Functional Outline

I. Introduction
a. Introduce the problem/issue to be studied
b. Give basic background
c. Tell the reader WHY this is important and meaningful

[TRANSITION: As the world of social media grows, it is important to study SNSs in the context of organizations as this will have implications on future organizational PR practices.]

II. Literature Review
a. Move from the known to the unknown in research
b. Outline the problem through the use of past research
c. Keep the reason for the study prominent throughout
d. SUBHEAD: Characteristics of SNSs
- Highlight what we know about SNSs
- Compile a definition of what SNSs are
- Give useful statistics in order to frame SNSs for the reader
e. SUBHEAD: Corporate Use of SNSs
- Highlight the need to study SNSs in a corporate context
- Give an overview of how Internet technologies have been a helpful PR technique
f. SUBHEAD: Relational Development on SNSs
- Review literature that dicusses the need to study PR through relational practices
- Highlight various studies which show that both Internet and SNS technologies are not being used to their fullest relational potential
- Build up to RQs

[TRANSITION: As we know little about corporate SNS usage and how organizations can use these sites as a relationship building mechanism, the following RQs are proposed (insert RQs)]

III. Method
a. Describe the data collection, process for evaluation and the data sample
b. Specifically, the following will be addressed:
- Reason for using thematic analysis
- Reason for choosing the particular sample (48 corporate Facebook sites from the Fortune 500 list)
- Reason for using Facebook as the SNS for analysis
- Description of how sites were accessed and what they were coded for
- Definitions of corporate and fan involvement

[TRANSITION: Researchers then looked for themes across particular service sector and whether corporate involvement correlated with fan invovlement on Facebook sites.]

IV. Results
a. Describe themes that emerged from the data and provide examples and definitions of these themes
b. SUBHEAD: Corporate Involvement
- This section will outline the definition and examples of corporate involvement on SNSs, looking at
1) Presence (basic info, outside info, corporate pride, technology and corporate social responsibility)
2) Levels of involvement (lack of involvement, conflicting involvement, detailed involvement)
3) Relationship (encouragement, solicitation, response to fans)
c. SUBHEAD: Fan Involvement
- This section will outline the definition and examples of fan involvement on SNSs, looking speccifically at (I haven't solidified what my themes are for this section yet)
1) Theme 1 (definition, possible sections, examples)
2) Theme 2 (definition, possible sections, examples)
3) Theme 3 (definition, possible sections, examples)

[TRANSITION: (not sure what this will be yet)]

V. Discussion
a. Interpret themes discussed in results
b. Answer the RQs
c. Clearly articulate how these interpretations extend previous research and theory
d. Connect the paper together ... answer the question "so what does it mean?"

[TRANSITION: This study has looked at how organizations not only use SNSs, but how they also work to build relationships between fans and the organization online]

VI. Conclusion
a. Wrap up the study - be concise about what we've learned
b. Highlight the contributions and limitations of the study:
- What can we learn from this study in the context of theory?
- How can we apply it?
- What areas of future research have stemmed from this study?