Encouraging the rise of fan publics: Bridging strategy to understand fan publics’ positive communicative actions

Abstract

The identification and engagement of supportive publics or fan publics to being a part of an organization’s communication efforts and activities has very recently emerged as a key agenda among public relations scholars and practitioners. While discussions on fandom and fan activism can be found extensively in the social sciences (e.g., Lee, 2011; Parry, Jones & Wann, 2014; Millward & Poulton, 2014), public relations as a field is yet to address fans as a public of interest. A few efforts have been made to build the connections between relationship management research (e.g., Bruning, Dials, & Shirka, 2008), public relations, and fandom (e.g. L’Etang, 2006; Dimitrov, 2008), yet these efforts remain few and far between. This edited volume presents a positive step in rectifying this issue, recognizing what L’Etang pointed out:To date sports literature does not seem to appreciate that public relations defines and analyses key stakeholders and newly emergent publics and interest groups with a view to understanding not only their perceptions of, and relationships with, the organisations but also with each other.

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