Web Sites and Organizational-Public Relationships
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direct communication of information to audiences through e-mail, as well as using online writers to reach
them and attracting audiences to web sites where information resides.
Drawing on structuration theory, Cozier & Witmer (2001) suggested that the Internet can create
new publics and thus can redefine the very nature of an organization. Separately, Kent & Taylor draw
upon theories of interpersonal dialogic communication to contend that the interactive features found on
web sites can foster relationships through dialogue between an organization and publics. Thus online
communication is not a merely means to an end (i.e. a tool for the transmission of content), but an end in
itself that cements relationships (Kent & Taylor, 1998, 2002; Kent, Taylor & White, 2001; Peng, 2000).
Researchers argue that the adroit use of Internet technologies, particularly the incorporation of
interactive and user retention features in web sites, can help foster relationship building in various
contexts, including advertising (Philport & Arbitter, 1997), consumer promotions (Zufryden, 2000) and
business-to-business relationships (Reber & Fosdick, 2002). The Internet’s inherent facility for two-way
communication provides hope for balanced exchanges in discussions about issues (Heath, 1998) allows
development of a true sense of community (Badarocco, 1998) and potentially can equalize inequities in
power relationships in society (Coombs, 1998). The Internet also can be important tool for maintaining
relationships in crises (Hearit, 1999; Perry & Taylor, 2002).
Little evidence suggests that practitioners in the late 1990s fully recognized the Internet’s
potential as a relationship-building tool, or approached the Internet very deliberately (Aikat, 2000;
Esrock & Leichty, 1999; Johnson, 1997; Hill & White, 2000; Ryan, 2000; White & Raman, 1999;
Wright, 1998, 2002). Flanagin (2000) found many organizations were prompted to adopt new
communications technologies as a result of social or institutional pressures, organizational visibility, or
the organization's leadership position in the field. Furthermore, it’s clear that web sites and online
communications are yet to meet their full potential. Research and anecdotal evidence suggests that many
organizational web sites come up short on content and features that foster feedback (Callison, 2002;
Esrock & Leichty, 1998, 1999, 2000; Flynn, 2001; Ha & James, 1998; Nielsen, 2001; Rewick, 2001;
Convention