The Effects of Utilizing Social Media Tools During Crisis from Public Relations Practitioners' Views in the UAE

Abstract

Despite growing interest in social media over the last few years all over the world, there is a lack of empirical studies on the extent to which PR practitioners in the UAE are using social media tools, and in particular, during crisis. Consequently, this study is designed to bridge this gap in research. The study aims to bring to attention the dynamics of using social media among public PR practitioners during crisis in one of the Gulf countries -countries that have different economic, social and political contexts. The current study is considered one of the pioneer studies in the public relations' field in the UAE which aims to investigate how public relations practitioners are using social media tools in crisis. It also explores public relations practitioners' perceptions and attitudes towards using social media during crisis. A random sample of 160 PR practitioners was selected from different public and private organizations in the UAE. The results indicated that PR practitioners are active and heavy social media users in their organizations during crisis. Furthermore, the study confirmed that the most commonly used communication strategies were compensation, corrective action and justification. Additionally, the study suggested that the organization's websites and Twitter were the most effective social media tools used during a crisis.