Assessing the ethical reasoning of companies' public relations on Twitter and Facebook (2012)

Drawing from Excellence Theory and using the TARES test, the purpose of this study is to explore large corporations' ethical communication practices based on their interaction habits with the general public via social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter. Today's digital landscape facilitates a two-way communication process by which companies convey their messages to the audience and receive feedback from individuals. This research seeks to advance our understanding of 1) the mechanism (i.e., Twitter and Facebook interactions with the audience and whether they allow symmetric communication or monitor/edit the comments) that takes place in this sort of communication exchange between large corporations and individuals; and 2) test ethical issues that may arise from those new communication links. For instance, how truthful, authentic, respectful, equitable, and socially responsible (TARES) Fortune 500 companies' social media content is, and whether there are distinct practices between Twitter and Facebook.