Nigerian Public Relations Practitioners' Use of Social Media: Validation of an Online Interactivity Model Applying Structural Equation Modeling

Abstract

Two-way symmetrical communication has been described as the best practice in modern public relations. The advent of new media, specifically social media, provides public relations practitioners with the opportunities of engaging in effective two-way communication with their publics because of its interaction potentials.The aim of this paper, therefore, was to propose and validate an online interactivity model that explains how public relations (PR) practitioners use social media for the promotion of two-way balanced communication with their publics. Data were collected from 513 Nigerian PR practitioners through systematic random sampling and were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings of the study suggested that the proposed and validated online interactivity model explained 82% of practitioners use social media for enhancing interaction with their publics.