Contributions/Limitations

Contributions
This study contributes to the knowledge of how corporations utilize social media. Specifically, it addresses the lack of research on corporate use of SNSs like Facebook. Previous research on Facebook has concentrated heavily on personal usage (boyd, 2006; boyd & Ellison, 2008; Donath & boyd, 2004; Ellison et al., 2007; Lewis et al., 2008; Liu, 2008; Tong et al., 2008). This exploratory study has developed a basic overview of how Fortune 500 companies are using Facebook.

Further, this study seeks to address the use of social media in a relational context of organizational PR. Part of the appeal of SNSs are their interactive nature, which allows users to interact in a mediated context, contributing to an overall collective intelligence (Hanson et al., 2008). SNSs have the potential to help further a relational concept of PR, where methods are based on how they contribute to the overall quality of the organization-public relationship. Waters et al. (2009) highlighted the lack of previous research on how organizations utilize SNSs to foster relationships with its publics. This study has helped to overcome this gap in research by studying how fan involvement is correlated with corporate involvement in corporate Facebook pages.

Finally, this study provides practical application for corporations using Facebook or other similar SNSs. By studying both corporate involvement and fan involvement separately as well as in relation to one another, this study gives a diverse view of corporate SNS usage. Corporations cannot simply consider the information they post on their own pages. They must also be concerned with the interaction between corporation and fan and the continual building of relationships online.

Limitations/Areas for Future Research
While there are several contributions made by this study, there are also limitations which must be addressed. Most notable is that the study is a snapshot of corporate Facebook usage. Facebook profiles can change on a daily basis, yet this study looked at only one instance of corporate Facebook usage. Future studies should look at conducting longitudinal studies of corporate Facebook usage to see how it changes over time and within a multitude of contexts.

Another limitation of this study is the use of thematic analysis. While this type of method was essential in developing a basic picture of corporate SNS usage for this exploratory study, this type method does not take into account the intention of the parties involved. Future research on corporate SNSs should look into additional methods, including interviews with corporate media specialists and fans of organizations on Facebook. Esrock & Leichty (2000) have suggested that the use of multiple methods is necessary in understanding organizational use of Internet technologies. “Content analyses of corporate Web sites also need to be accompanied by studies of the information needs and expectations of corporate Web sites’ visitors” (p. 342). This use of multiple methods will contribute to an overall knowledge of corporate Facebook usage and its use as a relational PR tool.