of this study advance knowledge in the discipline. The findings can be

used by leaders in news organizations to identify the strategies that effectively remedy

negative social media comments, the skills used during these remedial actions, the

reasons why organizations fail to develop effective strategies, and the motivation to

develop them among the participants and their organizations.

Significance to Social Change

This study may lead to positive social change by providing news leaders with

information to support decisions related to managing negative posts on social media. If

news professionals were informed of the leadership skills that are useful for managing

negative social media content, they could enhance their leadership role within the news

organization and relationship with the public. The strategic and effective use of social

media can humanize communication leaders by making them appear accessible,

trustworthy, and collaborative (Jiang et al., 2017).

Summary and Transition

In this study, I intended to address the lack of knowledge and documentation of

key strategies that news directors, assignment managers, and executive producers use to

manage negative comments posted on social media sites. Furthermore, it was unknown

whether news directors, assignment managers, and executive producers who manage

social media sites attain a specific set of skills they employ to effectively manage

negative posts (de Vries, Veer, & de Vries, 2018; Syrdal & Briggs, 2018). In response to

this problem, the purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to explore the

strategies and skills employed to manage negative comments posted on social media sites

for news organizations in the Midwestern metropolitan area using participant interviews

and an examination of Twitter posts about the participants 1 week prior to interviews.

Participants included news directors, assignment managers, and executive producers at

news organizations in the Midwestern metropolitan area. I used thematic analysis

methods to analyze the resulting data. In the following chapter, I provide a review of

current literature that was relevant to this study.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Social media platforms allow news professionals to reach and build relationships

with a larger audience. The problem that inspired this study was that harmful and

unresolved social media comments hurt businesses because negative posts reach a wider

audience and the effects last longer than positive feedback. The purpose of this

qualitative, multiple case study was to explore and understand the strategies that

effectively remedy negative social media comments. People around the world are

increasingly engaging with social media platforms for personal and business reasons

(Weeks et al., 2017). Organizational leaders need to be aware of the damages that

negative word of mouth can cause on organizational performance and reputation (Kapoor

et al., 2017; Lambret & Barki, 2018). In this chapter, I explain the literature search

strategy, discuss the conceptual framework, and provide the literature review.

Literature Search Strategy

My literature search strategy involved searching the electronic databases of

Google Scholar, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, JSTOR, and Ovid with specific search terms and

phrases, individually or in combination. The search terms used included news media,

news organizations, news channels, social media, organization reputation, Twitter,

negative social media content, negative publicity, social media comments, social media

management, policies or guidelines, social media platforms, news organizations AND

social media, e-leadership, and skills approach to leadership. The phrases that I used in

combination included negative comments OR negative word of mouth AND social media

OR Facebook OR twitter OR Instagram AND cost or profit OR loss AND small business

OR SME. I also used the following phrases: negative comments OR negative word of

mouth OR negative review OR negative feedback AND social media OR Facebook OR

twitter OR Instagram AND strategies OR response AND management. In cases where

there was little current research, I turned to other sources. During an extensive review of

the literature, I found no research published in the past 10 years documenting the

strategies news organizations should employ to effectively manage social media or the

skills required to do so. As a result, I looked at how other businesses deal with the

unpredictable nature of social media crises and how instant worldwide exposure may

cause negative results to organizational performance or financial loss. The literature

search resulted in 75 relevant sources that consisted of books, theses, dissertations, and

scholarly research studies from academic journals. Of the 75 sources, 96% were

published between 2015 and 2019, and 4% were published before 2015.

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework of my study combined elements from the skills

approach to leadership developed by Mumford et al. (2000) and e-leadership theory

developed by Avolio et al. (2000). The skills approach to leadership consists of five

factors that influence leader performance: “competencies, individual attributes, leadership

outcomes, career experiences, and environmental influences” (Northouse, 2016, p. 47).

Three competencies lead to successful leadership: social judgment, problem-solving, and

knowledge (Northouse, 2016). According to Mumford et al., these competencies can

work together or independently to influence outcomes. Northouse (2016) stated that four

individual attributes (i.e., personality, general and crystallized cognitive ability, and

motivation) within this approach influence the three leader competencies; however, if

leaders do not develop skills, their individual attributes have minimal influence on

leadership outcomes.

The two leadership outcomes within this approach are effective problem-solving

and leader performance (Northouse, 2016). In this approach, career experiences influence

both leadership competencies and individual attributes, and environmental influences are

external factors that influence leadership outcomes alongside the influence of individual

attributes through leadership competencies (Northouse, 2016). This approach holds that

effective leadership is resultant from leader competencies that impact multiple facets of

the environment, such as leadership outcomes, environments, and career experiences

(Northouse, 2016). Therefore, I used this approach to explain why news professionals

should employ a specific set of skills related to social judgment, problem-solving, and

technological knowledge.

Abdul-Ridha and Jader (2018) defined e-leadership as “a social influence process

mediated by AIT (advanced information technology) to produce a change in attitudes,

feelings, thinking, behavior, and performance with individuals, groups, or organizations”

(p. 46). Successful social media managers use e-leadership during social interactions. E-

leadership theory allows professionals to discover internal and external environmental

opportunities and challenges, execute communication strategies accordingly, and promote

a positive relationship between the organization and the public (Jiang et al., 2017).

To apply this theory to the context of social media in news organizations, e-

leaders in news organizations (e.g., news directors, assignment managers, and executive

producers who manage the organization’s social media) can use social media to

encourage involvement and enhance the quality of relationships with the public (e.g.,

news channel viewers and followers; see Luo et al., 2015). However, these outcomes

would also require the e-leader to have knowledge of strategies to combat social media

negativity and the ability to employ these strategies.

Few researchers have focused on the association between social media use and e-

leadership. Jung (2010) examined the role of the social media platform, Twitter, in e-

leadership by interviewing 10 leaders to gain a better understanding of their perceptions

of Twitter and how they use it to exercise leadership within their organization. Jung

concluded that social media plays a significant role in e-leadership by breaking down

communication barriers, allowing relationships to be formed, and affording intellectual

stimulation and the sharing of knowledge. Although traditional modes of communication

are still relevant in organizations, social media can help leaders broaden relationships

with others within the organization or outside of the organization.

Similarly, Jiang et al. (2017) established that e-leadership is a conceptual

framework for examining the perceived influence of social media on personal work lives,

work-life conflict, and behaviors. The researchers found that using social media such as

YouTube and Facebook, for communication purposes, crisis management, and

environmental scanning, predicts positive perceptions of job tasks and behaviors.

However, when social media use was associated with adverse effects, leaders reported

feelings of decreased control in their work and increased work-life conflict.

Together, the skills approach to leadership and e-leadership theory can be used to

explain how specific skills are needed to effectively manage socio-environmental

influences and information that is disseminated through technology rather than traditional

means. The outcome of obtaining these skills would then be enhanced organizational

performance and a maintained reputation.

Literature Review

In the following subsections, I describe, compare, contrast, and critically analyze

studies related to the research topic and research questions. The constructs of interest

include social media in organizations, the platforms used, and the types of comments

received; social media and organizational reputation; social media in news organizations;

and strategies for managing social media content. These subsections include a summary

of how researchers have approached issues related to the concepts and a synthesis of what

is known, controversial, or remains to be studied in the literature.

Social Media in Organizations

Kapoor et al. (2017) stated, “social media comprises communication websites that

facilitate relationship forming between users from diverse backgrounds, resulting in a

rich social structure” (p. 531). Following a systematic review of the literature, Kapoor et

al. proposed that social media are defined by a digital environment that facilitates

communication, creation, and interactions between individuals. Organizations, from

large-scale enterprises to small businesses, are integrating social media into their business

strategy to remain competitive or attain a competitive advantage through enhanced

website traffic, brand awareness, and supporting consumer satisfaction (Balan & Rege,

2017; Calli & Clark, 2015; Cole et al., 2017). Another benefit of adopting social media

into the business strategy is that it helps organizations establish a position in the

international marketplace by allowing organizations to explore markets outside their

original boundaries (Chyi & Tennant, 2017). As a communication platform, social media

permit organizational leaders to engage with multiple stakeholders simultaneously and

create a space for public relations and advertising (Jankauskaite & Urboniene, 2016).

Kwayu et al. (2018) explored the use of social media as a method for enhancing

organizational competitiveness and how its use influences corporate strategies and

practices by collecting interview data from 12 employees at a Tanzanian telecom

organization. The framework of their study included an interpretive paradigm. Kwayu et

al. revealed that social media use in the organization influenced competitiveness and

practices using advertising, sales, promotion, product development, information sharing,

outsourcing, and feedback.

Balan and Rege (2017) focused on social media’s influence on small businesses,

applying data mining in their quantitative study to identify patterns of Twitter use related

to small businesses. Specifically, they investigated the use of the hashtag, #smallbusiness,

in Twitter posts. Their study showed that small businesses used Twitter to reach a wider

audience, engage with their customers, and gain feedback from customers regarding

product preferences.

Calli and Clark (2015) conducted a literature review to discover reasons why

some small- to medium-sized organizations do not adopt social media into their business

practices. Their literature review revealed that some small- to mid-sized organizations do

not utilize social media. Reasons for lack of social media use included a poor

understanding regarding using social media, lack of minimal strategic focus, and lacking

the technical knowledge to adopt social media.

de Vries et al. (2018) conducted a study similar to that of Calli and Clark (2015)

and examined the use of social media in small- to medium-sized organizations. The

results of their study revealed that these organizations often lack the knowledge, time,

and resources necessary to employ an active social media strategy to engage with their

customers. Furthermore, interviews with owners of small businesses revealed that they

fear the costs of poor engagement with their customers on social media outweigh the

potential benefits of its use.

Social media platforms. The most common social media platforms are Twitter,

Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube; however, Facebook is the world’s leading

social networking site with 2.23 billion users as of December 2017 (Kallas, 2017).

According to the number of users, YouTube ranked second, followed by Instagram,

Twitter, and LinkedIn (Kallas, 2017). Social media platforms provide various features

that allow users to interact with content (Almgren & Olsson, 2016). Each of these

platforms enables users to comment on posts and share or like the content posted by

another entity, given the user who posted the original content enabled these features

(Judina & Platonov, 2019).

User comments. Social media users often make comments on organizations’

social media pages, and the purpose of the comments range from formal reviews of

experiences, products, or services to informal conversation or questions. Consumers often

gravitate to the reviews section of an organization’s social media site to read about

others’ experiences before making a purchase decision (Kapoor et al., 2017). Barnes

(2015) suggested that more users read comments than contribute to the comments

themselves. The content within the comments can range from hostile to adoration;

however, negative comments have more impact than positive ones (Lee & Ro, 2016).

Ksiazek, Peer, and Zivic (2015) reviewed a large body of literature on civility and

hostility in online discussions, noting that antagonism often involves the use of profanity

and threatening language. Similarly, Springer, Engelmann, and Pfaffinger (2015)

suggested that the presence of poor-quality or hostile discussions can deter other users

from commenting. Furthermore, negative comments posted on organizations’ social

media sites can decrease their performance by negatively influencing customer value,

sales, customer loyalty, and recommendations (Springer et al., 2015).

Ksiazek (2015) suggested the quality of user comments needs improvement and

that it is the responsibility of the organization to encourage civil discussions. Negative

social media comments that are not resolved can do more damage than positive

comments do good because negative comments reach a broader audience and the

repercussions linger (Li, Cul, & Peng, 2018). In this regard, Stroud, Scacco, Muddiman,

and Curry (2015) found that discussions have better quality and civility when

organization members reply to users’ comments. This suggests that organizations that

engage more with their customers on social media have more positive outcomes than

those that put forth little effort.

Social Media in News Organizations

Like other organizations, the use of social media sites can help news

organizations become more competitive and established by acquiring or sharing

information immediately (Cole et al., 2017). The advent of social media has created a

challenge for print and television news organizations, as it diverts audience attention

(Cornia, Sehl, & Nielsen, 2019). News organizations increasingly rely on social media

for most of their online traffic, while traditional news organizations are witnessing a

decline in their online traffic (David, Tandoc, & Katigbak, 2019; Shearer & Gottfried,

2017). Researchers have attributed the decline in traditional news organizations to the

decline in readership (see, for example, Omar, Ismail, & Kee, 2018). Furthermore,

participatory culture is taking over the once passive learning, leading to a new media

landscape (Mustaffa, Sannusi, Hasan, & Saad, 2017).

News organizations also use social media to draw attention to their stories and

reach a broader audience (Bivens, 2015; Josephson & Miller, 2015; Judina & Platonov,

2019). They are able to draw this attention by combining information and entertainment

in social media content (Bivens, 2015; Judina & Platonov, 2019). The use of social media

by news organizations has successfully captured the attention of a younger audience

(Geniets, 2016).

Judina and Platonov (2019) posited that the interactivity and ability to reach a

broad audience are the main reasons news organizations are increasingly using social

media. The content news organizations choose to share on social media relate to specific

criteria such as news values. Judina and Platonov explored how likes, shares, and

comments from the public are determined by news values. Two state-represented news

organizations on the social media site Vkontakte, TASS and Russia Today, and two

private represented news organizations, RBC and Meduza, are the same site. Social

media posts were coded and then analyzed to identify themes. The findings revealed

news value preferences among news organizations when determining content to include

on social media. Specifically, the results showed positive correlations between exciting

news and the number of likes, news stories associated with conflict or celebrities and the

number of comments, significant events, and the number of shares and comments.

Surprisingly, Judina and Platonov found a negative relationship between exclusive news

content and a number of comments.

Finally, the results of the study revealed private news organizations posted more

soft news content and stories about conflict. Journalists also use social media to monitor

audience feedback and reactions to articles, paying attention to comments or what readers

are posting on social media about their news organizations (Ferrucci, 2018; Tandoc &

Vos, 2016). Journalists’ interest in social media is a new phenomenon as professionals

typically disregard influences from external agents (Tandoc & Maitra, 2018). The

essence of journalists’ change in their practices was illustrated in the study by Tandoc

and Maitra (2018). The purpose of their study was to investigate the influence of social

media, specifically Facebook, on journalism by exploring how news organizations

reacted to Facebook’s algorithm modification that spotlighted videos uploaded directly to

the platform (Tandoc & Maitra, 2018). During this modification, Facebook not only

changed the rules within the organization but also for its users, including news

organizations who typically set their own journalistic rules. To carry out their research,

Tandoc and Maltra examined posting activity on a large scale by collecting data from 232

U.S. news organization-operated Facebook Pages. These researchers revealed that the

majority of news organizations adhered to Facebook’s new rules regarding native videos

by producing a greater amount of social media videos. The implication of this finding

was that the field of journalism demonstrated a change in typical behavior, allowing

influence from an external agent. The results of the study also showed that broadcasting

news organizations adapted to the new Facebook rules quicker than print news

organizations.

David et al. (2019) conducted interviews with 16 of the primary news media

journalists in the Philippines to investigate the organizational provisions encompassing

social media teams and how they impact the incorporation of social media into

journalists’ decision making. Authors revealed journalists consider audience preferences

when making editorial decisions; however, decisions are dependent upon the provisions

encompassing social media teams. Some of the organizational provisions involved the

presence of social media editors in meeting on news stories, collaboration amongst social

media teams and reporters, and exposing primary editors to interaction analytics up front.

Furthermore, the decision-making process was different when social media teams were

involved in the journalistic processes and given equal authority in editorial and reporting

decisions. Also, the social media team’s gatekeeping roles were enhanced when their

mangers and editors were involved in producing content. Social media teams were

charged with gatekeeping roles that enhanced the information garnered regarding the

reactions from the audience and potential news ideas extracted from social media

discussions and were able to facilitate influence from the audience. David et al.

concluded that the drivers of incorporating social media into news organizations’

production process were the dominance of digital news formats over print formats, mass-

market orientation, and legacy brand history.

A concern of news organizations when posting stories on social media is that they

are credible; otherwise, the organization may experience negative publicity or a declining

audience (Blackstone, Cowart, & Saunders, 2017; Waters, 2016). Waters (2016)

conducted a quantitative survey research study using a sample of young adults on Twitter

to compare perceptions of credibility on mainstream and new media news outlets

according to their tweets. The independent variable was the news outlet (mainstream and

new media) and the dependent variable was perceived message credibility. The results of

the study revealed the news outlet had a significant influence on participants’ perceptions

of message credibility in the tweet, where mainstream news outlets on Twitter were

perceived as more credible than new media news outlets on Twitter. Furthermore, results

revealed that perceptions of messenger credibility were influenced by media skepticism.

Walters concluded that mainstream news organizations on Twitter are believed to provide

more credible information than new media organizations, even for those who are

skeptical about information disseminated from mainstream media.

Rath, Kim, Huh, and Srivastava (2018) used Twitter data from 315 U.S.

newspaper organizations and their audiences to investigate the effects of the central

characteristics of news organizations on the engagement of their audiences through

multiple regression analysis. Rath et al. analyzed the quantity of tweets, skill of the

Twitter user, and trustworthiness according to the Trust Scores in Social Media

algorithm. The results of the study revealed significant influences on news engagement of

the audience from the trustworthiness of the news organization and the amount of Twitter

activity. This finding indicated that new organizations’ trustworthiness effectively

predicts news audience engagement. Rath et al. also found that the number of tweets

negatively influenced the number of replies and retweets from the audience, while the

level of skill in Twitter use poorly predicted engagement from the audience. These

researchers contended that the structure of news organizations’ social media was a

stronger predictor of audience engagement than amount of social media activity;

therefore, news organizations’ audience characteristics are a stronger predictor of

engagement than the number of news posts. Rath et al. further concluded that news

organizations need to enhance their presence and outreach on social media instead of

focusing connectivity aspects of social media platforms to enhance audience engagement.

That is, perceived characteristics of news organizations drives engagement more than

their practices.

News platforms. According to Duggan (2015), over 20% of American adults use

Twitter. Among Twitter users, 81% use the platform as a source of daily news

(Rosenstiel, Sonderman, Loker, Ivancin, & Kjarval, 2015; Sundstrom & Levenshus,

2017). Twitter is the third largest social media platform used as a news source (Malik &

Pfeffer, 2016; Shearer & Gottfried, 2017). Furthermore, Twitter is recognized as a

common tool for news organizations to distribute breaking news (Blackstone et al.,

2017). Lee (2016) reported that 31% of Facebook users and 59% of Twitter users look to

these platforms as their source for breaking news.

Audience members interact with news tweets by sharing, liking, or commenting

(Gottfried, Barthel, Mitchell, & Shearer, 2016; Rath et al., 2018). Research shows that the

level of skill in Twitter use and the amount of content disseminated varies among

different news organizations (Engesser & Humprecht, 2015; Ferrer-Conill & Tandoc,

2018). The number of followers and tweets on news organizations Twitter accounts has

been found to predict engagement from the audience (Meyer & Tang, 2015).

Furthermore, the use of hashtags and photos and the nature of the tweet content can

predict the engagement of news organizations’ audience on Twitter.

According to Josephson and Miller (2015), journalists mostly use Twitter and

Facebook to disseminate news to their audiences. However, Cox (2016) found that 82%

of news organizations used Twitter to post social media content, whereas only 18% used

Facebook. Specifically, news organizations posted on Twitter 3,490 times and only 768

times on Facebook over the course of 7 days. Cox found that The Huffington Post

published most of the posts examined, reaching 2,008 Twitter posts and 386 Facebook

posts. CNN was the only news organization that posted more on Facebook than Twitter.

Of the topics posted on social media, news organizations’ choices were relatively similar,

aside from the topics of lifestyle and politics. The topic most frequently posted on Twitter

was politics, while politics was only the second most common topic posted on Facebook.

However, news organizations used Facebook more than Twitter to post stories related to

lifestyle posted lifestyle. Internet-only news organizations posted several topics, such as

entertainment, science, environment, and technology, on Twitter more frequently, but

posted crime and lifestyle topics more on Facebook. In comparison, television news

organizations posted more business, economy, entertainment, health, and lifestyle stories

on Facebook and more political stories on Twitter. Cox concluded that newspaper

organizations favor Facebook for lifestyle posts but use twitter for political and

entertainment-based stories.

Bruns (2018) stated that news organizations generally use Twitter more often than

other social media platforms for fundamental types of news engagement. The reason for

this is that over 95% of Twitter user accounts are public, meaning that any user can

follow them without needing permission from the host. Conversely, roughly 72% of

Facebook accounts are set to private by its users. The public nature of Twitter allows for

quick, widespread dissemination of breaking news stories, whereas the dissemination

process is much slower and requires more feature enabling on Facebook. Furthermore,

the differences in infrastructure between Twitter and Facebook causes significant

variations in the forms of audience engagement. Because of this, Bruns considered

Facebook as news organizations’ showroom, where lengthy messages can be

broadcasted, and Twitter as news organizations’ chat room, where users can interact with

one another and the posted content. However, Bruns also admitted that this viewpoint

may be accurate only for posts that are set as public and can be observed; the private

personal profiles or group page realms that are not public on Facebook may involve

significant discussions of news related material. Nevertheless, Twitter maintains the

position as a central component of the connection between social media and journalism.

User comments. Like any other organization on social media, news organizations

permit their audience members to comment on their stories or like and share their content

(Barnes, 2015; Waters, 2016; Winter et al., 2015). However, the degree to which users

can interact with news media is dependent upon the news organization’s account privacy

settings (Waters, 2016). Though, Opgenhaffen and D’Haenens (2015) found that

relatively few news organizations apply restrictions to their social media accounts. News

organizations allow users to comment on posts because these comments are a valuable

source of information to news organizations (Malik & Pfeffer, 2016).

Winter et al. (2015) suggested the usefulness of social media as an information

source has led news organizations to use social media platforms, such as Facebook, to

share articles or publish news stories. Winter et al. aimed to explore how social media

users perceive journalistic content and whether user reactions to content alter the

influence of central news articles using an experimental design and a sample of 197

Facebook users. During their experiment, users were shown posts from a reputable news

organization on Facebook as well as the corresponding news article. Subsequently, they

were asked to engage with the content through commenting and/or liking. The results of

the study revealed that negative comments decreased the persuasiveness of the original

news article; however, positive comments showed no changes in persuasiveness. This

finding supports Lee and Ro’s (2016) finding that negative social media comments have

more impact than positive ones. The results of the study also showed comments from

users who found the topic personally relevant influenced persuasiveness more than

comments from users who had subjective opinions. Lee and Ro contended this finding

was possibly due to those who felt a connection with the topic elaborating more.

Converse to expected, a greater number of likes did not influence conformity, suggesting

that comments are more effective than the preferences of users.

While both news organizations and their digital audiences find social media

commenting platforms valuable, both groups convey apprehension about the quality of

discussions ensuing (Barnes, 2015; Meltzer, 2015; Springer et al., 2015). Recent research

has illustrated that the purpose, quality, and number of user comments on news

organizations’ social media sites varies based on the content of the news itself. Rowe

(2015) found that when involving political news discussions, comments left on news

organizations websites have more deliberative quality than comments left on the social

media accounts of news organizations. Rowe established this finding after comparing 500

comments from The Washington Post website and 500 comments from The Washington

Post Facebook account that were related to 21 different news articles. Along with finding

that comments on the website were more deliberative. Rowe found that these comments

were also more ideologically balanced. However, Rowe did find that users commenting

on Facebook were more open with their personal opinions than those commenting on The

Washington Post website.

In summary, news organizations use social media to draw attention to their

stories, reach a broader audience, and become more competitive (Bivens, 2015;

Josephson & Miller, 2015; Judina & Platonov, 2019). Most news organizations use

Twitter and Facebook to disseminate news to their audiences (Josephson & Miller, 2015).

However, Cox (2016) found that 82% of news organizations used Twitter to post social

media content, whereas only 18% used Facebook. News organizations allow users to

comment on posts because these comments are a valuable source of information to news

organizations (Malik & Pfeffer, 2016). The following section provides information

regarding how social media user comments relate to organizational reputation.

Social Media and Organizational Reputation

Negative publicity on social media can do more harm to an organization than

decrease sales and customer loyalty; it can damage an organizations reputation.

According to research findings, consumer engagement in social media is positively

associated with an organization’s reputation (Dijkmans, Kerkhof, & Beukeboom, 2015).

This relationship is said to exist because organizations that use social media are

vulnerable to negative publicity, which could damage the organization’s reputation

(Schulze Horn et al., 2015). One of the biggest obstacles to protecting organizational

reputation from negative social media publicity is that the content in users’ comments is

beyond the organization’s control (Alfiero, Cane, De Bernardi, & Tradori, 2016;

Szwajca, 2017). Furthermore, social media users have the ability to collectively weaken

confidence in organizations (Cheung, 2016). Specifically, public social media complaints

can be damaging when they gain support from other users and organizations have no

control in stopping it (Mishra, 2015).

Blevins and Ragozzino (2019) contented that organizational reputation is a

multidimensional construct that cannot be measured by negative social media content

alone; the nature of the organization’s response must also be taken into consideration.

Hence, ascertaining the proper corporate response to negativity on social media is critical

(Mishra, 2015). Additionally, the speed of response after a social media crisis is related to

the level of damage done to an organization’s reputation (Sümer, Demir, & Şatir, 2017).

Dijkmans et al. (2015) aimed to discover whether and to what extent social media

activities and engagement are beneficial to an organization’s reputation. Specifically, the

purpose of the study was to establish the relationship between 3531 KLM airline

customers and noncustomer engagement in the organization’s Twitter and Facebook

activities and their perceptions of KLM’s reputation based on survey data (Dijkmans et

al., 2015). The results of the study revealed KLM customers were more engaged in

KLM’s social media activities and perceived KLM’s reputation more positively than

noncustomers. However, the relationship between social media engagement and

organizational reputation was stronger among noncustomers. Dijkmans et al. suggested

that this relationship is stronger because noncustomers do not have their own experiences

to inform their perceptions of the organization’s reputation; rather, they rely on

witnessing the positive customer supportive interactions between KLM and its customers

to form their opinions.

Schulze Horn et al. (2015) conducted a literature review to analyze social media’s

threat to organizational reputation and its influence on the customer, employee, and

organization, which are the three actors in the situation. To conduct the literature review,

Schulze Horn et al. reviewed research studies related to the influence of each actor and

evaluated the findings according to real-world cases of reputation threats through social

media and organization response strategies. The results of the literature review revealed

that there is a need for organizations to create a collection of response strategies from

several different angles that relate to each of the actors in reputation damage.

Furthermore, the best method for organizations to manage their reputation successfully is

to develop an organizational climate that is capable of mitigating risks to their reputation

that arise from its employees or itself. According to the real-life cases, organizations

lacked the appropriate knowledge required to manage social media dangers. The results

also indicated that response strategies should be developed to manage the reputation

threat at the source.

Sümer et al. (2017) asserted that “it is significant for organizations to maintain

their relationships with their stakeholders during crisis over social media in order to

repair their images” (p. 519). Based on this assertion, Sümer et al. aimed to examine the

influence of social media crisis responses, such as denial, evasion of responsibility,

mortification, reducing the offensiveness of the event, and corrective action, on trust,

reputation, and behavioral intentions. These researchers collected data from a

convenience sample of 1,800 Facebook users in Antalya Turkey using a questionnaire.

The results of the study revealed evasion of responsibility and denial influenced

stakeholders’ perceptions of trust and organizational reputation. However, stakeholders’

behavioral intentions were not influenced by any of the crisis response strategies.

Because the formation of trust is dependent upon organizational reputation, the

assumption is that the variables that influence reputation also influence trust.

Furthermore, because the notions of trust and organizational reputation are closely

related, they are similarly influenced by repair strategies. Sümer et al. suggested that

evasion of responsibility and denial have a greater negative influence on stakeholders’

perceptions of organizational trust and reputation than other response strategies. Sümer et

al. concluded that promoting organizational reputation is not effective when the

organization demonstrates denial or evasion of responsibility when repairing its image

after a social media crisis.

The studies discussed in this section related to my study’s third research question:

how do news professionals perceive the influence of social media on the organization’s

reputation in the Midwestern metropolitan area? One of the research results relevant to

this research question was that the biggest obstacle in protecting organizational reputation

from negative social media publicity is that organizations cannot control the content in

users’ comments (Alfiero et al., 2016; Szwajca, 2017). Another relevant finding was that

noncustomers do not have their own experiences to inform their perceptions of the

organization’s reputation; rather, they rely on witnessing positive customer supportive

interactions between the organization and its customers to form their opinions (Dijkmans

et al., 2015). Finally, social media responses that illustrate evasion of responsibility and

denial influenced stakeholders’ perceptions of trust and organizational reputation (Sümer

et al., 2017). These findings are consistent with the scope of my study, which was to

explore participants’ perceptions of social media’s influence on organizational reputation.

Strategies for Managing Social Media in Organizations

According to Lambret and Barki (2018), the advent of social media has made the

risks companies face and the nature of crises experienced more complex and dangerous

because any user can have a megaphone and contact with millions of people instantly.

The unpredictable nature of social media crises and instant worldwide exposure may

cause “negative mainstream media coverage,” resulting in decreased organizational

performance and financial loss (Lambret & Barki, 2018, p. 297). Therefore, social media

crisis management strategies cannot focus solely on predicting the formation of a crisis;

new tools and resources that focus on reversing the damage are required for effective

management (Lambret & Barki, 2018).

On social media platforms, businesses could easily track, monitor, and respond to

consumers’ comments with the goal to ultimately eliminate negative online reviews (Min

et al., 2015; Sparks et al., 2016) and protect reputations during the crisis (Liu, Kim, &

Pennington-Gray, 2015). Previous research has identified implementing social media

policies or strategies as a way of reducing negative attention and enhancing

organizational reputation (see, for example, Kwayu et al., 2018; Mishra, 2015). However,

existing literature consists mainly of general principles and guidelines that do not relate

to any specific context (Lambret & Barki, 2018). Jankauskaite and Urboniene (2016)

noted that many organizations that aim to develop a positive reputation do so by

maintaining a social media policy that provides guidelines for sharing organizational

content, dealing with complaints, engaging with negativity, and creating positive,

professional content and training leaders how to follow it. These policies are also

developed to promote civil, productive discussions among users and protect the

organization from any legal ramifications that may result from user comments (Ksiazek,

2015). According to Crawford and Gillespie (2016), policies are frequently aimed

towards reducing profanity, moderating discussions, and ensuring that users can rate and

rank other user comments. Some organizations employ a set of alternative response

strategies to remedy negative social media comments (Carneiro da Silva, 2019).

Mishra (2015) highlighted the notion that customer complaints on the Internet

create risky and unpredictable communication with customers because of their public

nature. To investigate this issue further, Mishra examined three incidences of consumer

complaints against the Indian brands Snapdeal, Amul, and Air India that were posted on

social media using a case study methodology. After analyzing communication from these

brands, Mishra found that the organizations made several effective decisions with regard

to managing negative comments on social media. However, Mishra also noted that these

brands still had room for improvement based on a review of the literature. For example,

brands in today’s marketplace should place more focus on perceptions of fairness when

publicly handing issues, while still maintaining a persuasive and influential message.

They should also use a polite and conversational tone when responding to complaining

consumers. Furthermore, brands should consider how other consumers who are

witnessing the interaction would perceive the communication. Finally, the brands

experiencing negativity should take measures that thwart other brands from benefiting

from their social media turbulence. Organizations can accomplish this by taking the

complaint as an opportunity to enhance customer loyalty and provide a better brand

experience.

Li et al. (2018) contended that organizations are increasingly responding

customer reviews on public Internet platforms to influence buying behavior of

prospective consumers and increase their profitability. The purpose of this study was to

highlight the importance of managing Internet content and semantically tailoring

responses to the reviews and explore the influence of such responses on prospective

consumer buying behavior. Li et al. used field and experimental research design to

analyze organizational responses to Online review content. The results of the study

showed accommodating responses to negative product reviews and defensive responses

to general negative reviews about the organization effectively increased sales and

promoted consumer purchase intentions. However, the influence of the organization’s

response was mediated by the diminished causal features of negative reviews aimed

toward the organization. Li et al. concluded that their findings provided important

implications for organization interventions for Internet platforms.

Like Lambret and Barki (2018), Benthaus, Risius, and Beck (2016) contended

that organizations would benefit from employing a set of social media guidelines for

managing its use and ensuring professional engagement. In their research, Benthaus et al.

evaluated how a social media strategy that incorporates social media management tools

can enhance public perceptions of the organization using a mixed methods design. For

the quantitative phase of the research, 15 million tweets posted from users’ Twitter

accounts regarding 45 large global organizations who are also on Twitter, and 160,000

subsequent messages sent from the organizations’ Twitter accounts were analyzed. For

the qualitative phase of the study, Benthaus et al. interviewed six experts on social media.

The quantitative results of the study revealed the use of social media management

strategies with tools positively influenced public perceptions as opposed to web-based

strategies. In terms of the underlying influential aspects of social media management

tools, interview responses indicated that organizations, for the most part, use social media

for marketing, communication, human resources, and customer care. In terms of

influences on public perception of organizations, the results of the interviews indicated

that social media management tools supported employee-related organizational practices

and workflow. The interviewees explained how the social media management tools

allowed them to manage user requests by identifying the requests, designating them to the

appropriate person, and monitoring the solutions. Furthermore, social media management

strategies were found to significantly enhance attitudinal loyalty among users (Benthaus

et al., 2016). One interview respondent posited that activities and content on social media

that are targeted towards specific groups enhanced the organization’s reputation most.

Overall, findings from the quantitative phase suggested that organizational strategic use

of social media management tools enhanced word of mouth from the social media

audience and improved relationships with the social media community.

Researchers have examined the implementation of different combinations of

policies and how effective they are in encouraging civil discussion (Braun, 2015;

Crawford & Gillespie, 2016; Ksiazek, 2015). To successfully employ these policies,

however, would require the organization to view social media as a medium for exercising

them. Szwajca (2017) noted that recently, the use of social media and the Internet has

grown exponentially, contributing to a change in the communication environment where

consumers can publicly share their opinions regarding an organization and its products or

services. This new process creates potential threats to individuals and organizations

reputation and public image. Therefore, organizations cannot disregard the possibilities,

and thus, should use social media as both a communication channel for marketing and a

tool to protects and develop their reputation. Szwajca conducted a literature review to

explore the extent of social media use and the direction of activities organizations

participate in to manage their reputation in the Polish market. The results of the review

revealed that Polish organizations acknowledge the possibilities associated with social

media and attempted to apply the potential to their marketing strategies. However, in

terms of using social media as a communication channel, organizations tended to lean

toward traditional communication channels, considering social media as more of a

promotional tool and not a tool for direct engagement. The problem with this is that their

social media use did not promote the development or protection of their organizational

reputation on the Internet, causing these organizations to suffer the consequence.

The studies included in this section did not address social media strategies in the

context of news organizations; however, they provided insight into potential

communicative strategies news organizations could use to effectively respond to negative

posts on their social media accounts. For example, several researchers have suggested

using a polite conversational tone (Mishra, 2015) and accommodating responses (Li et

al., 2018), and to take into consideration how other users may perceive the responding

message (Mishra, 2015). Although the content within this section aligned with my

study’s scope regarding managing social media content, there was one limitation than

cannot go without mention. That is, all but two of the studies were literature reviews, and

thus, did not add any further supporting evidence.

Social Media Management in News Organizations

Researchers (for example, Katsyri et al., 2016; Winter et al., 2015) have

suggested that social media management is essential for television channels, including the

news. According to Kitsa and Mudra (2018), many TV channels see a decrease in viewer

activity when their social media sites are not professionally maintained. This relationship

between TV channel viewing and social media is important to news organizations

because more people are now visiting social media to read news stories or watch news

related videos from their favorite news channels (Katsyri et al., 2016; Winter et al.,

2015). This increases interaction with the public via the ability to comment, and thus,

increases the opportunity for negative comments and diminished reputation (Katsyri et

al., 2016; Winter et al., 2015). Furthermore, researchers have shown that news

organizations play a pivotal role in directing public attention to the organizations they

report on and forming organizational evaluations by selectively communicating and

framing content to large audiences (Etter et al., 2019). Accordingly, researchers have

argued the importance of news organizations addressing the concerns of citizens because

of how media reputation influences the development of collective reputational judgments

(Etter et al., 2019).

Like organizations in other industries, news outlets often have organizational

policies and guidelines to manage their social media comment sections (Braun, 2015;

Opgenhaffen & D’Haenens, 2015). Furthermore, news organizations are increasingly

designating social media managers and editors (Ferrer-Conill & Tandoc, 2018; Powers,

2015; Tandoc & Vos, 2016). Combined, organizational structure and policies within the

news organization can filter or intervene in the degree to which social media interferes

with news operations (David et al., 2019; Jung & Villi, 2018).

However, the relationship between news organizations and social media is a bit

different from the relationship between nonmedia organizations and social media.

Specifically, strategies that work for managing negative social media comments in

nonmedia organizations may not be effective for news organizations because of the

relationship news organizations have with the public and the social significance and value

of their judgments (Al-Rawi, 2017; Winter et al., 2015). During an extensive review of

the literature, two recently published studies were found regarding news organizations’

strategies for managing social media.

One recent study found in the literature search on news organization strategies to

manage social media was conducted by Opgenhaffen and D’Haenens (2015). According

to these authors, the use of social media by news organizations and journalists may

influence aspects such as gatekeeping, objectivity, and transparency. Because of the fear

of negative influences from social media use, news organizations are increasingly

developing guidelines to set boundaries and manage news employees’ social media use.

Opgenhaffen and D’Haenens conducted a literature review to describe the social media

guidelines employed by market-leading news organizations and compare similarities and

differences. Opgenhaffen and D’Haenens performed content analysis to explore existing

guidelines for social media use and elaborate on the differing guidelines according to

how they relate to journalism principles. With regard to the journalism principle of

objectivity, guidelines included remaining neutral in discussions, not using real names or

sharing personal information, and not stating personal opinions to controversial topics. In

terms of gatekeeping, related guidelines included encouraging users to contribute to the

process of news research and production and to discourage users’ violation of others’

privacy. Finally, guidelines related to transparency included prohibiting journalists from

sharing confidential information about the organization or colleagues, announcing news

that the organization has not been made aware of, and disseminating news that is not

credible.

The second recent research study identified in the literature was conducted by Lee

(2016). Lee framed the literature review according to regulatory focus theory and framing

to evaluate the employee social media guidelines of three British and nine American

central news organizations and explore how their guidelines were framed. Lee discovered

the following social media guidelines of mainstream news organizations through

searching the Internet. Lee found that guidelines were mostly concerned with the

accuracy of information disseminated, as insufficient verification of facts was the most

frequently mentioned topic. The issue of violating the journalistic element of objectivity

by voicing personal preferences and opinions regarding news stories was the second most

frequent topic addressed in guidelines. The third topic most commonly addressed in the

guidelines was the potential dangers associated with inappropriate behaviors on social

media sites. The fourth most commonly addressed item in the guidelines was damaging

news organizations’ reputation and credibility through social media content.

Lee (2016) found that each of the news organizations perceived the use of social

media as too perilous for an individual journalist to manage and were more cautious than

excited in its use. Furthermore, the majority of guidelines suggested that journalists

should consult with an editor or social media expert before posting content rather than

relying on personal judgments. In terms of how guidelines were framed, all guidelines

examined framed the use of social media as a risky business practice and messages were

framed according to how the news organization can prevent potential issues. Lee’s

findings illustrated that even though social media is viewed positively in the realm of

news media, news organizations may be more cautious and critical when it comes to their

own employees using social media.

Though these guidelines for social media use may be useful in decreasing the

likelihood of receiving negative social media publicity, a lack of knowledge and

documentation of key strategies that news directors, assignment managers, and executive

producers use to manage negative comments posted on social media sites remains.

Furthermore, it is unknown whether news directors, assignment managers, and executive

producers who manage social media sites attain a specific set of leadership skills they

employ to effectively managing negative posts (de Vries et al., 2018; Syrdal & Briggs,

2018). Identifying and documenting skills and strategies news directors, assignment

managers, and executive producers use to effectively manage social media negativity

could help new and established news professionals remedy their own social media crises

Social Media and Leadership

Northouse (2016) stated,

leadership effectiveness as measured by outcomes is a direct result of leader

competencies and the indirect result of individual attributes working through

leader competencies…and that career experiences work indirectly to affect

leadership outcomes, while environmental influences work indirectly and directly

to influence leadership outcomes. (p. 86)

In this regard, active social media management would result from news

professionals employing a specific set of skills related to social judgment, problem-

solving, and technological knowledge. However, the context of social media would also

require a sense of e-leadership, where leaders have the experience of strategies to manage

social media engagements and the ability to employ these strategies.

The following studies are discussed in terms of leadership’s relationship with

social media. According to Luo et al. (2015), it is essential to explore public relations

leaders’ perceptions of integrating social media as a communication tool to understand

the influence of social media on the public relations profession. The purpose of their

study was to explore the use of social media and how it has influenced leadership

behavior among 43 U.S. public relations leaders using qualitative interviewing. The

results of the interviews revealed four central themes. First, ideas regarding how leaders

in public relations can strategically use social media to exhibit expert power, obtain

decision power by presenting tangible outcomes, display leadership vision in social

media use, and establish leadership over peers. According to Luo et al., their study

contributed theoretically to the public relations leadership area by creating three

mechanisms for public relations leaders to develop their leadership. That is, leaders, can

develop their leadership through enhancing capabilities in managing social media,

gaining influential expert power, and building relationships with leaders from other areas

within the organization. Luo et al. suggested that future researchers should focus on how

social media engagement and management among public relations leaders have

influenced the organizational structure and the influence leaders may have on the ethical

use of social media.

Dahlin and Gratell (2018) conducted a qualitative research study aimed to

examine how social media influences entrepreneurial leadership using semistructured

interview data from seven entrepreneurs. Interview data were coded and analyzed for

themes using a grounded theory approach, which resulted in three core themes: new

social context, leadership enhancer, and cast expander. Using these three themes, Dahlin

and Gratell built a model to demonstrate how they intersect and influence internal

(entrepreneurial enhancer) and external (cast expander) entrepreneurial leadership. The

theme new social context was named because of how it relates to social media creating a

new reality for leaders, which presents new opportunities and risks as a new

communicative paradigm. When applied effectively, leaders can use social media to

spread the organization’s vision and expand the cast. However, in the context of social

media, leaders as ambassadors must be aware that the content shared on social media

could potentially harm the organization if perceived poorly. In terms of the

entrepreneurial enhancer theme, Dahlin and Gratell found that it is the leaders’

responsibility to learn how social media platforms work and produce content that

facilitates both social and professional interactions. Social media can enhance

entrepreneurial leadership when used as a tool to communicate external and internal team

goals. Furthermore, an active corporate social media account allows leaders to monitor

the activity of competitors’ clients, forecast opportunities, network, motivate followers,

and expand the cast by gaining new. Essentially, social media is a useful leadership tool

because it lowers communication barriers, permits outreach to multiple stakeholders

simultaneously, and draws the attention of followers.

Jung (2010) found from interview data collected from 10 leaders that social media

played a significant role in e-leadership by breaking down communication barriers,

allowing relationships to be formed and intellectual stimulation and knowledge to be

shared. Furthermore, social media can help leaders broaden relationships with others

within the organization or outside of the organization (Jung, 2010). Like the results from

Luo et al.’s (2015) study, Jiang et al. (2017) found that social media use, such as

YouTube and Facebook, for communication purposes, crisis management, and

environmental scanning predicted positive perceptions of social media’s influence on job

tasks and behaviors. The studies discussed in this section related to my study’s second

research question: what leadership skills do news professionals perceive as useful in

combating negative social media posts in the Midwestern metropolitan area?

Summary and Conclusions

Researchers have indicated that large-scale enterprises are frequently utilizing

social media to attain a competitive advantage through enhanced website traffic, brand

awareness, and supporting consumer satisfaction. However, organizations that use social

media are also more susceptible to negative publicity, which could damage the

organization’s reputation (Schulze Horn et al., 2015). In terms of news syndicates, social

media draw attention to key stories, reach a broader audience, and further competitive

strategies (Bivens, 2015; Josephson & Miller, 2015; Judina & Platonov, 2019).

Organizational structure and policies within the news organization can filter or intervene

in the degree to which social media interfere with news operations (David et al., 2019;

Jung & Villi, 2018). Yet, how news directors, assignment managers, and executive

producers effectively manage negative posts is absent in academic literature (de Vries et

al., 2018; Syrdal & Briggs, 2018).

There was a significant gap in the literature pertaining to the skills and strategies

used by news organizations when negative social media comments arise. The unique

environment of social media poses new challenges for business leaders to consider

individual comments, assess proper responses, and understand how internet users are

reacting to the feedback (Mishra, 2015). E-leaders in news organizations (e.g., news

directors, assignment managers, and executive producers who manage the organization’s

social media) can use social media to encourage involvement and enhance the quality of

relationships with the public (e.g., news channel viewers and followers; Luo et al., 2015).

However, these outcomes would also require the e-leader to have knowledge of strategies

to combat social media negativity and the ability to employ these strategies. Hence, my

research problem was the lack of knowledge surrounding why it is imperative and how to

implement and maintain social media management policies and strategies. The increasing

use of social media platforms among news organizations necessitates further research on

the topic to gain a better understanding on how news organizations can effectively

respond to social media negativity. In Chapter 3, I provide a detailed account of the

methodology of my study.

Chapter 3: Research Method

The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to explore and understand

the strategies that effectively remedy negative social media comments, the skills used to

employ remedial actions, the reasons why organizations fail to develop effective

strategies, and the motivations to develop them among the participants and their

organizations. In this chapter, I provide details pertaining to the research methods used in

this study. The chapter includes a discussion of the research design and rationale, my role

as the researcher, the methodology, and issues of trustworthiness.

Research Design and Rationale

The primary research questions that guided this study were the following:

RQ1: How do leaders in the news business perceive the influence of social media

on their organizations’ reputations?

RQ2: What are the factors that prevent news organizations from developing

effective social media strategies and the motivations for developing them?

RQ3: What strategies do news professionals use to manage negative comments

posted on social media sites?

RQ4: What leadership skills do news professionals perceive as useful in

combating negative social media posts?

The research design that I used was a multiple case study. A case study design

provided a detailed description and understanding of how news organizations address

negative comments posted on social media (see Yin, 2017). Researchers conduct case

studies to better understand the interactions of case units related to the central research

phenomena (Burkholder et al., 2016). The central research phenomena in this study were

the social media management strategies and leadership skills used to address unfavorable

social media interactions online, particularly within the context of news organizations.

A multiple case study design was the most appropriate approach for this study

because the aim was to understand the nature of social media strategies and leadership

skills used within the context of news organizations. Furthermore, a multiple case design

provided the opportunity to gather a more comprehensive understanding of the research

phenomena as well as the ability to compare and contrast strategies used in different news

organizations to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the research phenomena

(see Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The inclusion of multiple data sources contributed to a

more comprehensive understanding of the central phenomena (see Yin, 2017).

Role of the Researcher

My role as the researcher included conducting interviews, ensuring proper data

collection management, and completing the data analysis for this project. I was the sole

researcher and did not use volunteers to assist in the process of data collection and

management. For data collection, I conducted direct interviews, transcribed and reviewed

the data collected, and carried out the data analysis process.

As the researcher, I had no prior connection to or relationship with participants

and had no contact with them outside of this study. I was not actively employed within

the news industry; however, I worked in the industry in the past. To ensure that any

instance of personal bias was documented, I followed the guidelines of Tufford and

Newman (2012) regarding bracketing for the mitigation of personal bias. I also used a

field journal to write personal notes and bracket possible personal bias issues as they

arose.

As the primary researcher, I had a role to ensure the ethicality of the study. To

achieve this, the study did not commence until I received approval from the Walden

University Institutional Review Board (IRB). I also required all participants to fill out an

informed consent form indicating their voluntary involvement and ensuring that they

were informed of personal confidentiality. To further ensure the ethicality of the study, I

used codes for each participant and kept all data in a locked file cabinet and on a

password-protected computer. Per IRB recommendations, I will keep these data for 5

years before permanently destroying the physical and electronic materials.

Methodology

Qualitative methods are appropriate when the research phenomena need to be

examined in depth (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The research questions in my study

centered on understanding the nature of the research phenomena by means of determining

how and what. Researchers use quantitative methods, by contrast, to quantify facets of

social phenomena and answer questions such as how much or to what degree (Burkholder

et al., 2016). Researchers use quantitative methods to test hypotheses about the

relationship between variables (Burkholder et al., 2016). For those reasons, quantitative

methods were not appropriate in response to my research questions. In the following

subsections, I provide details concerning elements of the research methodology.

Participant Selection Logic

The target population for this study included leaders in the news business in a

Midwestern metropolitan area. Participants were required to be news directors,

assignment managers, or executive producers who had been active on social media for 1

year or more as a means of increasing news channel ratings and engagement with

viewers.

Yin (2017) noted that saturation for qualitative assessments occurs when themes

are repeated from participant interviews. I planned to interview and observe six social

media managers from five different news organizations unless I achieved saturation (i.e.,

no new information was generated) and I had interviewed at least 20 leaders in five news

organizations.

I used a purposive sampling strategy for this study. Purposive sampling entails

selecting participants on the basis of specified inclusion criteria (Palinkas et al., 2015).

The use of purposive sampling ensured all participants had knowledge and experiences

that were relevant to the topic of the present study. Using the purposive sampling

strategy, leaders, including news directors, assignment managers, and executive

producers, were selected from news organizations. To ensure that participants met the

criteria, a screening process occurred during recruitment. To contact the news

organization and leaders, I provided a recruitment e-mail to the news directors of the

stations in which the purpose of the study, IRB approval information, and the participant

inclusion criteria were included. Furthermore, I offered to hold Zoom or Google Hangout

interviews as a means of interviewing for the ease of participants.

Instrumentation

I used two forms of instrumentation:

• an interview guide for collecting data from the semistructured interviews, and

• a collection form for examining Twitter posts from the participating

companies.

For the semistructured interviews, I expected data collection to elicit the following

information:

• the strategies news professionals use to manage negative comments posted on

social media sites,

• leadership skills news professionals perceive as useful in combating negative

social media posts, and

• news professionals’ perceptions of the influence of social media on

organizational reputation.

For the process of collecting data from semistructured interviews, I developed an

interview guide (see Appendix A)for the interview process consisting of open-ended

questions. To ensure the proper development of the interview guide and the relevance and

validity of the questions that I asked, I used Castillo-Montoya’s (2016) interview protocol

refinement (IPR) framework. The IPR framework was critical because it is used to align

research questions and the study purpose with the interview questions. Additionally, the

IPR framework was ideal for constructing interview questions that are inquiry based,

based on a pilot study, and included a conversational tone for the comfort of the

participants.

The next data collection instrument consisted of the assessment form for the

Twitter accounts of the participating companies (see Appendix B) to examine the

responses of participants to negative comments and the attitude of the audience. In the

data collection form, I assessed company responses as effective or ineffective based on

the number of likes and positive feedback following the remedial post. One week prior to

the interviews, I monitored the Twitter accounts of participants to see how they

responded to negative comments and whether their responses appeared to remedy the

negative attitude of the audience member. Accordingly, during this process, the data

collection form aided in assessing how participants responded to their negative feedback

and the response used to assess the negative attitude of the Twitter audience member.

Pilot Study

Castillo-Monotya (2015) suggested using a pilot study for increased reliability

and validity of the instrumentation and to ensure that the instrumentation (e.g., the

interview protocol) is clear, contains valid questions, and is ideal for gaining participant

information. I conducted the pilot study before the interview process with two reviewers

who provided feedback regarding the clarity and the validity of the answers. No changes

were suggested to the interview protocol as a result of the pilot study.

Procedures for Recruitment, Participation, and Data Collection

I used two sources of data, semistructured interviews and the review of participant

Twitter posts, to address the research questions in this study. To recruit participants for

this research, I contacted leaders of news organizations in the Midwestern metropolitan

area by phone to identify news organizations that were willing to participate. After initial

contact, I provided a recruitment e-mail with details regarding the purpose of the study,

IRB approval information, and my personal contact information. Upon securing

permission to conduct the study from the selected organizations, I procured a list of

members from each who fit the inclusion criteria. I contacted potential participants by e-

mail with information about the study and a letter of informed consent that was to be

returned if an individual wished to participate. Individuals who wanted to take part in the

study e-mailed the signed letter of informed consent back to me; provided their Twitter

username; and coordinated a date, time, and public location for their interview.

Interviews lasted approximately 60 minutes each. I used an audio recording

device so that the participant responses could be transcribed before analysis. Upon

completing their interview, I thanked the participants for taking part in the study and

advised them to contact me with any further questions.

To collect data from the participants’ Twitter posts, I used the data collection

form for the assessment of the negative attitudes of Twitter audiences and the

effectiveness of participants’ responses based upon the likes or comments upon the post.

If I found fewer than three negative audience responses on a participant’s Twitter page

for the designated week being analyzed, the previous week was examined.

Data Analysis Plan

I applied cross-case thematic analysis to the data collected in this study. Thematic

analysis involves identifying reoccurring themes and patterns within the data that are

relevant within the context of the study (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

I coded the interview transcripts and Twitter posts and then compared each news

organization’s social media posts and comments to each other. I used Braun and Clarke’s

(2006) six-step thematic analysis approach as follows:

1. Reading and rereading the data to become familiar,

2. Generating initial codes,

3. Identifying themes in relation to each research question as well as the entire

data set,

4. Reviewing/revising themes,

5. Defining the final list of themes, and

6. Producing a write-up that details the nature of each theme within the research

context.

Following this procedure, I first transcribed the interview recording. After the

initial transcribing, I returned the transcripts to the participants for member checking for

increased validity. Member checking was critical because it ensured that the participants

were aware of their responses and could point out any glaring errors, if any, before data

analysis (see Tracy, 2019). After the final assessment of the transcripts, I uploaded them

into the organizational coding software, NVivo. NVivo is software that has multiple

visualization tools for organizing data that allowed me to examine similar text and

explore for resultant themes. In NVivo, codes are named nodes.

I uploaded the transcripts and then immersed myself with the data by rereading

the transcripts. After this process, I assessed for similar words and phrases and applied

nodes to these for further analysis. I used the tools within NVivo to apply nodes to

analogous textual elements (words, sentences, phrases, or paragraphs) across each of the

interviews. I compared the identified nodes between interview transcripts to assess for

similarities that may contribute to themes that address the research questions. For each of

the interviews, I followed the coding procedures identified in Braun and Clark’s (2016)

coding guidelines. This included assessment of analogous phrases or words, development

of themes based upon coding strategies, final discussion and presentation of the themes in

chapter four and five. After this was complete, I assessed emergent themes based upon

the identified nodes in the initial data analysis process. After the final thematical analysis,

I presented the themes in a coding matrix that I created in Microsoft Excel, for

comparative analysis with the Twitter posts.

After data collection, I assessed Twitter posts by examining the response of the

audience, which was based upon their responses and the likes or dislikes left upon the

post. After this, I compared these Twitter responses for similarities or dissimilarities with

respondents’ interview remarks. For this, I compared the themes apparent in the

interviews for each news organization with the Twitter responses analysis. This initial

process occurred by each individual case before the resulting cross-case analysis. Case

comparison was critical, as it allowed me to compare how the three organizations report

and handle of negative social media responses. Comparing these cases also enabled me to

examine how strategies are similar or different across each organization. Specifically, this

aided in addressing research question three regarding the strategies news professionals

use to manage negative comments posted on social media sites. Next, I reported the

resultant findings for each of the cases in a written format before embarking upon cross-

case analysis.

After finalizing this process, cross-case analysis (see Yin, 2017) commenced, in

which I compared cases (news organizations) to explore for similarities and differences

after the preliminary analysis process concludes:

1. Transcribe interviews.

2. Complete member-checking and adjust if necessary.

3. Follow Braun and Clarke’s (2016) six-step thematic analysis for thematic

analysis of the interviews.

4. Perform the Twitter analysis for each individual case.

5. Compare thematic analysis with Twitter analysis for each individual case.

6. Complete cross-case analysis for the Twitter analyses and thematic results.

7. Finalize and report resulting findings from the data analysis process.

After this process was complete, I wrote up my final assessment. I based the evaluation

upon the thematic results of each case study and the cross-case study comparison of the

Twitter responses.

Issues of Trustworthiness

Credibility

The trustworthiness of qualitative research consists of credibility, reliability,

transferability, dependability, and confirmability (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Credibility

refers to the internal validity of a study, or how effectively the measures used reflect the

research phenomena in reality. Use of Castillo-Montoya’s (2016) IPR framework helped

to ensure the credibility of the responses gathered using the developed interview guide.

The use of multiple data sources also contributed to credibility.

Transferability

Transferability refers to the external validity of a study. In other words,

transferability is how effectively the findings may be applied in other research contexts

(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). I enhanced transferability through cross-case analysis, as

focusing on a single news organization would have been significantly limiting. To

enhance transferability, I documented the data collection instruments to ensure proper

audit trail and ask participants to confirm their responses. I also used a qualitative data

analysis software (NVivo) for analysis.

I also enhanced transferability through cross-case analysis, as focusing on a single

news organization would have been significantly limiting. Maintaining a detailed audit

trail of all procedures enacted during this research also enhanced transferability.

However, after reporting the findings, I examined the results to assess how the findings

are generalizable to the general population of news syndicates. For this purpose,

comparative assessment of the findings with the results of the study occurred to assess the

generalizability of the resultant data.

Dependability

Dependability refers to how similar the results of another study would be if the

same research was conducted again in an identical research context (Merriam & Tisdell,

2016). For dependability, I conducted a pilot study to ensure that the instrumentation

(e.g., the interview protocol) was ideal for gaining information from participants. This

process occurred with two reviewers who provided feedback regarding the clarity and the

validity of the questions. For this purpose, I chose two reviewers from my professional

field to provide feedback before proceeding with interviews with the participants.

Confirmability

Lastly, the confirmability of qualitative research refers to how accurately the

findings reflect the true nature of the data that was gathered, rather than the researcher’s

own biases and preconceptions (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Use of multiple data sources

enhanced confirmability, as the Twitter posts contextualized participants’ interview

responses. Providing detail-rich descriptions of the research methods used also helped to

enhance confirmability, as it enhanced readers’ ability to assess how I conducted the

study and whether bias may have influenced the results (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).

Ethical Procedures

Whenever human participants are involved in a study, procedures to ensure their

ethical treatment must be enacted (Yin, 2017). I required all participants to sign letters of

informed consent form prior to participating. I also obtained permission from the

participating organizations and the Walden IRB before the study commences.

Participants were aware that they could leave the study at any time if they were

uncomfortable, and that the results would have no influence over their employment.

Participants’ identities are anonymous in this study, using numerical identifiers (e.g., P1,

P2, and so on) in lieu of their names. I stored all physical documents in a locked file

cabinet and all electronic documents and data on a password-protected computer (Yin,

2017).

Summary

In this qualitative, multiple case study, I researched the strategies and leadership

skills employed to manage negative comments posted on social media sites for news

organizations. Using a case study research design led to a detailed description and

understanding of how news organizations address negative comments posted on social

media (see Yin, 2017). The central research phenomena involved in this study were

social media management strategies and leadership skills used to address unfavorable

social media interactions online. Further, I chose a qualitative methodology for this

research because the research phenomena needed to be examined in-depth with enough

detail.

The participants for this research consisted of news directors, assignment

managers, and executive producers who have been active on social media for 1 year or

more as a means of increasing news channel ratings and engagement with viewers. The

data sources included in this research were semistructured interview responses and

Twitter posts from the participants. I conducted cross-case thematic analysis with the

resulting data. In Chapter 4, I will present the findings of the study organized by research

question.

Chapter 4: Results

The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to explore and understand

the strategies that effectively remedy negative social media comments, the skills used to

employ remedial actions, the reasons why organizations fail to develop effective

strategies, and the motivations to develop them. The study had four central research

questions:

RQ1: How do leaders in the news business perceive the influence of social media

on their organizations’ reputations?

RQ2: What are the factors that prevent news organizations from developing

effective social media strategies and the motivations for developing them?

RQ3: What strategies do news professionals use to manage negative comments

posted on social media sites?

RQ4: What leadership skills do news professionals perceive as useful in

combating negative social media posts?

In this chapter, I describe the pilot study, research setting, demographics, data

collection procedures, data analysis procedures, and evidence of trustworthiness; present

the results; and conclude with a summary. The Results section is organized by research

questions and emergent main themes.

Pilot Study

Upon receiving approval from Walden University IRB (IRB Approval Number

06-21-20-0935360), I conducted a pilot study with two participants who provided

feedback regarding the recruiting process and the interview guide. Both participants had

similar answers to the questions. Participant 1 encouraged the use of Zoom in light of the

COVID-19 pandemic. This participant mentioned that some of the questions were

repetitive; she felt that she kept answering the same questions over and over again. The

second participant agreed that conducting the interview via Zoom was the safest route to

take. This participant said that questions were straight forward. The pilot study

participants evaluated the structure, length, writing style, and comprehension of the

interview questions as positive.

I concluded that the interview questions for the news professionals were in line

with the general research methodology and the four research questions. There were no

deviations from the IRB self-ethics checklist. I did not use the data that I collected during

the pilot study in the actual study. There was no need to make changes to the interview

guide and data analysis strategies because I did not address the repetitiveness of questions

as an aspect of an interview protocol in the IPR framework of Castillo-Montoya (2016).

To ensure consistency in participant answers, repetitive questions are necessary to a

certain extent.

Research Setting

As the researcher, I had no prior contact or relationship with participants and did

not have contact with them outside of this study. I worked in the news industry before,

but I was not actively employed within the industry. During the interviews, I did not

reveal to the participants that I worked in the same field as their’s.

The COVID-19 pandemic influenced this study. I could not conduct face-to-face

interviews, so I arranged with the participants to switch to online interviews. The

interviews were conducted in a home setting, using the Zoom platform.

Demographics

I anonymized the research participants following the research ethics and

interviewed 20 individuals from five news organizations.

Table 1

Participants

Participant

News organization

FOX

WKBD

WDIV

P10

WDIV

P11

WMYD

P12

WMYD

P13

WXYZ

P14

WXYZ

P15

WXYZ

P16

WXYZ

P17

WXYZ

P18

WMYD

P19

WKBD

P20

WKBD

Data Collection

To recruit participants for this study, I e-mailed a study invitation to the contact

person at five news organizations in the Midwestern metropolitan area. Each contact

person forwarded the invitation to potential participants who met the inclusion criteria. In

the invitation, I provided details regarding the purpose of the study, IRB approval

information, and my personal contact information. Volunteers e-mailed me if they were

interested in taking part in the study. I contacted potential participants with information

about the study and a letter of informed consent. The participants signed the informed

consent form before participating in interviews.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I conducted all interviews online via the

Zoom platform. Interviews lasted approximately 60 minutes. I used a voice recorder on

my computer to transcribe the participants’ responses after the interviews were

concluded. Upon completing their interview, I thanked participants for taking part in the

study and advised them to contact me with any further questions. I collected data through

semistructured interviews with open-ended questions. Data saturation occurred after

conducting interviews with 20 participants.

Data Analysis

I analyzed all the interviews conducted for this study using NVivo and the six-

step thematic analysis process that Braun and Clarke (2006) outlined. I began to

familiarize myself with the data while I was transcribing the interviews. In the initial

coding phase, I explored participants’ words, sentences, and quotes in the interview

transcripts to create nodes in the Nodes section in NVivo for information gathered that

were related specifically to the research questions.

The next step of coding involved grouping created nodes to form specific themes

of descriptive data they referred to. After regrouping the nodes in NVivo, I transformed

the most dominant nodes into themes, alongside less dominant nodes, which I then

attached to the themes. I also formed some new themes. Table 2 presents the themes that

emerged under each corresponding research question in the Results section.

Table 2

Themes

Research

question

Files

Building the brand

Reaching and communicating

with larger audience

Lack of resources to organize

a social media team

Respond to, or delete a

negative comment?

Having specialized social

media team and plan

Communication skills and

professionalism

Table 2 depicts dominant themes from all four research questions, while Tables 3,

4, 5, and 6 depict the nodes and themes that emerged from each of the research questions.

The Files column refers to the number of research participants who expressed certain

nodes or themes. In the Results section, I explain how I created and connected each

theme with nodes.

Table 3

Codebook for RQ1 (Influence on Reputation)

Nodes

Files

Positive influence

Building the brand

Reaching larger audience

Feedback

Communication with public

Everyone express opinion

Humanization

Political topics

Young people

Not so important

Source

Maintain mission and autonomy

Networking

Table 4

Codebook for RQ2 (Factors for Developing Strategies)

Nodes

Files

Everyone responds differently

Not having an effective strategy

Lack of resources to hire social media manager

Constant transformation of social media

Generation gap

Bad marketing

High turnover

Lack of education on platforms

Table 5

Codebook for RQ3 (Strategies)

Nodes

Files

Responding to negative comments

Having a social media team and plan

Delete insulting comments

No universal strategy

Pay attention

Identify shortcoming

Prohibit hate speech and threats

Provide more information

Remain persistent in work

Strategic storytelling

Table 6

Codebook for RQ4 (Leadership Skills)

Nodes

Files

Communication skills

Professionalism

Understanding

Creativity

Writing skills

Think one step ahead

Evidence of Trustworthiness

Credibility

I ensured credibility by implementing Castillo-Montoya’s (2016) IPR framework

during the data collection process. The interview guide questions were aligned with the

main research questions. The use and cross comparison of multiple data sources also

contributed to credibility.

Transferability

I ensured transferability through cross-case analysis because focusing on a single

news organization would have been significantly limiting. Each news organization

represented a case. Maintaining a detailed audit trail of all procedures enacted during this

study also enhanced transferability. I examined the results to assess how the findings are

generalizable to the general population of news syndicates. I also conducted a

comparative assessment of the findings with the results of the study to assess the

generalizability of the resultant data.

Dependability

For dependability, I conducted a pilot study to ensure that the instrumentation

(i.e., the interview guide) was suitable for gathering information from participants. Two

reviewers provided feedback regarding the clarity and the validity of the interview

questions.

Confirmability

The use of multiple data sources ensured confirmability because the Twitter posts

contextualized participants’ interview responses. Providing detail-rich descriptions of the

research methods used also helped in enhancing confirmability because it enhanced

readers’ ability to assess how I conducted the study and whether bias may have

influenced the results.

Study Results

The news professionals that I interviewed for this study answered the interview

questions about their perception of the influence of social media on their organization’s

reputation, factors preventing the development of effective strategies and motivations for

developing them, strategies for managing negative comments, and leadership skills that

they find useful in combating negative social media posts. This section is organized by

research questions. For each research question, one or two themes emerged from grouped

nodes.

RQ1: Influence on Reputation

This research question addressed both negative and positive publicity on social

media. The first theme within this research question was building the brand, and the

second one was reaching and communicating with a larger audience. Building the brand

was one of the most dominant nodes in the data analysis, which led to it becoming a

theme. Reaching and communicating with a larger audience was a combination of two

nodes: communication with the public and reaching larger audience.

Eleven out of 20 participants said that the influence of social media on their

organizations has been positive. Even though negative comments exist, the general

influence of social media could be positive, as P12 explained, “As far as the station’s

reputation, I’d say it’s mostly positive, although we do see our share of negative

feedback.” All comments have the potential to engage the viewers: “I guess we get both

positive and negative comments and they all impact the station. But they are both

opportunities for us to get closer to our followers” (P15). “I believe social media

comments are always positive. Yes we get some negative comments and some negative

chatter on our platforms but you can always turn that into a positive which is awesome,”

said P2.

Building the brand. As the most positive aspect of social media influence on

organizations’ reputation, the participants emphasized that social media helps them to

build a brand. Ten out of 20 participants said that social media helps them to build their

brand. “Social media has a big influence. It helps us grow our business and build our

brand,” said P3. Emphasizing the transformation of media in the digital era, P14 said,

“Social media has changed the game. It allows us to build our brand, get audience

feedback, and be more personable.”

P15 connected building of the brand with successful marketing, responding, “The

biggest thing that I’d say social media helps with is branding and promotion. Our main

goal is to help push our brand and market the station, specifically the website.” P17

stated,

In my 30 years of experience as a broadcaster, I’ve seen many changes come and

go. The explosion of social media has changed our world as anchors, reporters,

and journalists overall. It’s a new and important way of branding, marketing

stories, and even a television station.

Building a brand is about awareness: “I say the biggest thing is that it increases

awareness of who we are. I guess branding we can call it. Half of the world uses social

media,” said P4. It is also about “what we put out is what people understand about us”

(P11). These participants showed an understanding of the capacities of social media to

establish news organizations’ reputations.

Reaching and communicating with larger audience. Another positive aspect of

social media is that it allows a news organization to reach a larger audience. Seven out of

20 participants said social media helps them to reach more people, not only in the

selected metropolitan area, but in other cities and states as well. P3 explained that,

Social media has the ability to reach a bigger audience, you know. I can reach

someone in North Carolina or California with social media, but we can only reach

someone in the [redacted] area with the news. Those social interactions allow us

to build followers and viewers. Sometimes we have people in Idaho saying

they’re watching our news since they can watch it online. And I believe the only

reason we get that kind of reach is from social media.

P15 said,

Social media makes sharing the news easier. I’m able to take a story that only

reached people in Metro [redacted] on the news and show it to anyone who has

social media. It allows us to get our content to more people is my point.

“Half of the world uses social media. So using different platforms allows us to reach new

and target followers,” P4 said. P14 explained that it is not enough to post only on one

social media site. Different social media should be used to reach a bigger audience and be

visible:

I think the average person has eight different social media accounts. That means

we can pretty much be everywhere in that person’s life. If we’re posting on

Facebook, IG, Snapchat, YouTube, and Twitter, that five right there. Where every

time they flip back and forth from those platforms they are seeing our brand.

That’s major.

Three participants said that reaching a bigger audience is beneficial because it increases

the traffic on the news organizations’ website. For example, P13 said, “If I can get

someone to look at our post, I can get half of those people to go to our website. Our goal

is to increase website traffic as well as increase our followers.” Therefore, social media

represents a tool for being present and more visible. This allows news organizations to

communicate more intensively with the public. As P10 said, “One post can reach

thousands of people and can have a devastating impact on your organization’s

reputation.”

Other aspects of social media influence on organizations’ reputations, listed by

participants were communication with the public, the opportunity that everyone can

express their opinion (especially on politics), getting feedback from the audience,

reaching younger people (who are more present on social media), and humanization.

RQ2: Factors for Developing Strategies

To answer the second research question, I tried to identify the reasons why

organizations do not adopt social media into their business practices. Research

participants were not able to clearly identify and articulate the factors that prevent their

organizations from developing effective social media strategies. However, when I coded

and grouped their answers, one theme that addresses this issue emerged. I identified a

lack of resources to organize a team specifically for social media management as a factor

that prevents news organizations from developing effective social media strategies, and

therefore as a theme.

The theme, lack of resources to organize a social media team, united several

nodes that refer to factors preventing the development of more effective social media

strategies that would prevent negative comments. Five out of 20 participants responded in

a very general manner, simply by saying that not having an effective strategy is a

problem. P10 explained how many companies invest in social media, but that there are

still many challenges to face:

By now, it is pretty clear that social media is here to stay and has to be a part of

any organizations media plan. So, many companies are dedicating resources to

social media. The struggle has been, especially for local television stations,

determining just how much time and effort to dedicate to responding to negative

feedback. I'm not sure we've found that balance yet.

P12 said that they do have effective strategies, but that they need additional staff, which

would focus only on social media:

We have a clear set of guidelines and community rules for our social media pages,

but monitoring each and every comment, like, share or reaction could be

someone’s full-time job. However, like most news businesses, budgets won’t

allow for the extra bodies.

P19 compared the social media strategy in the previous worksite with the current one:

The fact that our social media manager is so on top of it is such a great thing. At

my last station, it was kinda like a free for all. We had nothing in place [. . .] it

was absolutely terrible. We all were just trying to figure out what worked best for

us.

P13 stressed how the COVID-19 crisis made the situation even worse in terms of work

tasks and the resources:

With COVID-19, our station has had a lot of people doing different roles. We

have anchors and reporters posting on social media and using social media more

and all of our strategies are not being passed on to them.

Lack of education on platforms may also be a consequence of insufficient resources, as

P9 said, “Lack of training and investment in education on platforms, usage.”

The inability to organize a social media team well definitely is evident in the

tendency to respond to the comments arbitrarily and differently. For example, P18 said:

“I guess the only thing that would prevent us from developing strategies would be that

everyone deals with social media differently. Everyone responds differently and everyone

reacts to an issue differently.” Also, P4 said: “It can be difficult to develop strategies for

social media because everyone handles things differently. I can’t tell one person how to

respond.” In that way, “employees can hinder us from being successful on social” said

P16. Participants listed the generation gap, constant transformation of social media, high

turnover, and bad marketing as reasons that prevent the development of more effective

social media strategies.

RQ3: Strategies

Negative social media comments may hurt news organizations’ reputations

because negative posts reach a larger audience. In this research question, the main

dilemma for news professionals was whether to respond to a negative comment or to

delete it. I addressed this dilemma as the first theme. Having a specialized social media

team and plan was one of the most dominant nodes, which I transformed into a second

theme.

Respond to, or delete a negative comment? Eighteen out of 20 participants

talked about the ways of responding to negative comments, while they were talking about

the strategies that news professionals use to manage them. Fifteen out of 20 news

professionals involved in this research said that one of the best ways to manage negative

comments is to respond to them. “We try to respond to all comments positive, negative,

or neutral. We do a lot of posts where we are asking for a viewer or follower feedback,

and by responding it lets people know we care,” P3 explained. P2 said that it is important

to be clever when it comes to responding to negative comments:

You have to have the brains to respond to it the way you feel is the best way to

respond. Of course, there are certain rules in place, like respond to every comment

in a timely fashion and try to be as kind as possible.

P7 said that the best solution is to be honest:

As a lead anchor at my station, I find it’s easiest to answer people directly and

honestly and most of the time for me that is all people really want, and they

usually back down from the negativity. If that is not the response, we can agree to

disagree depending on the topic. I stay far away from politics or anything

polarizing.

The timing is also important in managing negative comments, as P14 stressed:

“We also try to catch something immediately. Response time matters. We try to be

transparent with all of our answers and we never go negative. Two negatives do not make

it any better.” P12 also said: “We try to respond to all of our Facebook messages.

Negative comments, whether they are regarding on-air or online, are responded to by an

actual person of our team.”

The dilemma of whether to respond or delete negative comments occurs when the

comments get offensive. For example, P13 shared: “I teach all of our digital producers to

respond to all comments unless it is an offensive comment. So if there is profanity or

offensive matters. I leave that up to their discretion.” P10 said that it depends how

offensive the comment is:

It really depends on just how inflammatory the comment is. Typically, we allow

viewer comments to stand alone. As journalists we try to be fair and impartial and

let viewers come to their own conclusions. So, editing or responding to those

comments is typically frowned upon.

“So comments that are racist, sexist, or really negative do not get a response,”

said P15. “If it is just mean and hateful criticism, then I may ignore them or offer a sweet

and salty response,” P11 said. P12 explained how having a clear set of guidelines may

help:

We have a clear set of guidelines for our social media pages that prohibits, threats,

hate speech, etc. In most cases, users are just expressing their opinions, even

though they may be different than our own it’s our duty as a news organization to

be unbiased. Users can be banned from our page for hate speech or threats.

Sometimes, negative comments may affect the psychological wellbeing of persons that

they are directed to. P7 gave the example:

A brand new meteorologist at my station would get inundated with negative

comments about his appearance. He finally took our advice and blocked some of

those comments so he would not be harmed psychologically. He was much

happier at his job once that action was taken.

In this case, it is better to block these comments.

Two participants said that they just delete the comment, without further

involvement. However, P18 thought that this is not professional management of the

negative comments: “For example, a news anchor posted her story and any negative

comment she just deletes. That is not what our digital producers are taught to do.”

P11 showed that it is important to identify a shortcoming because negative

comments could reveal the error made in a particular post: “Before I respond, I double-

check the criticism to see who is correct, me or the person criticizing me. If they’re

wrong, I post with proof that I’m right. If they are correct, I apologize or note the error.”

P12 confirmed that mistakes may happen:

In one case, a viewer reached out about their specific county not in the TV crawl

for COVID-19 numbers. After looking into it, we realized it was a glitch in the

system and had it fixed. Although the viewer wasn’t exactly nice about it, it’s still

worth looking into anything that can help our product.

These examples illustrate that it is important to pay attention to negative comments,

because they may reveal a mistake. After identifying a mistake, social media managers

should correct it and apologize.

Having a specialized social media team and plan. Nine out of 20 research

participants said that having a specialized social media team and plan proved to be the

best strategy in mitigating negative comments on social media. P13 said: “We have

strategies that everyone is taught to follow. What can get in the way is when web

producers are not the only ones posting.” P15 said how it is important to have a good and

experienced social media manager:

Our social media manager who’s over all of us is pretty good with developing

strategies. She makes sure that we are all doing the same things when it comes to

posting. So we post every hour and we have to post a picture to go along with the

story. We also have to respond to any comments that come in. So we’re pretty on

top of it.

Also, P7 said: “We have a whole team dedicated to our social media platform, and there

is a daylong plan of action we roll out Monday through Sunday.” P20 also said that it is

important to have a specialized team on social media:

Having a well-rounded and experienced team is key to social media in the day and

age of reporting online. Not only must these teams keep up with news of the day,

they also need to have a good balance of feel-good vs. hard news to share and

keep up with viral trends. In my experience, the more people on a digital team, the

better.

The social media team should be polite in responding to negative comments and pay

attention, as P8 said: “As every comment is from a viewer, each is treated respectfully. If

it is a question I try to answer it, but not engage in a back and forth battle that ultimately,

we can’t win.” P14 confirmed this strategy:

When I look at a negative comment I have to make sure that I understand what the

person is really upset about. The first place you usually hear about an issue is on

social media. They could have an issue with something that we posted or they

could have an issue with something that we ran on the 5pm news. So it’s

important to know exactly what they are upset about.

There are no universal strategies, but the social media team, which should be in

charge when it comes to responding and managing negative comments, handles the

situation based on experience and knowledge. In most cases, if negative comments are

insulting, offensive, or discriminating, the social media team deletes them. Otherwise, the

team should respond to the negative comments.

RQ4: Leadership Skills

Research participants working in news organizations listed the following

leadership skills as the most important: communication skills, professionalism,

understanding, and creativity. Communication skills and professionalism emerged as the

most important leadership skills.

Communication skills and professionalism. Eight out of 20 participants

addressed communication skills as the most useful skill in combating negative social

media comments. P13 said: “Our digital producers have to be able to communicate well

and make connections. Social media is all about making connections and getting people

to come back for more or want to stay for more.” P2 elaborated:

I think this biggest leadership skill someone in my position has to have is

communication skills. You have to be able to communicate with everyone so that

they can understand the point you’re getting across. Think about it, talking on

social media and even talking through text can come off completely wrong. In this

role, you have to be able to say what you mean and not piss people off.

Similarly, P3 explained:

When I’m looking for web producers I look for strong communication skills. We

have to be able to share ideas on different platforms to different audiences.

Communication is imperative. But they also got to be able to communicate to

news producers, reporters, anchors, news directors, and everyone else about what

is going on. The web is the glue that holds everything together right now.

P14 explained how good communication skills include patience: “Elaborating on

that point, communication is really what matters when handling negative social media

posts. Can you listen to what an angry person is saying and make it a positive in a good

way?” P12 also stressed out the importance of communication skills: “Leadership skills

used in this situation are a responsibility to your users, providing feedback, context or

perspective and overall communication with the viewer.”

Further, seven out of 20 participants shared that professionalism turned out to be a

useful leadership skill. P6 said, “I have learned the hard way on that one, and I’ve found

staying above fray and the back and forth keeps your reputation and professionalism

intact.” P11 explained that it means to be a professional:

I have a strong sense of self confidence and know who I am as a journalist.

Further, I know that some people just want someone to lash out on. I keep that in

mind before responding. Also, I always post with the thought that this post will

live forever, first and foremost in my mind. I ask myself, if I’m in a more elevated

professional position, would I want to come face to face with this post again?

That answer guides my response.

Four out of 20 participants said that creativity is a leadership skill. In that manner, P3

said:

I guess some more leadership skills you need are creativity. Web people have to

be able to develop an idea. And it has to be creative to grab attention. Also, you

have to be creative when handling negative social media posts.

P15 stated,

The most important skill I use to combat negative social media posts is creativity.

It’s my job to make a response that is exciting, valuable and the idea has to stand

out for its positivity.

P8 connected creativity and understanding: “Active listening, ability to give and

accept constructive feedback, creativity in how we use social media.” P12 said that the

entire team should work on better understanding and addressing the problems brought up

by the negative comments: “The entire team tries to use our best judgment when it comes

to handling these cases. Does the viewer have a legitimate concern, complaint, or

comment? If so, thank them for reaching out and try to mitigate the issue.” Leadership

skills such as communication skills, understanding, creativity, and professionalism are

useful in mitigating negative comments on social media.

Summary

In response to RQ1, the leaders in the news business positively perceive the

influence of social media on their organizations’ reputations. Two positive aspects of the

influence of social media on news organizations’ reputations that the participants

identified were building the brand and reaching a bigger audience.

For RQ2, the main theme that keeps news organizations from developing

effective social media strategies was the lack of resources to organize an effective social

media team. The participants identified responding as an inefficient way to manage

negative comments and revealed the lack of social media strategy.

In response to RQ3, the most dominant theme in the interviews with news

professionals was the dilemma whether to respond to a negative comment or to ignore

and delete it. The decision depends on how offensive the particular comment is. If it is a

general comment, expressed in a negative tone, the news professionals would likely

respond to it in a nice way. In this way, they show the audience that they care about the

feedback. However, if the comment has the goal to insult, offend, or discriminate against

someone, the news professionals will probably ban this person or delete the comment,

without responding directly to insulting comments. Also, having a specialized social

media team with a strategy, who know how to respond in each case, was one of the key

components of a strategy to mitigate the impact of negative comments on social media.

Among the leadership skills that help in combating negative social media posts explored

in RQ4, the research participants identified communication skills, professionalism,

creativity, and understanding as the most useful.

In Chapter 5, I interpret the results in the context of current research on the topic

and the conceptual framework. I also provide recommendations for further research and

implications for professional practice and social change to help news organizations to use

more effective strategies in mitigating negative influence on reputation.

Chapter 5: Discussion, Conclusions, and Recommendations

The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to explore and understand

the strategies that effectively remedy negative social media comments, the skills used to

employ remedial actions, the reasons why organizations fail to develop effective

strategies, and the motivations to develop them among the participants and their

organizations. I chose a multiple case study design because the aim was to examine the

nature of the research phenomenon within the context of multiple news organizations in

the Midwestern metropolitan area. One of the most important strategies in mitigating

negative comments on social media, according to the news professionals interviewed for

this study, is to have a specialized and well-organized social media team that knows how

to respond to these comments adequately. In this chapter, I discuss the interpretations of

the findings, the limitations of the study, recommendations for future research, and

implications for social change.

Interpretation of Findings

The Influence of Social Media on Organizations

The findings showed that social media platforms allow news professionals to

reach a larger audience and establish a trustful brand; however, negative comments may

be harmful for businesses and for individuals to whom these comments are directed.

These outcomes were consistent with prior research and in other businesses. For example,

in the hospitality sector, Lee and Ro (2016) found that negative comments may have

more impact than positive ones. Kapoor et al. (2017) suggested that social media

communication, creation, and interactions between individuals and influence

organizations’ reputation. In my research, the participants pointed out that social media

has predominantly positive influence on news organizations’ reputation and that reaching

larger audience is the positive aspect of this influence. Strategic social communication,

along with a clear social media plan and established roles for team members, improve

news organizations’ reputations.

Social Media Strategies

As Lambret and Barki (2018) and Benthaus et al. (2016) suggested, organizations

benefit from employing a set of social media guidelines for managing its use and

ensuring professional engagement. Social media guidelines also address the issue of

negative social media comments.

In order to overcome and resolve negative comments, Mishra (2015) suggested

responding in a polite, conversational tone. News professionals who participated in my

study also suggested responding to negative comments right away, that these responses

should provide additional information, and directing attention towards an understanding

of negative comments. The dilemma around the way of responding to negative comments

was the central theme in research participants’ answers.

Constructive criticism deserves a fast, polite, and elaborated answer. The news

organizations’ leaders emphasized extremely offensive comments as unresolvable. I

believe that these comments reveal the frustration of the people who post them. They do

not post such comments for the sake of constructive criticism. As some participants said,

these comments sometimes do not deserve an answer; therefore, deleting these comments

or banning these people is an adequate strategy. However, they did recognize that most of

the comments should be resolved by responding in a polite, conversational tone, as

Mishra (2015) indicated, and thereby encourage civil discussions in user comments

(Ksiazek 2015).

The results of my study were consistent with deVries et al. (2018) that the lack of

resources, knowledge, and time to carry out an effective social media engagement

strategy represent a challenge for small- to medium-sized organizations; and the lack of

strategic focus and technical knowledge to adopt social media, as identified by Calli and

Clark (2015). News professionals expressed that their social strategies would be more

effective if they had a team which is in charge only of tasks related to social media, or a

specialized social media management team. Time was also addressed as valuable asset,

especially in the COVID-19 context, where a lot of human and financial resources have

been reorganized, changed, and redirected.

Technical knowledge or the knowledge of social media in general, may appear as

a problem for news leaders of older generation, because they did not grow up with social

media, as young news professionals did. Some research participants also said that the use

of social media especially captures the attention of a younger audience, as Geniets (2016)

pointed out. P5 said, “Young adults are turning to social media to get their news. By

having good posts on social media then people will trust you.” Therefore, it is important

to hire social media managers who understand younger generations and who are able to

address the messages in the appealing manner.

The findings of my study confirm that news organizations use social media to

draw attention to their stories and reach a broader audience, consistent with Bivens, 2015;

Josephson and Miller, 2015; and Judina and Platonov, 2019. News professionals in my

study said that reaching a bigger audience was one of the most important transformations

that occurred in their business. Social media allows them to reach people not only in the

selected Midwestern metropolitan area, but in other states as well.

Leadership Skills for Combating Negative Social Media

Because I employed the skills approach to leadership as the part of the conceptual

framework of this study, I asked news professionals for their opinions on useful, social

media-related leadership skills. In my study, news professionals emphasized four

competencies that lead to successful leadership in social media management:

communication skills, understanding, creativity, and professionalism. In previous

research, Mumford et al. (2000) emphasized three competencies that in synergy lead to

successful leadership: social judgment, problem-solving, and knowledge. The likely

reason why these competencies do not match with the ones suggested in the literature is

the specific context of the news industry and social media. Mumford et al. considered the

general context, while my study focused on news organizations specifically. In another

study considering the general context, Northouse (2016) found that the competencies of

social judgment, problem-solving, and knowledge lead to successful leadership. I will

briefly explain how the findings from my study confirm the findings of previous studies,

which address to the more general context.

In my research, several participants emphasized that good social media managers

know how to respond to negative comments adequately and react in certain situations,

which could be interpreted as social judgment. In particularly, they discussed the

judgment required to decide whether to respond to, delete, ignore, or ban a comment

using insulting language. As Li et al. (2018) suggested, unresolved negative social media

comments can do more damage than positive comments do good because negative

comments reach a broader audience. However, several news professionals in my study

agreed that depending on a situation, insults, threats, and discriminatory language do not

deserve a response and that the best way to solve problem is to delete the comment, ban

the person who commented, or simply ignore it. My research participants indirectly

addressed social judgment and problem-solving as leadership skills. They also discussed

the issue of knowledge on social media which was consistent with prior research.

E-leadership theory was another part of the conceptual framework of my study.

Luo et al. (2015) suggested that e-leadership can utilize social media to encourage

viewership and better understand public perspectives. The participants in my study

recognized this tendency when talking about the positive outcomes of the influence of

social media on their organizations’ reputations. Participants stated that negative

comments cannot be prevented completely because in the era of social media, everyone

can express an opinion. However, they rated the general influence of social media on

news organizations’ reputations as positive because social media platforms enable them

to reach larger audience, communicate with the public, and build their brand.

A few research participants emphasized that a good response to a negative

comment may produce a change in attitudes. For example, in P14’s response, “If it’s a

positive comment fantastic. But if it’s a negative comment that gives me a chance to

change someone’s mind.” In P7’s quote, “I find it’s easiest to answer people directly and

honestly and most of the time for me that is all people really want, and they usually back

down from the negativity,” traces of e-leadership can also be found. Answering to a

comment is a direct interaction between a social media manager and a consumer

(audience), which can initiate a change in consumer’s attitudes. One of the goals of e-

leadership is to produce a change in attitudes, feelings, thinking, behavior, and

performance of individuals or organizations (see Abdul-Ridha & Jader, 2018).

Together, the skills approach to leadership and e-leadership theory can be used to

explain the need for specific skills to effectively manage socio-environmental influences

and information that is disseminated through technology rather than traditional means. If

social media managers employed in news organizations are able to develop desirable e-

leadership skills through training and team efforts, the reputation of these organizations

would be improved.

Limitations of the Study

I limited the scope of this study to news directors, assignment managers, and

executive producers who had been active on social media for 1 year or more. I excluded

other news personal and news leaders outside of the selected Midwestern metropolitan

area. Including these subpopulations of news professionals in the present study may have

produced different results.

One limitation was concern about the potential for interviewees to misrepresent

an organization’s social media presence or management strategies in their responses.

Giunchiglia, Zeni, Gobbi, Bignotti, and Bison (2018) proved that people underestimate

their social media usage by 40%. Although I employed a pilot study to screen the

questions to make sure they were effective to minimize response bias, there was no way

to determine the extent to which participants answered the questions honestly. It is

possible that there were some misrepresentation of organizations’ approaches to social

media. I was sensitive to this possibility during the interviews, and even more so during

my analysis of the transcripts. As a professional in this field, knowledgeable of this work

and these people, my assessment was that the responses to interview questions were

honest, candid, and true.

Recommendations

In this study, I employed a qualitative, multiple case study design; however,

quantitative research generally involves a higher sample size and obtains more

generalizable results (see Tracy, 2019). Future research, perhaps quantitative, might

survey a larger number of organizations as well as a broader geographical area. Future

researchers could also integrate a survey with open-ended questions as an alternative to

an interview, which might generate more candid replies and possibly elicit clearer and

more candid answers about the reasons why news organizations cannot develop effective

strategies.

Media discourse analysis may also be helpful in investigating different types of

negative social media comments by mapping dominant discourses that shape the attitudes

of society on social media. This kind of study, for example, might focus on one particular

set of attitudes and explore the way in which they are expressed in the specific context.

The researchers could analyze only negative or positive comments, related to a particular

topic (e.g., healthcare, elections, pollution, culture), or a particular event that was covered

by media.

It would also be beneficial to look at and compare the social media strategies of

larger and smaller news organizations and perhaps other functions within news

organizations. Further research may be conducted among leaders working in large-scale,

international news networks, or among national news agencies. It would be interesting to

explore how larger-scale news networks organize their social media teams, or what

criteria they use to engage with consumers and followers through social media

management.

Implications

Participants responded that adequate and contextual reactions and responses to

social media comments (especially negative ones); having a strong, organized, and

specialized social media team; careful consideration of comments; and identification of

potential shortcomings were the most important strategies used to combat negative social

media comments. They identified the lack of resources (i.e., material or nonmaterial) and

a related failure to organize a social media team and plan as the main factor that prevents

them from developing effective social media strategy. The study participants highlighted

establishing their brand and reaching a larger audience as the main motivation for

developing effective social media strategies.

The findings of my study provide valuable insight into news professionals’

understanding of the strategies that effectively remedy negative social media comments,

the skills used to employ remedial actions, the reasons why organizations fail to develop

effective strategies, and the motivations to develop them among the participants and their

organizations. Professionals and organizations, as well as society in general, may benefit

from this knowledge because social media communication is clearly an important aspect

of 21st century culture. Some of the findings may be useful to professionals in various

other fields who experience the same challenges with negative social media.

Some organizations employ a company-wide social media policy to create and

share relevant content, engage with consumers, and provide guidelines on how negativity

and complaints should be handled (Jankauskaite & Urboniene, 2016; Kwayu et al.,

2018). The findings of the literature review suggested that successful management of

social media requires a set of leadership skills, such as decision-making, problem-

solving, communication, and e-leadership (Jiang et al., 2017; Luo et al., 2015). The

findings from my study further suggest that news leaders need skills and strategies to

manage negative posts on social media. If news professionals at the individual level

received information about these effective leadership skills, they could enhance their

leadership role within the news organization and relationship with the public.

At the organizational level, the results of my study may be used to enhance

effective social media strategies within news organizations and other groups in the news

industry. The results may also be useful to social media managers, web producers, and

other actors in news organizations whose work centers on digital communication.

Positive Social Change Implications

This study’s findings can encourage social change by explaining the

communication effects of social media in the news business. The study can provide news

leaders with information to support decisions related to managing negative posts on

social media. This study may offer social change by starting a conversation about social

media which will build a relationship with followers. In the era of fake news, people are

moving away from watching the news and trusting information on social media that news

professionals post. They are instead moving towards other facets posting on social media.

This trend may have a very negative impact on a society.

Methodological Implications

By using a qualitative multiple case study design instead of other candidate

methods, I gained a deeper insight into news professionals’ approach to negative social

media comments and reputation. Their answers and narratives showed how comments are

handled on a daily level, what dilemmas they face with, how they perceive social media,

what challenges they recognize in developing successful strategies, what skills they find

useful and how they make sense about their relationship to the audience and the

consumers of social media. Through careful investigation of these questions, as well as

through interpretation, I managed to explain what and how the phenomena of negative

social media is manifested in the present context.

Implications for Theory

I utilized two conceptual frameworks in my research: skills approach to

leadership and e-leadership. The skills approach to leadership demonstrated that it is

important to understand how effective social media management can occur when

individuals employ specific leadership skills related to factors such a social judgment,

problem-solving, and technological knowledge (Mumford et al., 2000). E-leadership

demonstrated that it is imperative to explore strategies and skills necessary for effective

social media management within news organizations (Luo et al., 2015). Although the

skills approach to leadership and e-leadership have rarely been investigated in the

literature, findings from my study indicated that news professionals need specific

leadership skills and strategies to deal with online social media management.

The specific leadership skills for combating negative social media comments were

understood as the manifestation of broader leadership competencies, addressed by the

skills approach to leadership. For example, the judgment required to decide whether to

respond to, delete, ignore, or ban a comment using insulting language requires the skill of

problem-solving. The communication skill requires the particular technological

knowledge. Successfully answering a comment may result in a change in a

commentator’s negative attitude. These interpretations of results corroborate theories in

conceptual framework and put them in a news industry context.

Previous research portrayed social media strategies as a way of enhancing

organizational reputation, but failed to address many other significant aspects of social

media, especially in the news industry. My study addressed this gap, related to social

media management and business outcomes pertaining to the strategies and skills used

within news organizations. The ability to express and alternate the opinion on social

media has been questioned in literature (see, for example, Weeks et al., 2017). Generally,

flow of information has been transformed in the era of social media. The nature of

interaction has also been transformed by advanced information technology. Online

interaction between news organizations and audience may result in a change in attitudes,

even if these attitudes are negative. Successful e-leadership improves the overall picture

about the organization and contributes to good reputation.

Recommendations for Professional Practice

As empirical implications, I provide a set of recommendations or strategies for

professional practice. The news organizations that are facing problems in dealing with the

negative comments may find the results of this research helpful by following these

strategies:

• Raise awareness about the enormous influence of social media.

• The use of various social media platforms helps in reaching larger audience.

• The use of various social media platforms further establishes the brand.

100

• Identify the shortcomings in the existing social media strategies. If there are no

social media strategies in place, make sure to create them with the help of a

professional team.

• Provide a team for social media management.

• Develop social media guidelines for your organization.

• Avoid giving social media management tasks to untrained people.

• Invest more into education on social media platforms (seminars, courses, etc.).

• Make sure that every comment is carefully considered.

• Make sure to respond to every negative comment that is not insulting,

discriminatory, offensive, or profane.

• Check twice the criticized information.

• Respond in a polite and honest tone.

• Respond as soon as possible.

• Consult if you have a dilemma whether to respond to or delete the comment for

inappropriate language.

• Provide social media managers/web producers who have good communication

skills.

• Try to keep the professional atmosphere within the organization.

Conclusions

Social media is a powerful tool for communication in the contemporary world.

The news industry is tightly related to media, and naturally, it has recognized the

101

potential of social media. Organizational leaders need to be aware of the damages that

negative comments on social media can cause to organizational performance and

reputation. Organizational leaders, therefore, need to focus on prevention of negative

comments. Of course, it is not possible to entirely prevent the negative comments,

because in the era of social media, everyone has the freedom to express an opinion or an

attitude. Sometimes, people may transfer their frustration to the keyboard and forget that

there is a real person behind every shared story or a post. These problems demand trained

experts on social media, who know how to adequately respond to comments. These

problems also require further scientific research.

This study contributes to understanding of news professionals’ perceptions of the

strategies that effectively remedy negative social media comments, the skills to employ

remedial actions, the reasons why organizations fail to develop effective strategies, and

the motivations to develop them among the participants and their organizations. News

professionals are aware of the influence of social media in their job. They are able to

recognize strategies that are working. However, they still face many challenges and they

need to adapt to all new ways of communicating with the audience.

Strategic social media communication is an important tool for leaders. By

developing effective social media strategies, leaders are able to reestablish their brand

and adapt it to 21st century society and the digital era. A well-known brand is the highest

value in today’s business. The development of effective social media strategy and team is

hard work, but it is an investment which pays off in the long run. The investment in the

102

development of effective social media strategies and specialized social media teams is

worthwhile and necessary.

103

References

Abdul-Ridha, R., & Jader, A. M. A. (2018). The impact of trust in using social media

network in e-leadership: A case study in KAR group in Kurdistan Region-Iraq.

International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management

Sciences, 7(2), 45–58. doi:10.6007/IJAREMS/v7-i2/4166

Alfiero, S., Cane, M., De Bernardi, P., & Tradori, V. (2016). Social media corporate

reputation index: How social influencers affect corporate reputation. Electronic

Journal of Management, 2, 1-18. Retrieved from http://www.impresaprogetto.it

Almgren, S. M., & Olsson, T. (2016). Commenting, sharing, and tweeting news.

Nordicom Review, 37(2), 67-81.

Al-Rawi, A. (2017). News organizations 2.0: A comparative study of Twitter news.

Journalism Practice, 11(6), 705-720. doi:10.1080/17512786.2016.1195239

Avolio, B. J., Kahai, S. S., & Dodge, G. E. (2000). E-leadership: Implications for theory,

research, and practice. The Leadership Quarterly, 11, 615–668.

Balan, S., & Rege, J. (2017). Mining for social media: Usage patterns of small

businesses. Business Systems Research, 8(1), 43-50. doi:10.1515/bsrj-2017-0004

Barnes, R. (2015). Understanding the affective investment produced through commenting

on Australian alternative journalism website New Matilda. New Media & Society,

17(5), 810–826. doi:10.1177/1461444813511039

Benthaus, J., Risius, M., & Beck, R. (2016). Social media management strategies for

organizational impression management and their effect on public perception.

104

Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 25(2), 127-39.

doi:10.1016/j.jsis.2015.12.001

Bivens, R. (2015). Affording immediacy in television news production: Comparing

adoption trajectories of social media and satellite technologies. International

Journal of Communication, 9, 191-209. Retrieved from http://ijoc.org

Blackstone, G. E., Cowart, H. S., & Saunders, L. M. (2017). Tweetstorm in #Ferguson:

How news organizations framed dominant authority, anti-authority, and political

figures in a restive community. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media,

61(3), 597-614. doi:10.1080/08838151.2017.1344670

Blevins, D. P., & Ragozzino, R. (2019). On social media and the formation of

organizational reputation: How social media are increasing cohesion between

organizational reputation and traditional media for stakeholders. Academy of

Management Review, Dialogue(January), 219-222. doi:10.5465/amr.2018.0017

Braun, J. A. (2015). News programs: Designing MSNBC.com’s online interfaces.

Journalism, 16(1), 27–43. doi:10.1177/1464884914545730

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative

Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Bruns, A. (2018). Gatewatching and news curation: Journalism, social media, and the

public sphere. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Burkholder, G. J., Cox, K. A., & Crawford, L. M. (2016). The scholar-practitioner’s

guide to research design. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Publishing.

105

Calli, L., & Clark, L. (2015). Overcoming SME barriers to gaining competitive advantage

through social media (Conference paper). European Conference on Social Media,

2, 1-8. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.4136.3046

Carneiro da Silva, R. (2019). Evaluating response strategies to deal with negative word-

of-mouth on Facebook pages of telecommunications operators in Portugal

(Doctoral dissertation, Universidade Católica Portuguesa). Retrieved from the

UPC Repository.

Castillo-Montoya, M. (2016). Preparing for interview research: The interview protocol

refinement framework. The Qualitative Report, 21(5), 811-831. Retrieved from

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C3&q=castillo+montoya+

2016&btnG=

Cheung, M. (2016). Using the power of social consciousness to influence international

organizations and their evolving leadership: The impact of social media on the

public health debate. Journal of Health & Biomedical Law, 12(2), 169-201.

Retrieved from https://www.suffolk.edu/law/academics-clinics/student-

life/journals/journal-of-health-and-biomedical-law

Chyi, H. I., & Tennant, J. I. (2017). Transnational media management: Western news

organizations’ web operations in China. International Journal of Media

Management, 19(4), 261-281. doi:10.1080/14241277.2017.1331237

106

Cole, H. S., DeNardin, T., & Clow, K. E. (2017). Small service businesses: Advertising

attitudes and the use of digital and social media marketing. Services Marketing

Quarterly, 38(4), 203–212. doi:10.1080/15332969.2017.1394026

Cornia, A., Sehl, A., & Nielsen, R. K. (2019). Comparing legacy media responses to the

changing business of news: Cross-national similarities and differences across

media types. The International Communication Gazette, 81(6-7-8), 686-706.

doi:10.1177/1748048518808641

Cox, J. B. (2016). News orgs post more often on Twitter than on Facebook. Newspaper

Research Journal, 37(3), 220-234. doi:10.1177/0739532916662485

Crawford, K., & Gillespie, T. (2016). What is a flag for? Social media reporting tools and

the vocabulary of complaint. New Media & Society, 18(3), 410–428.

doi:10.1177/1461444814543163

Dahlin, C. J., & Gratell, P. (2018). How does social media affect entrepreneurial

leadership: A qualitative study on entrepreneur’s perceptions regarding social

media as a tool for entrepreneurial leadership (Master’s thesis, Department of

Business Studies, Uppsala University). Retrieved from

https://www.semanticscholar.org/

David, C. C., Tandoc, E. C., & Katigbak, E. (2019). Organizational adaptations to social

media: How social media news workers in the Philippines are embedded in

newsrooms and influences on editorial practices. Newspaper Research Journal,

40(3), 329-345. doi:10.1177/0739532919835611

107

de Vries, H. P., Veer, E., & de Vries, K. V. (2018). An examination of SME social media

use in the food industry. Small Enterprise Research, 25(3), 227-238.

doi:10.1080/13215906.2018.1521741

Dijkmans, C., Kerkhof, P., & Beukeboom, C. J. (2015). A stage to engage: Social media

use and corporation reputation. Tourism Management, 47, 58-67.

doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2014.09.005

Duggan, M. (2015). The demographics of social media users. Mobile messaging and

social media. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from

www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/19/the-demographics-of-social-media-users/

Engesser, J., & Humprecht, E. (2015). Frequency or skillfulness: How professional news

media use Twitter in five Western countries. Journalism Studies, 16(4), 513-529.

Etter, M., Ravasi, D., & Colleoni, E. (2019). Social media and the formation of

organizational reputation. Academy of Management Review, 44(1), 28-52.

doi:10.5465/amr.2014.0280

Ferrer-Conill, R., & Tandoc, E. C. (2018). The audience-oriented editor: Making sense of

the audience in the newsroom. Digital Journalism, 6, 436-453.

Ferrucci, P. (2018). Networked: Social media’s impact on news production in digital

newsrooms. Newspaper Research Journal, 39, 6-17.

doi:10.1177/0739532918761069

Geniets, A. (2016). Engaging youth in low- and middle-income countries through chat

apps: Challenges and opportunities for international news organizations.

108

International Journal of Communication, 10, 3570-3584. Retrieved from

http://ijoc.org

Giunchiglia, F., Zeni, M., Gobbi, E., Bignotti, E., & Bison, I. (2018). Mobile social

media usage and academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 82, 177-

185. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.12.041

Gottfried, J., Barthal, M., Mitchell, A., & Shearer, E. (2016). Social engagement.

Retrieved from http://www.journalism.org/2016/07/07/social-engagement/

Homans, G. (1961). Social behavior its elementary forms. New York, NY: Harcourt

Brace Jovanovich.

Jankauskaite, D., & Urboniene, A. (2016). Organization’s reputation management

through content creation and sharing in the social media. Transformations in

Business & Economics, 15(39), 21-35.

Jiang, H., Luo, Y., & Kulemeka, O. (2017). Strategic social media us in public relations:

Professionals’ perceived social media impact, leadership behaviors, and work-life

conflict. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 11(1), 18-41.

doi:10.1080/1553118X.2016.1226842

Josephson, S., & Miller, J. S. (2015). Just state the facts on Twitter: Eye tracking shows

that readers may ignore questions posted by news organizations on Twitter but not

on Facebook. Visual Communications Quarterly, 22, 94-105. Retrieved from

https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hvcq20

109

Judina, D., & Platonov, K. (2019). Newsworthiness and the public’s response in Russian

social media: A comparison of state and private news organizations. Media and

Communication, 7(3), 157-166. doi:10.17645/mac.v7i3.1910

Jung, J., & Villi, M. (2018). Newspapers and cross-level communications on social

media. Digital Journalism, 6, 58-75. doi:10.1080/21670811.2017.1335605

Jung, J. W. (2010). The role of social media in e-leadership (Master’s thesis, Royal

Institute of Technology). Retrieved from http://www.kth.se/csc

Kallas, P. (2017). Top 15 most popular social networking sites and apps. Retrieved from

http//www.dreamgrow.com/top-15-most-popular-social-networking-sites

Kapoor, K., Tamilmani, K., Rana, N., Patil, P., Dwivedi, Y., & Nerur, S. (2017).

Advances in social media research: Past, present and future. Information Systems

Frontiers, 20, 531-558. doi:10.1007/s10796-017-9810-y

Katsyri, J., Kinnunen, T., Kusumoto, K., Ottinen, P., & Ravaja, N. (2016). Negativity

bias in media multitasking: The effects of negative social media messages on

attention to television news broadcasts. PLoS ONE 11(5), e0153712.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0153712

Kitsa, M., & Mudra, I. (2018). Social media tools for TV programmes promotion.

Communication Today, 9(2), 56-73. Retrieved from

https://www.communicationtoday.sk/

110

Ksiazek, T. B. (2015). Civil interactivity: How news organizations’ commenting policies

explain civility and hostility in user comments. Journal of Broadcasting and

Electronic Media, 59(4), 556–573. doi:10.1080/08838151.2015.1093487

Ksiazek, T. B., Peer, L., & Zivic, A. (2015). Discussing the news: Civility and hostility in

user comments. Digital Journalism, 3(6), 850–870.

doi:10.1080/21670811.2014.972079.

Kwayu, S., Lal, B., & Abubakre, M. (2018). Enhancing organizational competitiveness

via social media – a strategy as practice perspective. Information Systems

Frontiers, 20, 439-456. doi:10.1007/s10796-017-9816-5

Lambret, C. V., & Barki, E. (2018). Social media crisis management: Aligning corporate

response strategies with stakeholders’ emotions online. Journal of Contingencies

and Crisis Management, 26, 295-305. doi:10.1111/1468-5973.12198

Lee, J. (2016). Opportunity or risk? How news organizations frame social media in their

guidelines for journalists. The Communication Review, 19(2), 106-127.

doi:10.1080/10714421.2016.1161328

Lee, S. H., & Ro, H. (2016). The impact of online reviews on attitude changes: The

differential effects of review attributes and consumer knowledge. International

Journal of Hospitality Management, 56, 1-9.

Li, C., Cui, G., & Peng, L. (2018). Tailoring management response to negative reviews:

The effectiveness of accommodative versus defensive responses. Computers in

Human Behavior, 84, 272–284. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2018.03.009

111

Liu, B., Kim, H., & Pennington-Gray, L. (2015). Responding to the bed bug crisis in

social media. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 47, 76-84.

Luo, Y., Jiang, H., & Kulemeka, O. (2015). Strategic social media management and

public relations leadership: Insights from industry leaders. International Journal

of Strategic Communication, 9, 167-196. doi:10.1080/1553118x.2014.960083

Malik, M. M., & Pfeffer, J. (2016). A macroscopic analysis of news in Twitter. Digital

Journalism 4(8), 955-979. doi:10.1080/21670811.2015.1133249

Meltzer, K. (2015). Journalistic concern about uncivil political talk in digital news media:

Responsibility, credibility, and academic influence. International Journal of

Press/Politics, 20(1), 85–107. doi:10.1177/1940161214558748

Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and

implementation (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Meyer, K. M., & Tang, T. (2015). #SocialJournalism: Local news media on Twitter.

International Journal on Media Management, 17, 241-257.

doi:10.1080/14241277.2015.1107569

Min, H., Lim, Y., & Magnini, V. P. (2015). Factors affecting customer satisfaction in

responses to negative online hotel reviews: The impact of empathy, paraphrasing,

and speed. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 56(2), 223-231.

Mishra, S. (2015). Corporate response strategies: Indian brands manage negativity on

social. Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies, 5(1-2), 55-65.

Retrieved from https://ajmcs.blogspot.com/

112

Mumford, M. D., Zaccaro, S. J., Harding, F. D., Jacobs, T. O., & Fleishman, E. A.

(2000). Leadership skills for a changing world: Solving complex social problems.

Leadership Quarterly, 11(1), 11–35.

Mustaffa, N., Sannusi, S. N., Hasan, A. S. A., & Saad, M. Z. M. (2017). Journalism and

news industry in Malaysia: New media, new challenges. Journal of Social

Sciences and Humanities, 2, 73-80. Retrieved from

https://www.elsevier.com/social-sciences-and-humanities/journals

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership theory and practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA:

Sage.

Omar, B., Ismail, N., & Kee, N. S. (2018). Understanding online consumption of public

affairs news in Malaysia. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 28(1), 172-

194. doi:10.1075/japc.00009.oma

Opgenhaffen, M., & D’Haenens, L. (2015). Managing social media use: Whither social

media guidelines in news organizations? International Journal on Media

Management, 17, 201-216. doi:10.1080/14241277.2015.1107570

Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K.

(2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed

method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and

Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), 533-544. doi:10.1007/s10488-013-0528-

113

Powers, E. (2015, August 19). The rise of the engagement editor and what it means.

MediaShift. Retrieved from http://mediashift.org/2015/08/the-rise-of-the-

engagement-editor-and-whatit-means/

Rath, B., Kim, J., Huh, J., & Srivastava, J. (2018). Impact of news organizations’

trustworthiness and social media activity on audience engagement. Social and

Information Networks, 1(1), 1-13. Retrieved from

https://arxiv.org/list/cs.SI/recent

Rosenstiel, T., Sonderman, J., Loker, K., Ivancin, M., & Kjarval, N. (2015). How people

use Twitter in general. American Press Institute. Retrieved from

www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/how-

people-use-twitter-in-general/

Rowe, I. (2015). Deliberation 2.0: Comparing the deliberative quality of online news user

comments across platforms. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 59(4),

539-555. doi:10.1080/08838151.2015.1093482

Schulze Horn, I., Taros, T., Dirkes, S., Hüer, L., Rose, M., Tietmeyer, R., &

Constantinides, E. (2015). Business reputation and social media: A primer on

threats and responses. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice,

16(3), 193-208. Retrieved from www.palgrave-journals.com/dddmp/

Shearer, E., & Gottfried, J. (2017, September 7). News use across social media platforms

2017. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from

114

http://www.journalism.org/2017/09/07/news-useacross- social-media-platforms-

2017/

Sparks, B. A., So, K. K. F., & Bradley, G. L. (2016). Responding to negative online

reviews: The effects of hotel responses on customer inferences of trust and

concern. Tourism Management, 53, 74-85.

Springer, N., Engelmann, I., & Pfaffinger, C. (2015). User comments: Motives and

inhibitors to write and read. Information, Communication & Society, 18(7), 798–

815. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2014.997268.

Stroud, N. J., Scacco, J. M., Muddiman, A., & Curry, A. L. (2015). Changing deliberative

norms on news organizations’ Facebook sites. Journal of Computer- Mediated

Communication 20, 188–203. doi:10.1111/jcc4.12104

Sümer, F. E., Demir, Z. G., & Şatir, C. K. (2017). The effect of image repair strategies on

corporate reputation, trust and behavioral intentions. Ordu University Journal of

Social Science Research, 7(3), 519-527. Retrieved from

http://dergipark.gov.tr/odusobiad

Sundstrom, B., & Levenshus, A. B. (2017). The art of engagement: Dialogic strategies on

Twitter. Journal of Communication Management, 21(1), 17-33.

doi:10.1108/JCOM-07-2015-0057

Syrdal, H., & Briggs, E. (2018). Engagement with social media content: A qualitative

exploration. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, 26(1/2), 4-22.

doi:10.1080/10696679.1389243

115

Szwajca, D. (2017). The role of social media in corporate reputation management-The

results of the Polish enterprises. Foundations of Management, 9, 161-174.

doi:10.1515/fman-2017-0013

Tandoc, E. C. J., & Maitra, J. (2018). News organizations’ use of native videos on

Facebook: Tweaking the journalistic field one algorithm change at a time. New

Media & Society, 20(5), 1679-1696. doi:10.1177/1461444817702398

Tandoc, E. C. J., & Vos, T. P. (2016). The journalist is marketing the news: Social media

in the gatekeeping process. Journalism Practice, 10, 950-966.

doi:10.1080/17512786.2015.1087811

Tracy, S. J. (2019). Qualitative research methods: Collecting evidence, crafting analysis,

communicating impact. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Tufford, L., & Newman, P. (2012). Bracketing in qualitative research. Qualitative Social

Work, 11(1), 80-96. doi:10.1177/1473325010368316

Turan, M., & Kara, A. (2018). Online social media usage behavior of entrepreneurs in an

emerging market: Reasons, expected benefits and intentions. Journal of Research

in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, 20(2), 273-291. doi:10.1108/JRME-09-2016-

0034

Waters, A. (2016). Whose tweets do you trust? Message and messenger credibility among

mainstream and new media news organizations on Twitter (Doctoral dissertation,

University of Alabama). Retrieved from http://ir.ua.edu

116

Weeks, B. E., Ardèvol-Abreu, A., & de Zúñiga, H. G. (2017). Online influence? Social

media use, opinion leadership, and political persuasion. International Journal of

Public Opinion Research, 29(2), 214-239. doi:10.1093/ijpor/edv050

Winter, S., Bruckner, C., & Kramer, N. C. (2015). They came, they liked, they

commented: Social influence on Facebook news channels. Cyberpsychology,

Behavior, and Social Networking, 18(8), 431-436. doi:10.1089/cyber.2015.0005

Yin, R. K. (2017). Case study research and applications: Design and methods. Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage.

117

Appendix A: Interview Guide

1. In your experience, how do you perceive the influence of social media upon

your organization’s reputation?

2. Based on your past experience, have these comments been positive or

negatively impactful upon organizational reputation?

3. What are factors that you perceive as preventing your organization from

developing strategies that effectively handle social media?

4. How do these factors contribute or hinder your social media management

strategies?

5. In your experience, how do you handle negative comments that are posted on

your social media sites?

6. Can you provide examples that illustrate previous strategies that handled

negative comments?

7. What are leadership skills that you use that are useful for combating negative

social media posts?

8. Can you elaborate on leadership skills that have been useful for handling

negative social media posts?

118

Appendix B: Twitter Data Collection Form

Twitter

Post

Description

Organization

Case Study

Number (Number

used for

confidentiality)

Total number

of negative

comments

Total

number of

positive

comments

Response to

negative

comments on

post