Digital publics: Tracking and reaching them

•This study shows how social media can reach digital publics as tactics in strategic communication.•A significant difference between traditional and social media messages is immediate response.•Rather than the non-existent general public, the authors propose the term “latent diffused publics”.•Identifying a potential new type of public is more realistic as we move to social media communication.

Even with social media we still have not reached a point where there is a general public in public relations. The challenge, then, is how to identify a broader range of potential recipients—or a larger public. Rather than the non-existent general public, the authors propose the term “latent diffused publics”—a term that combines the theoretical work of James Grunig and the linkages of Esman from the 1970s. The latent element of this type of public suggests that the public is out there ready to respond, but will not do so until triggered by a message. The diffused aspect refers to a public that is difficult or impossible to identify until it responds to the message. We believe that identifying a potential new type of public is more realistic as we move deeper and deeper into the era of social media communication.