Use of New Media & Dialogic Strategy: Case Study of Select State Government and Private

Organizations in Nigeria

Authors: 1Oluwakemi E. AKERELE-POPOOLA, (ORCID - 0000-0002-2340-2518), 2Lambe Kayode

MUSTAPHA, 3Jubilee APALOWO, 4Olanrewaju O.P Ajakaiye, 5Racheal Ojeka-John
1,3,4,5
Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State
2
University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State
Corresponding Author: Oluwakemi E. AKERELE-POPOOLA
[email protected], [email protected]
ABSTRACT

This is a comparison study that investigates the extent to which select private organization;
United Bank for Africa (UBA) and government organization; Lagos State government in Nigeria
use websites and Facebook dialogically to engage, build and sustain relationships with their
publics. The study adopted a case study design and combination of qualitative and quantitative
content analysis method to examine the presence and use of Kent and Taylor five dialogical
principles in the organization-public relationship. Findings show that private organization
incorporated more dialogical features and principles of dialogic loop on web and Facebook than
government institution. Also, the private institution uses new media to build and sustain
relationships with its public while government organization is more concerned with managing its
reputation than sustaining and nurturing relationship with its publics as it has more contents on
web and Facebook. Also, the government institution is lacking in dialogic loop and return visit.

Keywords: social media, website, dialogic strategy, government public relations, organization-
public relationship.

1
Introduction
In a rapidly changing environment, the adoption of internet technologies in public relations offer
greater opportunities for practitioners and their various publics/stakeholders in managing
effective and long-lasting relationship for mutual benefits (Robson & James, 2016, Ugwu, 2019).
The new media has significantly transformed the pattern of communication from one-way flow
to a two-way interactive and conversation pattern. Moreover, the increasing ubiquity of social
media and its two-way symmetrical attributes mark significant turn in communication beyond
just sending information to people to an interactive and dialogical participatory culture (Sweetser
& Lariscy, 2016). Thus, signifying a shift from traditional approach of public relations practice
to a more conversational public relations practice (Kent & Taylor, 2002, Robson & James,
2016).
Beyond two-way symmetric, dialogical theory of public relations emphasizes that the only
ethical communication is the one based on genuine concern, empathy, mutuality
acknowledgement, commitment, humility and trust (Place, 2019; Akwari, 2017). Thus, dialogical
communication is a mutually beneficial and dependent relationship that require reciprocity and
continuous engagement. Hence, social media and website have become key communication tools
for such participatory and balanced communication between organizations and their various
publics (Vural, Degirmen, Unuvar, 2022, Capriotti, Zeler and Oliveira, 2019).

Literatures have established that the shift to dialogical strategy has created a critical challenge to
public relations practitioners (Solis & Breakinridge, 2009, cited in Ugwu, 2019). Only few
organizations and practitioners in the world have fully embraced the use new media and dialogic
communication strategy due to fear, lack of ROI (return on investment) metrics,
misunderstanding and underestimation of the media channel, particularly misperception of
practitioners and management control constraint which have limited the effectiveness of these
tools to facilitate a dialogical communication (Solis & Breakinridge, 2009, cited in Ugwu, 2019).
In 2015, Uzuegbunam, Duru and Ekwenchi mentioned lack of new media literacy and training as
the key challenge inhibiting of use of new media among Nigerian public relations practitioners.
However, the narrative is changing now as organizations both profits and non-profits have
recognized the unending opportunities of the internet and social media especially in engaging

2
and facilitating dialogic communication with their stakeholders and have incorporated it as one
of its key communication tools (Ugwu, 2019). However, the proper use of these communication
tools for dialogical public relations remains a big challenge.

Researchers from different part of the world have investigated the existence of Kent and Taylor
(1983, 2002) dialogic principles in organization-publics relationship using different approaches
and strategies with similar findings that organizations and PR practitioners are yet to put all the
dialogic principles into practice. Vural et al. (2022) investigated how İzmir Metropolitan
Municipality, the third largest city in Turkey, uses its social media accounts as a dialogical tool
of communication and found that Municipality social media accounts are not dialogical. Though
the social media accounts have high followers’ rate and are successful in 4 dialogic principles of
ensuring revisits, ease of interface, keeping visitors and usefulness of information, the accounts
do not support dialogue communication as it was lacking in dialogic loop principle which
therefore put the company in a negative light before the people.

Similarly, Sunday, Obia and Simon (2018) also investigated the extent to which Nigerian
government websites adopt dialogic principles for effective relationship building with the
citizens by content analyzing 24 websites belonging to the Federal ministries (parastatals) and
the state house. Results of the investigation showed that the websites have only usefulness of
information for the media and ease of interface. Significantly, the websites were lacking in other
principles like usefulness of information to the citizens public, dialogic loop and conversation.
Therefore, the researchers concluded that Nigerian Government websites are not dialogical in
nature as it practices a passive two-way communication process. In addition, the researchers
discovered that though the government websites have some features like contact information,
coat of arms, phone numbers and email addresses, logo of institutions, audio and video contents,
the links in the contents lack functional use as the websites showed no information when the link
were clicked. Thus, the researchers submitted that the websites exist only for cosmetic purposes.

Also, Lane and Bartlett (2016) in their research “Why Dialogic Principles Don’t Make it in
Practice and What We can do about it” investigated the occurrence of Kent and Taylor (2002)
dialogical principles of empathy, propinquity, commitment, mutuality and risk among 17
Australian contemporary PR practitioners and found that many of the practitioners lack the
understanding of dialogic communication. Also, they found that public relations practitioners
3
operate within situational constraints of lack of time and need to meet up with given deadline as
key constraints that make it impossible for them to practice dialogic communication. Part of the
constraints that was discovered also include the issue of power i.e., influence/control of the
organization on the function and form of communication. This means that PR practitioners have
no power to determine the conduct of dialogue within them and the target audience as it is
determined by the organization/employer. This implies that, the communication pattern between
an organization and its various public is a function of the organization’s management, goals and
pattern of operations.

In another related study conducted in the United State, McAllister approached the investigation
from another perspective by analysing the website of nonprofit organizations and found that
many organizations are weak in conserving visitors, generating return and in dialogic loop.
Meanwhile the company performed well in usefulness of information and ease of features
(Sunday et al. 2018).

Also, Capriotti et al. (2019) content analysed the Facebook pages of selected 157 Latin America
Organizations (from Peru, Argetina, Mexico, Brazil Colombia and Chile) to determine how the
companies foster dialogue and sustain relationships with their publics through social media.
Findings showed that the companies do not use social media to create and sustain relationships,
rather they use it for disseminating information on business contents and increasing their online
presence (visibility). The level of interactivity or dialogue between organizations and the publics
is very low, hence they adopt non-dialogical and unidirectional communication approach.

In a recent comparative study and contrary view, Ayiku and Tandoh (2020) conduced a focus
group discussion with 30 practitioners form 6 private and public institutions (3 private, 3 public)
in Ghana and in-depth analysis of their websites. They found that while public institutions utilize
their websites to build good relationships with their publics, and private institutions are focused
on increasing sales and maximizing profits. Specifically, public institutions use their platform to
train, inform, educate the publics therefore create and develop good cordial relationships with
them. Though public institutions build relationships and interact with customers, Ayiku et.al
could not establish the extent at which the institutions practice dialogical principles. On the other
hand, private institutions use their platforms for profit maximization by running advertisements.
Findings also revealed that organization’s ethics to a large extent dictates the content and
4
dialogical communication that institutions share on their websites.

While researchers have investigated the adoption and existence of Kent and Taylor dialogic
principles in both profits and non-profits organizations using various perspective and in different
countries, including Nigeria, the similarities in the research findings that organizations use non-
dialogical strategy revealed the need to investigate the phenomenon further. Likewise, Ayinku el
al. findings on public institutions using their websites for relationship building while private is
concerned with sales also motivates the need for comparative research from Nigeria perspective.

Also, recently, findings established that the percentage of Nigeria companies that now rely and
use social media and website for its business purpose is on the increase. Tobi Asehinde (2020)
founder/CEO of one of the renowned Digital Marketing Skill Institute in Lagos, Nigeria and
United State of America submitted that “over a whopping 90 percent of Nigerian businesses now
rely on social media platforms, target and communicate with consumers online”. He added that
social media platforms to Nigerian business is beyond information dissemination and achieving
connectedness. Instead, it has become an “an inevitable dominant tool strategically used in
building customers’ relationship…”. Similarly, some state governments and federal government
parastatals are not left out. Hence, this paper investigates the extent to which organizations in
Nigeria use websites and social media dialogically. Specifically, it will examine and compare the
dialogic features of a government and private organization’s websites and Facebook platforms in
order to determine which of them uses dialogical strategy to build and sustain relationships with
their publics. Hence, the study will fill the lacuna on comparison research on dialogical strategy
in Nigerian by answering the questions below.

1. What are the dialogical features in private and government Websites and Facebook
platforms?

2. Which of the organization (private or government) uses dialogical strategy more to build
relationships with its publics?

Dialogic Theory of Public Relations

Dialogic theory represents a change in public relations practice from monologue to negotiation
(dialogue). Dialogue is from a Greek word “dia” which means through and “logos” which refers
to creating meaning, (Akwari, 2017). In short, dialogue refers to an authentic way of creating
5
mutual understanding between or among people through self-disclosure creation of meaning,
trust, mutual respect and equality (Place, 2019).
Kent and Taylor (1998, p. 325) defined dialogic communication between organization-publics as
“any negotiated exchange of ideas and opinions”. Thus, the theory bothers on building and
maintaining good relationship with key publics through effective use of social media in
cultivating relationship that is mutually dependent.
Specifically, Kent et al. (1998) submitted that dialogue is not about agreement, rather reaching a
“mutually satisfying position” through open negotiated (exchange) conversation. Thus,
organizations should view dialogic communication as give and take, by allowing stakeholders
involved in the negotiation process so as to express themselves honestly and openly. In this
regard, dialogue is based on the Martin Buber text of “I and Thou” which translates that the
prerequisite of human interactions should be stimulated by genuine concern for the other person,
intimacy and true acceptance of others (Vural et al., 2022).

Dialogical Communication, Social media and the World Wide Web

Since dialogic theory is an extension and improvement of two-way symmetrical model of

Gruning and Hunt (Vural et al., 2022), it needs the internet technologies as key tools to drive
engaging and interactive organization-public relationships. The wider popularity and
acceptability of the social media and world wide web in private and government institutions
present them as collaborative tools efficient noted that the internet is an “open door” through
which institutions can create a dialogical relationship with its publics.

Likewise, Taylor and Sen Das (2010) cited in Akwari (2017) espoused that the internet present a
“unique space” for organizations and PR practitioners to continuously engage its publics.
Impliedly, Kent and Taylor dialogical principles are premised on the use of the internet
technologies; particularly World Wide Web (Sunday et al., 2018) and social media platforms to
drive enriching organization-public relationship (Vural et. al., 20022). Kent and Taylor are of the
opinion that “the WWW offers a multi-channel environment where negotiation between
organizations and publics may occur” (Kent & Taylor, 1998, p.322).

To measure if an organization-public relationship is dialogical, Kent and Taylor developed five

principles of measurement below. These principles are operationalized to suit the purpose of this

6
research as they formulate the coding variables for our content analysis.

Dialogic loop refers to the continuous and interactive two-way communication through the
features of the websites or social media accounts. These features enable mutual conversation and
feedback loop where the public can ask questions about their concerns or raise issues or
suggestions and get quick and immediate feedback from the organization (Vural et al. 2022). To
achieve this, organizations assign capable employee to be on standby for a quick and effective
communication (Sunday et al., 2018). This is measured based on the following: opportunity for
public to comment on post, response to publics enquiry, timeliness of response to publics issues
or problems, ability to solve public issues or problems, links to other social media chats and
offline contact.

Usefulness of Information this is about the relevance and usefulness of the information
available on the organizations’ websites and social media accounts to the target publics.
Likewise, the information on the platforms must be properly structured, accessible and should
address the issues, concerns and needs of the various organizations’ public (Vural et al. 2022).
This principle is measured in line with Sunday et al. (2018) variables which include mission
statement, vision, press release, organization’s history, logo of the institution/organization,
structure of the information/accessibility to the public. For government platforms, we will also
look coat of arms and usefulness of information to both media public and citizen public.

Ease of interface this explains that the website and platform should be easy to navigate and
understand. Vural et al. (2022) submitted that it is crucial that visitors do not experience
difficulties in accessing information on the platforms and the most of the content should be more
text than graphics as texts load faster than graphics. Also, the platforms should contain links to
the most important and useful information on the first page, there should be a search box to find
information, drop down menu and site map (Sunday et al.,2018). All these formulate the
variables of measurement for both government and private website and platforms.

Revisit for visitors to revisit a platform, it must contain useful and attractive content and
interface that can keep visitors. Hence, the platforms should up-to-date information, new topics,
question and answer section where visitors get responses from experts, free and downloadable
information in PDF format, exciting and special announcement (Vural et atl.2022, Sunday et al.,

7
 2018). These variables form the metrics for evaluation including free gifts or coupon, sales
promotion or promo.

Keeping Visitors Vural et al. (2022) explained that organizations must avoid sponsored advertis
ement or place them in strategic locations because they obstruct and slow down the proper
functioning of the site. Hence, sponsored advertisement if cannot be avoid should be placed in
strategic location that will not affect the purpose of users when they visit.

Methodology

The goal of this paper is to examine and compare the dialogical features on a private and public
organization website and Facebook and determine which of them uses dialogic strategy in dealing
with its publics. To achieve this, the researchers conducted an in-depth qualitative and
quantitative content analysis using Kent and Taylor five dialogical principles.

Private institution in this study is represented by financial institution while public institution is
limited to state government as other researches have analysed the websites of 25 federal
government agencies (Sunday et al. 2018) as well as the webpages of the 36 state governments in
Nigeria (Oni, Okuneye & Mbarika 2016). Findings from these investigations revealed that
Nigerian government websites lack dialogical loop and operates one way communication system.
Also, the study established that out of the 36 states in Nigeria, only 23 state government have
online presence, while only Lagos state government has timely and updated contents on its
webpage.

On this note, this research adopts a case study research design as it enables the researchers to
focus on specific institutions to carry out a thorough analysis of the webpages and Facebook
platforms of a selected private and public organization. According to McCombes (2020) case
study design is a specific and detailed study of a subject, phenomenon or an organization efficient
for comparing, describing, understanding and evaluating different aspects of a research problem.
Thus, Lagos state government was purposefully selected to represent public organization as
findings have established it is the only state that has updated information and increased online
presence in Nigeria (Oni et al.2016). Besides, Lagos state government is also appropriate for this
study as it is the most popular, most populated and a leading state in Nigeria that is advanced in
use of internet technology among other states in the country, hence use public relations.
8
On the other hand, United bank for Africa (UBA) represented private organizations in Nigeria. A
report by Abubakar (2018) indicated that UBA is one of the first bank on the list of banks that are
technological inclined in Nigeria.

The researchers used coding guide structured in line with Kent and Taylor five dialogic principles
as the research instruments. The coding guide has five parts based on the principles and 33 items
scale in total while each part has not less than 5 items under it. The coding was done in a period of
four weeks in Landmark University Campus in the month of March, while the period of analysis
covered two months; January and February, 2022. Quantitative data was analsyed using SPSS
version 26 and presented in simple frequency percentage while the qualitative data was analysed
and presented through in-depth, expository and interpretative analysis.
Analysis
Principle 1: Dialogic Loop
This principle was investigated by examining the presence of the following features in the table 1
below on the selected private and government institution’s websites and Facebook platforms.
Table 1: Variables of dialogic loop
Website Facebook
Opportunity for users to Opportunity for users to respond
fill out survey/vote in to institution post
V1 order to express opinion
. on an issue
Link to social media Institution’s response to user’s
V2 account/webpage question/inquiry
Link to contact of top Timeliness of response to public
V3 officials question/enquiry
Event Calendar Ability to solve users complain or
V4 query
Offline Events Calendar
V5 contact/emergency
number
V6 Use of chatbot/direct Use of chatbot/direct human
human agent agent
Source: Researcher’s field work (2022)
Examining the official website of Lagos state government, findings showed the presence of only
variable 2 (link to social media accounts) and variable 5 (Offline contact/emergency) on Lagos

9
state government websites while the remaining variables are not included. You can easily connect
to the government institution’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest accounts from the
website with just a click of a button. Also, the government institution always includes a link to its
website in the stories shared on Facebook so that when users click, they can connect to the state
government official web page. To confirm the functionality of the links, they were tested and found
functioning.
Likewise, there are offline emergency contacts of some agencies that members of the public can
call when there is an emergency. Investigation further revealed that Lagos state government put out
emergency contacts of up 20 agencies under it some of which include agencies on Tax Issues, Fire
Safety, The Nigerian Police, Land Issue, Fake Drugs/Narcotics, Vehicle Registration/Driving
License, NAFDAC, NDLEA, LAWMA, BRT, LASEMA etc. Meanwhile, the website does not
include event calendar, opportunity to fill out survey or vote in order to express opinion on an
issue, and link to top officials’ contacts. However, there is an official email address where public
can send mail directly to the Lagos state government. Also, there is no use of chatbox or
opportunity to chat with human on the web.
On the other hand, proper observation of United Bank for Africa (UBA) website revealed the full
presence of four variables out of six; variable 1 (Opportunity for users to fill out survey/vote in
order to express opinion on an issue), 2 (link to social media accounts), 5 (Offline contact) and
variable 6 (use of chatbox/direct human agent interaction). The private institution has the phone
contacts and office address of its head office branch, Marina Lagos on the web, a form which users
can fill to express their concerns or opinion on a subject. This form is titled “GET IN TOUCH”.
Also, there was a slight presence of variable 3 (Link to contact of top officials) as one out of about
fifteen top officials have her official email contact on the bio-data displayed on the page.
On the Facebook Platform of Lagos State government, findings revealed the presence of only one
variable (V1- opportunity for users to respond to institution’s posts) out of the five that were
examined throughout the period of the investigation. Members of the public have the access to
comment, express their opinion, place complain on the institution social media post, but there is no
engagement or response to users’ posts. For instance, a recent post on Lagos State government
Facebook page on Feb 28th, 2022 on property assessment triggered a user to lay a complain on
property related issue and there was no response or feedback to the post. Even if the user didn’t
channel the complaint to the appropriate agency in charge of property management, he could have
10
been advised on how to go about his complains so the issue can be resolved or attended to. Further
investigation on other posts showed that the Lagos state government is lacking in dialogic loop as
there is no response mechanisms or interactive features in place where the institution engages or
dialogue with the citizens either on both web and Facebook. Thus, we can say that the public
institution engages in monologue or one-way communication process.
On the other hand, findings revealed the presence of four variables out of the five examined on
UBA Facebook page. The variables include opportunity for users to respond to institution post,
institution’s response to user’s question/inquiry, timeliness of response to public question/enquiry
and ability to solve users complain or query. Aside that the private institution often responds to
user’s complain or post, they were timely and compassionate in their response. The tone of the
response message is empathetic as it indicates genuine concern for users’ situation or complains and
willingness to assist in resolving the issue. Though the messages are automated, it is evident that
they are capable of solving users complains as the responses appropriately address each complaint
and are personalized to each complainer. Also, in case users need further assistance, they are
advised on how to redirect the complaint to the appropriate channel for further attention. Thus, this
is a good way on building and sustaining relationship with customers. Further, it was discovered
that the private institution has a chatbox; Leo on its webpage and Facebook platform. This means
the users can engage in dialogue with the chatbox. Interact directly with human agent to have their
issues resolved without visiting the branch. Screenshots below showed the organization-public
interaction between UBA and its public and one way communication flow between Lagos state
government and its public.

Figure 1- a customer’s complaint on the bank Facebook platform and bank’s response

11
Figure 2- a customer’s complaint on the Bank Facebook platform and bank’s response

12
Figure 3: Lagos State Government post on property monitoring and enforcement

Figure 4- A user’s complaint on the above post (in figure 3)

13
Principle 2: Usefulness of Information
This principle was tested in two variants. The first was based on usefulness of information to the
public and usefulness of information to the media as categorized by Sunday et al. (2018). To
further determine the usefulness of information to both the public and the media, we adopted and
modified Capriotti, Zeler and Oliviera (2019) content category table below as it is suitable to the
purpose of this study which is also to determine the dialogical nature of the content disseminated
by the selected private and public institution. The content category has three main dimension which
includes business topics: these include posts that has to do with the commercial, corporate or
business activities of the organization, corporate social responsibility (CSR) topics: refers to topics
that concerns corporate social responsibility/daily activities of the institution while the third

14
dimension is context topics which had to do with the general sector or business sector or industry in
which the organization functions. For the purpose of this study, the three dimensions were analysed
only for the private institution while only two; CSR and context related topics were used to
examine the public institution since it is not a commercial or business driven organization.
Table 2: Content Category
Content Dimension Aspects
Business Topics Strategy, result, offer, innovation
CSR Topics Integrity, work, citizenship
Context topics General, sector related and relational
Source: Capriotti et al. (2019)
Table 3: Frequency of Post
Institutio Count Count Tota1
n post in Jan of post in
Feb
LASG 220 (86%) 235 (87%) 455 (86.5%)
UBA 36 (14%) 35 (13%) 71 (13.5%)
Total 256 (100%) 270 (100%) 526 (100%)
Source: Researcher’s field work 2022

Table 4: Usefulness of Information on Facebook

Institutio Context CSR Business
n topics topics Topics
LASG 383 (92%) 72 (93.5%) N/A
UBA 30 (42.5%) 5 (6.5%) 36 (51%)
Total 413 77
Source: Researcher’s field work 2022
On the first variant, findings showed that many of the information posted on the selected public
institution website and Facebook platforms are useful to the media to write good stories about the
institution’s activities, administration and performance in office while only a few are useful to the
public. Specifically, analysis revealed that the government institution disseminates more posts on
its web and Facebook showing the daily activities of the state government within and outside the
15
state. Table 4 above showed that the Lagos state government had a total of 86.5% (n=455) posts
during the 2-month period of analysis while the private institution (UBA) had a total of 13.5%
(n=71) posts. Furthermore, it was observed that larger percent of information posted by the public
institution are context topic related (92%) showing government daily activities like award
nomination for best staff, industry partnership, dissemination of information on some new policies,
governor’s visit to other agencies or parastatals or receiving visit of top government officials or
dignitaries either local or international, birthday messages to top government officials, information
on ongoing project, quotes of the day, organized conferences or seminars for government staff and
other general and industry related topics.
On the other hand, UBA had more business-related post 51% (n=36), context related post 42.5%
(n=30) and CSR related posts 6.5% (n=5). The business posts of the private institutions are
advertising and promoting their products and services like how to access business and personal
loan, use of USSD code for self-service banking like block card in case of emergency, check
balance, buy airtime or data, incentivized campaign, free offers, promos, online betting and games
e.g.; Predict and Win King of Africa Football game, valentine promos etc. While the context-
related posts are direct marketing communications also designed to promote the bank’s business
and reputation. They include new month/week message, TGIF, motivational posts etc. Also, the
direct marketing communications are also meant to build and nurture the organization relationship
with its various public. This is similar with the public institution as its context related topic are also
designed to manage its reputation.
Furthermore, we found that the public institution has more CSR related posts (93.5%) on Facebook
than the private institution (6.5%) and this kind of posts for governments are more on the health
and traffic management of the state like raising awareness on drug abuse, eye care and disease
(Glaucoma), organizing free seminars on eye care treatment and mental wellness and traffic
diversion. Significantly, it can be deduced that the state government made health wellness
campaign a priority as larger percent of its quotes of the day were on awareness of Glaucoma and
eye care treatment, drug abuse. Also, there were regular information update educating the public on
traffic diversion and road work schedule and these are quite commendable. This communication
focus is in tandem with the Lagos State government 7 pillar themes; traffic management,
transportation and health and environment which are the first two themes in the 7 pillars guiding
the government’s activities. However, more still need to be done on adopting dialogical strategy
16
and posting useful information to the public by the government compared to the rate at which the
selected private institution shares regular information that are of beneficial to both the organization
and the public.
In addition, the Lagos state government often share detailed and textual information in its posts in
form of news story, news features, opinion article or news recap and they all combination of
pictures, words, graphical illustration, images, text and sometimes recorded and live videos while
the private institution uses more graphics and images for communication.
The second variant used to test this principle include use of coat of arm/logo of the organization,
history of the organization and press release. We found that Lagos state government use the state
coat of arm of its state and images of 7 pillar themes as its profile picture on Facebook and
background image on web while the private institution UBA used the logo of its organization on
both media channels. Also, both have the organization history while only government institution
has the presence of press release on web and Facebook. Also, progress report on ongoing project
were found on the Lagos state government website and this information are accessible to members
of the public.
Principle 3: Return Visit
This principle was tested with 3 variables that were examined only on the webpage of both
institutions. The variables include bookmark, request for information via email and update on
organization news. From analysis, Lagos state government website has the presence of just 2
variables; bookmarking and update on organization’s news. As stated earlier, the government
institution is efficient in disseminating updated information about the organization activities and
ongoing projects both on its website and Facebook platform. Also, it often shared stories with link
to its websites which easier for users to access its contents and shares articles of interests with other
users.
In the same vein, the selected private institution also has the presence only 2 variables which
include bookmarking and request of information via email. Also, there is a request for information
form titled “Get in touch”. Aside this, UBA has another form through which users can request for
information. This is titled; “How can we help you?”. With this, users can request for information
via email and submit his or her email address to the institution. By submitting information, users
are asked to subscribe to the institution newsletters and other information. However, there is no
synchronization between the content shared on the webpage and the one shared on Facebook. In
17
other words, UBA doesn’t share the same story on Facebook and web or include links on posts
shared on Facebook so users can connect to its webpage via like the public institution does.
Principle 4: Keeping Visitors
We tested this principle on websites with 4 variables that include site loading time, date of last
update, ease of navigating websites and found that both the private and government institution have
the presence of 3 variables out of 4.
We discovered that the Lagos State government engages in daily update of its website and
Facebook posts. Thus, there is current date of last update which usually is the current date. Also,
the website is very easy to navigate and access information and site loading time is fast once there
is a strong network but there is no option for users to sign up for newsletter. Meanwhile UBA also
has fast site loading time, ease of navigating website and option to sign up for communications.
The webpage doesn’t include the last date of update and information on the webpage did not
change all through the period of investigation. Impliedly, the Lagos state government disseminate
more information and has more posts that the private institution however the usefulness of the
information is lower than usefulness to the media.
Principle 5: Ease of Interface
We tested this principle on the selected institution webpage using 6 variables which include search
box, link to important information, having most important information on first page, content
downloadable in PDF format, drop down menu, and website map.
We found that both Lagos state and UBA has the presence 5 variables out of 6. These variables for
Lagos state government are search box, link to important information, having most important
information on first page, content downloadable in PDF format, drop down menu while UBA has
same except content in a downloadable format and including site map.
The only missing variable from Lagos state government webpage was site map. We saw contents
like Lagos state financial statement from 2015- 2020, poverty report, household survey report,
2022 appropriation law, budget performance report etc. all in a downloadable format on the
webpage. Likewise, there are links to important information on the first page on the site, there is
drop down menu, but no site map. Meanwhile UBA website has a sitemap and other variables
excluding content in downloadable PDF format. However, the webpage is well structured, loads
faster, easy to access information and opportunity to request for information. Likewise, the website
is detailed and has useful and relevant information to both new, existing and non-customers of the
18
bank. Also, we found that Lagos state government webpage is more textual but less graphical to
that of the private institution.
Discussion of Findings and Conclusion

RQ1: What are the dialogical features in private and government Websites and Facebook
platforms?

The purpose of this research is to compare the dialogic features in selected private and
government institutions’ websites and Facebook platforms and determine which of them has more
dialogical features and practices dialogical public relations than the other. Thus, the answer to the
first research question is presented in the analysis testing Kent and Taylor (1993) principles 1, 2
and 5; dialogic loop, ease of interface and usefulness of information.

With the introduction of new media, websites and social media have become essential tools to
facilitate effective and dialogical public relations practice. They help organizations maintain
interpersonal relationships with their publics (Kent & Taylor, 1998/2003) through functional
websites (Sunday et al. 2018) and dialogic social media interactivity.

The result of our findings showed that private institution incorporated more dialogical features in
its websites and Facebook than the public/government institution. We saw the presence of use of
chatbox, availability of human agent for dialogic communication, opportunity for users to
comment on posts and get feedback almost immediately, ability to solve users complains and
enquiry, opportunity for users to respond to post and express their opinion on issues as well
request for help and further information on private institution Facebook and web all which are
lacking in that of the public institution. These feedback features in private institution facilitates a
feedback platform that enables the private organization to gather information on public’s values,
needs, concerns, aspirations and expectations, while the public institution operates a passive and
un-interactive communication system. Aside comments/opinion box, the public institution didn’t
perform well in incorporating dialogic loop features in terms of enabling newsletters, responding
to public complains and enquiries on web and Facebook. It is important to state that the public
institution didn’t do totally bad or poorly as there were emergency call lines for up 15 agencies
through which the public can reach out to them. Also, there was an official email address on the
webpage through which users can send mail to the government, however, timeliness of feedback

19
and ability to solve users complains and enquiry could not be determined.

However, public organization did very well in terms of disseminating updated information and in
ease of interface. Their websites and Facebook platforms are updated on daily basis and has the
highest number of posts throughout the period of study. Hence, they did considerably well to an
extent in usefulness of information to the media and to the public. Though they had more of
context related and CRS posts which are strategically designed to manage its reputation in the
public, they were posts educating the public on traffic policies and management. This finding
corroborates Sunday et al (2018) investigation where they content analysed 25 Nigerian federal
government websites and found that the websites have more features on ease of interface and
usefulness of information to the media and less of dialogic loop. Thus, they concluded that the
government performed passive two-way communication rather over active two-way
communication.

On the other hand, findings also showed some similarity in the information disseminated on the
websites of both the private and public institution as they both target not only existing
customers/users, but also new and prospective individuals that may not be familiar with the state
activities or the bank’s products/services. This finding corroborates Akwari (2017) research where
he found that both top 50 PR websites and bottom 50 PR websites in Ghana used their websites to
target existing and prospective public. Also, both institutions utilize their webpage and Facebook
platforms for reputation management. However, the private institution takes it further for business
purpose; to advertise its products and services.

RQ2: Which of the organization (private or government) uses dialogical strategy more to
build relationships with its publics?

This research question is answered using analysis of the five dialogical principles. We cannot
determine which organization uses dialogical strategy to build relationship with its publics
without re-examining dialogic loop, usefulness of information, in combination with keeping
visitors, return visits and ease of interface. A user will only revisit either a social media page or
web if he found the information in there useful to him, and finds solutions to his problem/issues.
Also, if a webpage is not functioning well in terms of ease of use, easy access to information and
easy navigation, it is very likely such user will stop visiting the site.

20
Our findings revealed that both public and private organizations did very well in keeping visitors
in terms of fast loading time, ease of navigation and having important information on webpage.
However, the private organization did better in return visit as it has option for users to sign up for
newsletters, request for information, use site map on web and access information easily because it
has lesser information (on web and Facebook) which are more useful to public than the media.
The private institution web is more well-structured and the graphical images, design,
communication concepts, brand colour and design are beautiful, attractive and appealing to the
public than that of the public institution. While the public organization has too many information,
users could be bored with the excess information and found it uninteresting as it is more of text
than graphics. Also, the information can be described as what the institution wants the publics to
see and know rather than what the public may like to see. Also, the lack of dialogic loop; inability
to solve publics complain and lack of interactivity limit the dialogical features on the web and
Facebook platform of the institution. Rather than building and nurturing relationships with its
publics, Nigerian public institution considers Facebook and web as news media through which
public are informed about government activities and educated on traffic policies and management.
This finding corroborates some aspect of Oni et al., (2016) analysis on Nigerian state government
websites while some contradict. Oni et al. evaluated the websites of the 36 state governments in
Nigeria to determine the level of their conformity to national IT policy strategy and found that
while almost all 23 states in Nigeria focused on using their web to publicize their daily activities,
only Lagos state government uses its website to educate the people on traffic and health related
policies. Likewise, none of the state government provides option of online survey or submissions
of online forms whatsoever. Similar to Oni’s et al’s findings, we also saw that Lagos state
government has downloadable contents accessible to the public like budget review, financial
appraisal etc. However, findings on citizen participation in governance and provision of online
transactions like vehicle registration, tax payment are yet to be incorporated in the state
government websites.

Furthermore, Ayinku et al. examined how public institutions in Ghana use their websites and
found that they used the web to educate, inform, train its publics as well as develop cordial
relationships. Though Nigerian state government uses their web and Facebook to inform and
educate the people, there was no cordial relationship building between the two.

21
Summarily, public institution in Nigeria practices undemocratic and non-dialogical public
relations through passive one way communication. Also, the institution is more concerned with
information dissemination and managing its reputation through context related and CRS posts
rather than a participatory, empathetic and dialogical public relations practice.

Limitations and Recommendation

The crux of this research is to determine the institution that has more dialogical features on
Facebook and web and that uses these features to facilitate dialogical public relations practice. This
was achieved through in-depth qualitative content analysis and quantitative content analysis of
selected case study; Lagos state government and United Bank for Africa websites and Facebook
platforms. Hence, the findings of this study are limited and should be generalized to other state
governments in Nigeria with caution because Lagos state is perceived as a leading state in Nigeria
with the highest population and technology advancement. Therefore, we recommend that further
studies into dialogic strategy should consider examining the websites of more state governments in
Nigeria using a quantitative approach and chi-square non parametric test for comparison.

22
 References
Abubakar, I. (2018). Review: These 5 Nigerian Banks Leverage technology the Most in 2018.
https://technext.ng/2018/12/24/meet-5-technologically-improved-nigerian-banks-2018/.
Accessed 30/01/2022.
Adegoke, L. (2009). Introduction to public relations: Principles, media and methods. Nigeria:
Sharp-prints Publishing press.

Asehinde, T. (2020). 6 ways Nigerian businesses use social media to grow their business. Digital
Marketing Skill Institute | Globally Recognised Digital Marketing Courses and Trainings. https://
digitalmarketingskill.com/ways-nigerian-businesses-use-social-media/. Accessed 12/2/2022.

Akwari, C. (2017). Dialogic Communication and Public Relations Websites: A content Analyses
of the Global 250  PR Agencies. Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3209. https://
dc.etsu.edu/etd/3209.

Ayiku, C. N., & Tandoh, I. (2020). The Use of Corporate Websites as Dialogic Public Relations
Tools by Ghana's Public and Private Institutions. Covenant  Journal  of  Communication, 7(
2), 2354-3515.  http://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cjoc.

Bentley, M. (2015). Applying dialogic public relations theory to public relations education.
Teaching Journalism and Mass Communication, vol2, No.1, 1-11.
Capriotti, P., Zeler, I., & Oliveira, A. (2019). Dialogic communication 2.0. Analysis of interactions
in Latin American organizations. https://doi.org/10.4185/rlcs-2019-1373en.

Dixon, B. (2012). Towards E-Government 2.0: An assessment of where E-government 2.0 is

and where it is headed. Public Administration & Management. Vol 15, No.2, 418-454.

Gregory, A. (2019). Public relations and management. In A. Theaker (Eds). The public
relations hand book. (p. 48-66). Britain: MPG Books, ltd.

Kent, M. (2013). Using social media dialogically: public relations role in reviving democracy.
Public Relations Review, 39 (2013), 337-345.
Kent, M. & Talor, M. (1998). Building dialogic relationship through the World Wide Web.
Public Relations Review, 24 (3), 321-334.
23
Kent, M. & Talor, M. (2002). Toward a dialogic theory of public relations. Public Relations
`` Review, 28 (2002), 21-37.
Lane, A.B., & Bartlett, J. (2016). Why Dialogic Principles Don’t make it in Practice and What
We can Do About It. International Journal of Communication (10) 1, 1-21.
Luo, Y & Jiang, H. (2012). A dialogue with social media experts: measurement and challenges
of social media use in Chinese public relations. Global Media journal, Canadian Edition
(5), 57-74.
McAllister-Spooner, S. (2009). Fulfilling the dialogic promise: A ten-year reflective survey on
dialogic internet principles. Public Relations Review 35 (2009), 320-322.

McCombes, S. (2020). How  to  do a case study |  Examples and methods. Scribbr. https://

www.scribbr.com/methodology/case-study/. Accessed 06/2/2022.
Newsom, D., Turk, J. & Kruckeberg, D. (2016). The realities of public relations. USA: Wadswort
h.

Omi,A., Okunoye, A., Mbarika, V. (2016). Evaluation of E-Government Implementation: The Case
Study of State Government Websites in Nigeria. The Electronic Journal of E-Government,
Vol.14, Issue 1, 48-59. Avalaible online at: www.ejeg.com.
 Place, K. R. (2019). Exploring Digital, Social and Mobile Dialogic Engagement with Low Income 
Publics. Public  Relations  Journal, 12(4), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848882805_003.
Robson, O & James, M. (2016), Not everyone’s aboard the online public relations train: The use
(and non-use) of social media public relations practitioners. Prism 9 (1): Prismjournal.org?
homepage.html.
Sunday, O., Obia, V., & Simon, G. I. (2018). Dialogic Communication for Relationship Building
through Government Websites. Communication Review, 10(3), 91-112.
Ugwu, O.S. (2019). Social media and effective public relations practice in Nigeria. Implications,
Challenges and Strategies. International Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Research, Vol.7, No.4, pp.1-13.
Uzuegbunam, C.E, Duru, C., Ekwenchi, O.C. (2015). “Playing catch-up`: Opportunities and
Challenges of Public Relations Practise in Nigeria”. IMC Review – Journal of Integrated
Marketing Communications, 13(7), 58-75.
Vural, Z. B., Değirmen, G. C & Ünüvar, S. (2022). Social media as a Dialogical communication
tool: Izmir metropolitan municipality example. Online Journal of Communication and
Media Technologies, 12(2), e202210. https://doi.org/10.30935/ojcmt/11557.

24