Many health promotion campaigns are designed to communicate complex, potentially ambiguous messages. The strategic communication stages of formative research, strategy, tactics, and evaluation provide campaign guidance for communicating messages, but less direction is available for the specific tactics of channel selection and message delivery. The research question explored here is what channel characteristics should campaign designers consider and assess when selecting the most effective channels for disseminating their messages. A review of extant literature of channel selection theory informed the application of media richness theory and the concept of medium control. Synthesizing this theory and concept provides a typology of channels from which to select channels for communicators as they negotiate the media landscape. Often with limited resources and budgets, health communicators must make critical choices about what channels to use in disseminating their messages. While new and social media offer exciting opportunities, communicators must consider the media’s ability to transmit potentially ambiguous messages.
AbromsL. C.LefebvreR. C. (2009). Obama’s wired campaign: Lessons for public health communication. Journal of Health Communication, 14, 415–423. doi:10.1080/10810730903033000
2.
AbromsL. C.SchiavoR.LefebvreR. C. (2008). New media cases in Cases in Public Health Communication & Marketing: The promises and potential. Cases in Public Health, Communication, and Marketing, 2, 3–10.
3.
AdAge. (2012). Brands geek out on past with Facebook timelines. Advertising Age, 83, 6.
4.
AhnS. (2009). Successful online public relations message conveyance: The role of user control in websites. Conference Papers—International Communication Association, Chicago, IL, May 2009, p. 1.
5.
AveryE.LariscyR.SweetserK. D. (2010). Social media and shared—or divergent—uses? A coorientation analysis of public relations practitioners and journalists. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 4, 189–205. doi:10.1080/1553118X.2010.489501
6.
BanduraA. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
7.
BaptistA. P.ThompsonM.GrossmanK. S.MohammedL.SyA.SandersG. M. (2011). Social media, text messaging, and email-preferences of asthma patients between 12 and 40 years old. The Journal of Asthma: Official Journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma, 48, 824–830. doi:10.3109/02770903.2011.608460
8.
BergerB. K.ParkD.-J. (2003). Public relation(ship)s or private controls? Practitioner perspectives on the uses and benefits of new technologies. New Jersey Journal of Communication, 11, 76–99.
9.
BrionesR.NanX.MaddenK.WaksL. (2012). When vaccines go viral: An analysis of HPV vaccine coverage on YouTube. Health Communication, 27, 478–485. doi:10.1080/10410236.2011.610258
10.
CatalanoC. S. (2007). Megaphones to the internet and the world: The role of blogs in corporate communications. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 1, 247–262. doi:10.1080/15531180701623627
11.
ChinA.KeelanJ.TomlinsonG.Pavri-GarciaV.WilsonK.ChignellM. (2010). Automated delineation of subgroups in web video: A medical activism case study. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 15, 447–464.
12.
DaftR. L.LengelR. H. (1986). Organizational information requirements, media richness, and structural design. Management Science, 32, 554–570.
13.
DaftR. L.LengelR. H.TrevinoL. K. (1987). Message equivocality, media selection, and manager performance: Implications for information systems. MIS Quarterly, 11, 354–366.
14.
DeloC. (2012). Are brand pages worth the trouble?Advertising Age, 83, 56.
15.
DennisA. R.KinneyS. T. (1998). Testing media richness theory in the new media: The effects of cues, feedback, and task equivocality. Information Systems Research, 9, 256–274. doi:10.1287/isre.9.3.256
16.
DeShazoJ.HarrisL.TurnerA.PrattW. (2010). Designing and remotely testing mobile diabetes video games. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 16, 378–382. doi:10.1258/jtt.2010.091012
17.
DiStasoM. W.BortreeD. S. (2012). Multi-method analysis of transparency in social media practices: Survey, interviews and content analysis. Public Relations Review, 38, 511–514. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2012.01.003
18.
EllisonN. B.SteinfieldC.LampeC. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12, 1143–1168. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00367.x
FranklinV. L.GreeneA.WallerA.GreeneS. A.PagliariC. (2008). Patients’ engagement with “sweet talk”—A text messaging support system for young people with diabetes. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 10, e20. doi:10.2196/jmir.962
21.
GilpinD. (2010). Organizational image construction in a fragmented online media environment. Journal of Public Relations Research, 22, 265–287. doi:10.1080/10627261003614393
22.
GreeneE. A.WhittleJ. L.GriffinA. S.WoodC. H.AndersonK.WilliamsC. A. (2009). Using web 2.0 technology (YouTube) to reach extension Clientele. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 29, 439–440. doi:10.1016/j.jevs.2009.04.135
23.
GuthD. W.MarshC. (2011). Public relations: A value driven approach (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
24.
HallahanK. (1994). Public relations and circumvention of the press. Public Relations Quarterly, 39, 17–19.
25.
HeathR. L. (1998). New communication technologies: An issues management point of view. Public Relations Review, 24, 273–288. doi:10.1016/S0363-8111(99)80140-4
26.
HoltzB.WhittenP. (2009). Managing asthma with mobile phones: A feasibility study. Telemedicine Journal and E-Health: The Official Journal of the American Telemedicine Association, 15, 907–909. doi:10.1089/tmj.2009.0048
27.
JohnsonM. A. (1997). Public relations and technology: Practitioner perspectives. Journal of Public Relations Research, 9, 213–236. doi:10.1207/s1532754xjprr0903_02
28.
KeelanJ.Pavri-GarciaV.TomlinsonG.WilsonK. (2007). YouTube as a source of information on immunization: A content analysis. Journal of the American Medical Association, 298, 2482–2484.
29.
KelleherT.MillerB. M. (2006). Organizational blogs and the human voice: Relational strategies and relational outcomes. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11, 395–414. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00019.x
30.
KentM. L. (2008). Critical analysis of blogging in public relations. Public Relations Review, 34, 32–40. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2007.12.001
31.
KlasnjaP.PrattW. (2012). Healthcare in the pocket: Mapping the space of mobile-phone health interventions. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 45, 184–198. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2011.08.017
32.
KrepsG. L. (2009). Applying Weick’s model of organizing to health care and health promotion: Highlighting the central role of health communication. Patient Education and Counseling, 74, 347–355. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2008.12.002
33.
LangeP. (2007). Publicly private and privately public: Social networking on YouTube. Journal of Computer Medicated Communication, 13, 361–380.
34.
LefebvreR. C. (2007). The new technology: The consumer as participant rather than target audience. Social Marketing Quarterly, 13, 31–42. doi:10.1080/15245000701544325
35.
LeongK. C.ChenW. S.LeongK. W.MasturaI.MimiO.SheikhM. A., …Teng, C. L. (2006). The use of text messaging to improve attendance in primary care: A randomized controlled trial. Family Practice, 23, 699–705. doi:10.1093/fampra/cml044
36.
LiedtkaJ. (2001). The promise and peril of video cases: Reflections on their creation and use. Journal of Management Education, 25, 409–424.
37.
LipsmanA.MudG.RichM.BruichS. (2012). The power of “like”: How brands reach (and influence) fans through social-media marketing. Journal of Advertising Research, 52, 40–52. doi:10.2501/JAR-52-1-040-052
38.
LongT.TaubenheimA. M.WaymanJ.TempleS.RuoffB. A. (2008). The heart truth: Using the power of branding and social marketing to increase awareness of heart disease in women. Social Marketing Quarterly, 14, 3–29. doi:10.1080/15245000802279334
39.
LongT.TaubenheimA. M.WaymanJ.TempleS.YuE. (2010). Using social media to reach women with The Heart Truth—2009 update. Cases in Public Health, Communication, and Marketing, 4, 55–68.
40.
LovejoyK.WatersR. D.SaxtonG. D. (2012). Engaging stakeholders through Twitter: How nonprofit organizations are getting more out of 140 characters or less. Public Relations Review, 38, 313–318. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2012.01.005
McGuireW. J. (1984). Public communication as a strategy for inducing health-promoting behavioral change. Preventive Medicine, 13, 299–319.
43.
MorrisM. E.KathawalaQ.LeenT. K.GorensteinE. E.GuilakF.LabhardM.DeleeuwW. (2010). Mobile therapy: Case study evaluations of a cell phone application for emotional self-awareness. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 12, e10. doi:10.2196/jmir.1371
44.
NeffJ. (2011). Facebook helps keep marketers’ message under control—As long as they’re buying. Advertising Age, 82, 9.
45.
OtondoR. F.Van ScotterJ. R.AllenD. G.PalviaP. (2008). The complexity of richness: Media, message, and communication outcomes. Information Management, 45, 21–30. doi:10.1016/j.im.2007.09.003
46.
ParekhR. (2011). Google+ lays the groundwork for business profiles. Advertising Age, 82, 2–24.
47.
RainsS. A.KeatingD. M. (2011). The social dimension of blogging about health: Health blogging, social support, and well-being. Communication Monographs, 78, 511–534. doi:10.1080/03637751.2011.618142
48.
RiceR. E.GattikerU. E. (2001). New media and organizational structuring. In JablinF. M.PutnamL. L. (Eds.), The new handbook of organizational communication: Advances in theory, research, and methods (pp. 544–581). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
49.
RosenbergJ.EgbertN. (2011). Online impression management: Personality traits and concerns for secondary goals as predictors of self-presentation tactics on Facebook. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17, 1–18. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2011.01560.x
50.
ScanfeldD.ScanfeldV.LarsonE. L. (2010). Dissemination of health information through social networks: Twitter and antibiotics. American Journal of Infection Control, 38, 182–188. doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2009.11.004
51.
SchultzF.UtzS.GöritzA. (2011). Is the medium the message? Perceptions of and reactions to crisis communication via twitter, blogs and traditional media. Public Relations Review, 37, 20–27. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.12.001
52.
SeitelF. P. (2006). The practice of public relations (10th ed.). EnglewoodCliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
53.
ShafrirS. M.YuanY. C. (2012). Getting the feel: Email usage in a nonprofit community organization in a low-income community. Communication Quarterly, 60, 103–121. doi:10.1080/01463373.2012.641898
54.
SheerV. C. (2011). Teenagers’ use of MSN features, discussion topics, and online friendship development: The impact of media richness and communication control. Communication Quarterly, 59, 82–103. doi:10.1080/01463373.2010.525702
55.
SheerV. C.ChenL. (2004). Improving media richness theory. Management Communication Quarterly, 18, 76–93. doi:10.1177/0893318904265803
SitkinS.SutcliffeK. M.Barrios-ChoplinJ. R. (1992). A dual-capacity model of communication media choice in organizations. Human Communication Research, 18, 563–598.
58.
SmuddeP. M. (2005). Blogging, ethics and public relations: A proactive and dialogic approach. Public Relations Quarterly, 50, 34–38.
59.
StrandbygaardU.ThomsenS. F.BackerV. (2010). A daily SMS reminder increases adherence to asthma treatment: a three-month follow-up study. Respiratory Medicine, 104, 166–171. doi:10.1016/j.rmed.2009.10.003
TianY.RobinsonJ. D. (2008). Media use and health information seeking: An empirical test of complementarity theory. Health Communication, 23, 184–190. doi:10.1080/10410230801968260
62.
TrammellK. D.KeshelashviliA. (2005). Examining new influencers: A self-presentation study of A-list blogs. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 82, 968–982.
63.
VorvoreanuM. (2009). Perceptions of corporations on Facebook: An analysis of Facebook social norms. Journal of New Communications Research, 4, 67–86.
64.
WatersR. D.BurnettE.LammA.LucasJ. (2009). Engaging stakeholders through social networking: How nonprofit organizations are using Facebook. Public Relations Review, 35, 102–106. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2009.01.006
65.
WatersR. D.JonesP. M. (2011). Using video to build an organization’s identity and brand: A content analysis of nonprofit organizations’ YouTube videos. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 23, 248–268. doi:10.1080/10495142.2011.594779
66.
WhittakerR.MaddisonR.McRobbieH.BullenC.DennyS.DoreyE., …Rodgers, A. (2008). A multimedia mobile phone-based youth smoking cessation intervention: Findings from content development and piloting studies. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 10, e49. doi:10.2196/jmir.1007
67.
WilliamsA.ZraikD.SchiavoR.HatzD. (2008). Raising awareness of sustainable food issues and building community via the integrated use of new media and other communication approaches. Cases in Public Health, Communication, and Marketing, 2, 159–177.
ZornT. E.FlanaginA. J.ShohamM. D. (2011). Institutional and noninstitutional influences on information and communication technology adoption and use among nonprofit organizations. Human Communication Research, 37, 1–33. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01387.x
