Date of Award

5-22-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Journalism

First Advisor

Amy Barnes

Abstract

Hospitals are recognizing the need to use social media with Facebook specifically being the most popular medium. This research examines how hospitals are using Facebook as a public relation tactic by looking at 12 hospitals' Facebook pages over four weeks. The research looks at the levels of engagement (likes, comments and shares) on Facebook posts and what types of post are getting the best engagement. This study also looks at posts made by others on the hospitals' Facebook timelines to see what people most posted about and how hospitals responded. All 12 hospitals had different approaches to how they used Facebook. The type of post that received the greatest overall engagement was the patient story, but general health posts were more frequent. Also, it was evident that hospitals could benefit by responding to posts made by others, regardless of subject matter.

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