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Article
Social media engagement with organization-generated content: Role of visuals in enhancing public engagement with organizations on Facebook and Instagram
Public Relations Review
  • Ganga Dhanesh, Zayed University
  • Gaelle Duthler, Zayed University
  • Kang Li, Zayed University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-2022
Abstract

The ubiquity of social media platforms that increasingly foreground visuals over text has led to a rise in organization-generated visual content. This study addresses an underexamined question about this phenomenon: which characteristics of organization-generated visual content are associated with higher levels of public engagement in social media? Engagement is conceptualized as indicators of first level engagement such as likes and comments that represent affiliation with and support for the organization. Employing a visual social semiotic framework, a randomly selected sample of visuals posted on Instagram and Facebook by four leading airport brands in 2019 (N = 400) was coded for representational, interactive, and compositional meanings. Findings revealed that across platforms narrativity of images, and interactive features of distance and point of view enhanced engagement, while the compositional feature of framing increased engagement on Instagram. Implications of the findings for effective organization-generated visual content on social media are discussed.

Publisher
Elsevier BV
Disciplines
Keywords
  • Engagement,
  • Organization-generated content,
  • Public relations,
  • Social media,
  • Visual,
  • Visual social semiotics
Scopus ID
85126327075
Indexed in Scopus
Yes
Open Access
No
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2022.102174
Citation Information
Ganga Dhanesh, Gaelle Duthler and Kang Li. "Social media engagement with organization-generated content: Role of visuals in enhancing public engagement with organizations on Facebook and Instagram" Public Relations Review Vol. 48 Iss. 2 (2022) ISSN: <a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/issn/0363-8111" target="_blank">
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/kang-li61664/4/