With a little help from my friends: How public relations practitioners maintain social capital on Twitter

Abstract

This article explores how public relations practitioners use the microblogging tool Twitter to maintain and build social capital. Social capital, a concept popularised in the social sciences by Bourdieu, involves the sharing and exchange of commodities such as knowledge, services, words and time. Drawing on a thematic analysis of the Twitter feeds of 20 British public relations practitioners, this article argues that far from having to appear an ‘expert’ to build and maintain social capital among their peers, public relations practitioners maintain their network through social conversation and the constant surveillance of the Twitter feeds. The range of topics discussed by the public relations practitioners is narrow, and a highly developed media knowledge is necessary to decode many of the discussions. This has implications for the occupation’s drive for diversity among practitioners, contradicting the industry rhetoric that anyone can ‘join the conversation.’