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Exploring how public relations practitioners build visual frames in the broad social media environment

Xiong, Yuzhi LU (2022) SKOM12 20221
Department of Strategic Communication
Abstract
The notion of “visual framing” has become more sophisticated in the contemporary social media environment and has demonstrated its interrelation with public relations and strategic communication. Past researchers approached visual framing topics from the contents of the resulting frames themselves, ignoring the visual framing constructing processes of one of the frame constructors: public relations practitioners. This study explores the working experiences of public relations practitioners to understand how they reason with their visual framing process and explain the relations between texts and visuals in social media-related working processes. In-depth interviews revealed that public relations practitioners differentiated their... (More)
The notion of “visual framing” has become more sophisticated in the contemporary social media environment and has demonstrated its interrelation with public relations and strategic communication. Past researchers approached visual framing topics from the contents of the resulting frames themselves, ignoring the visual framing constructing processes of one of the frame constructors: public relations practitioners. This study explores the working experiences of public relations practitioners to understand how they reason with their visual framing process and explain the relations between texts and visuals in social media-related working processes. In-depth interviews revealed that public relations practitioners differentiated their strategies for visual framing through staged promotional goals. This finding offers an alternative theoretical understanding of the “four-tiered visual framing system”. Public relations practitioners made meaning of their visual framing process as audience-oriented and limited by company management mechanisms. The double trade-off of company and audience requirements questions the complete control of frame constructors in the process of framing visuals. Public relations practitioners explained the relationship between texts and visuals to be interdependent in visual framing. This relationship dynamically changed according to different communication goals and stages, which is a finding developing the single visual- superiority view in previous theories. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Xiong, Yuzhi LU
supervisor
organization
course
SKOM12 20221
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
public relations, visual framing, visual communication, strategic communication, social media
language
English
id
9083159
date added to LUP
2022-06-27 14:21:39
date last changed
2022-06-27 14:21:39
@misc{9083159,
  abstract     = {{The notion of “visual framing” has become more sophisticated in the contemporary social media environment and has demonstrated its interrelation with public relations and strategic communication. Past researchers approached visual framing topics from the contents of the resulting frames themselves, ignoring the visual framing constructing processes of one of the frame constructors: public relations practitioners. This study explores the working experiences of public relations practitioners to understand how they reason with their visual framing process and explain the relations between texts and visuals in social media-related working processes. In-depth interviews revealed that public relations practitioners differentiated their strategies for visual framing through staged promotional goals. This finding offers an alternative theoretical understanding of the “four-tiered visual framing system”. Public relations practitioners made meaning of their visual framing process as audience-oriented and limited by company management mechanisms. The double trade-off of company and audience requirements questions the complete control of frame constructors in the process of framing visuals. Public relations practitioners explained the relationship between texts and visuals to be interdependent in visual framing. This relationship dynamically changed according to different communication goals and stages, which is a finding developing the single visual- superiority view in previous theories.}},
  author       = {{Xiong, Yuzhi}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Exploring how public relations practitioners build visual frames in the broad social media environment}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}