Linjuan Rita Men Co-Authors Book Chapter on the Power of AI-Enabled Chatbots as a Tool for Organizational Social Media Listening

Linjuan Rita Men, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) Public Relations professor and director of Internal Communication Research, is the co-author of “The Power of AI-Enabled Chatbots as an Organizational Social Media Listening Tool,” a chapter in the new book Organizations Listening for Strategic Communication: Building Theory and Practice 2023.

Men, Alvin Zhou, University of Minnesota Journalism assistant professor, and Wan-Hsiu Sunny Tsai, University of Miami Advertising professor, explored the potential for chatbots as a listening agent for organizations. They present a holistic framework to theorize how organizations can effectively harness the power of social chatbots for organizational listing.

The chapter features four sections including an introduction of AI-powered social chatbots and key features with a focus on chatbot listening and the implications for organizational social listening; the theoretical foundation based on social presence and conversational human voice as the antecedents of chatbot-mediated organizational listening; the impact of organizational social listening via chatbots on public relations outcomes including perceived organizational transparency; and corporate character and organization-public relationships and implications for public relations practice.

According to the authors, “As organizations and brands continue to embrace the concept of ‘CommTech,’ the future of strategic communications will be more intelligent, agile, and ‘social.’ While AI agents may never be able to replace human agents, it comes with enormous potential to transform the communication listening practice and bring them to the next level.”

They add, “Eventually, AI-powered technologies such as chatbots can reshape publics’ direct experiences with companies and brands through automated and humanizes social conversations and listening. It’s time for communication leaders to embrace AI technologies, think smart, and act AI-informed.”

Posted: May 4, 2023
Category: AI at CJC News, College News, ICRH News
Tagged as: AIatUF, Linjuan Rita Men