Ethical Engagement at a Time of Crisis in the Social Era

Numerous studies have been done on using social media in public relations (e.g., DiStaso, McCorkindale, & Wright, 2011; Wright & Hinson, 2008), crisis communication (e.g., Austin, Liu, & Jin, 2012; Jin, Liu, & Austin, 2014), public engagement (Men & Tsai, 2013), and ethical guidelines (Bowen, 2013). A Pew Internet study (Rainie, Smith, & Duggan, 2013) revealed that social-networking site users are checking in more frequent than ever before. Yet, DiStaso and Bortree’s (2014) study showed corporations usually are not actively communicating with stake-holders via social media, though many conversations among social media users are about them. Organizations therefore have to participate and engage actively with publics in the social context.