Web sites have emerged as a massively popular and important tool in public relations, marketing, organizational communication, political campaigns, and a host of other fields. However, only a tiny percentage of Web site research reflects the latest thinking in research and practice. The result of using these old approaches has been that research on homepages has been largely unable to address the most central question in all modern marketing and public relations research and practice: How can organizations can build and maintain relationships with their publics/customers? This relational focus has characterized marketing research and practice since at least the early 1980s and public relations since the late 1980s, yet Web page design and use has, on the whole, failed to adopt it. Web Site Public Relations steps in to fill this void and help move Web site research and use toward a more professional and theoretic foundation. This book is an original and rigorous attempt to build a...
