Visual Relationship Building on Facebook: Nonprofit Organizations’ Use of Photos to Cultivate Relationships and Stimulate User Engagement
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2023
Author(s)
Abstract
Facebook has become an important strategic tool for nonprofit organizations to cultivate relationships with their stakeholders. But although Facebook is a predominantly visual medium, it is largely unknown how photographs contribute to relationship building. Using politeness theory as a theoretical framework, we argue that photographs facilitate relationship building to the extent to which they include politeness cues that support people's desire for autonomy (negative face wants) and their desire for approval (positive face wants). We then offer a systematic overview of visual politeness cues employing Kress and van Leeuwen's (2006) theory of visual grammar. A content analysis of 1,370 Facebook posts of U.S. health charities was conducted to examine the effects of these visual politeness cues on relationship building success, measured by the extent to which people engage with a post by liking and sharing it as well as commenting on it. The findings provide consistent support for our hypotheses suggesting that engagement is significantly greater when photos include visual politeness cues (vertical angle: high angle and eye level angle; horizontal angle: frontal angle; contact: direct gaze; physical distance: medium and long shots).
Language
English (United States)
Keywords
Facebook
visual communication
relationship building
user engagement
Event Title
Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA)
Event Location
Toronto, Canada