Assessing Stakeholder Expectations for Organizational Social Listening (2020)

Listening in social media requires a response as evidence of listening, whether it’s a digital nod in the form of a like or a favorite, a written response, or multimedia feedback such as a gif. On your personal social pages, think about how you know your friends are listening to you in social media; on the flip side, also think about how isolating it feels to receive no response. Social media research suggests that organizations have been slow to take advantage of the potential dialogue social media sites offer. While companies can converse directly with stakeholders, it’s proving cumbersome for many organizations. Some may not have the trained staff required to continually connect with stakeholders in yet another communication vehicle. For others, the shear amount of social media posts across multiple platforms makes dialogue difficult. This project seeks to give organizations more insight into stakeholder expectations for listening, so they can better meet these expectations and improve dialogue and overall communication, while looking for stakeholder characteristics that influence listening and could inform companies on how best to respond to their stakeholders in social media.