Dialogic theory, initially proposed to foster two-way communication in Web 1.0, and its latest revision attempts risk losing practical applicability to inform dialogic social media (SM) communication. This is because dialogic theory mainly reimagines company-user dialogic relationships from static websites to SM without accounting for viral communication. This paper summarizes an ongoing research effort to further develop dialogic theory for SM communication and maximize its utility in leveraging SM interactivity and virality for relationship building. We do this by employing an inductive-deductive approach to analyze corporate social responsibility (CSR) posts from Instagram (N=704). Preliminary empirical results provide evidence that companies are already leveraging SM opportunities for the viral extension of dialogic communication. We propose that, by leveraging SM viral interactivity affordances, new dialogic strategies extend the concept of dialogue from company-user to company-user-user. Next, we outline a theoretical extension of dialogic theory, one that accounts for the symbiotic relationship between extant dialogic concepts and SM viral interactivity. Last, we outline our next step in this active research pursuit.
Language
English (United States)
Event Title
The 74th Annual International Communication Association Conference