Israeli Radio stations, whether public or commercial, use their Facebook pages mostly for their self-promotion rather than providing information or broadcasting programs to their audiences, a study shows.
The study found that about 89% of posts at the official Facebook pages of commercially-run radio stations were self-promotional; for public stations, the number was 62.5%.
Radio stations were found to be less active in using Facebook in innovative ways to redefine the stations’ features and opportunities, noted the study, which was conducted by Nili Steinfeld and Tal Laor, at The Moskowitz School of Communication, Ariel University in Israel.
The researchers analyzed 1,000 posts on the official Facebook pages of 19 radio stations in Israel.
In addition to noting the self-promotion trend, the researchers found that the popular posts at the commercial radio stations’ Facebook pages were highly dominated by photos than texts, while text dominates the posts of Facebook pages run by public radio stations.
Commercial stations’ Facebook posts were 45.8% photos and 18.3% videos while the figures were 14.2% and 12.3% respectively for public radio stations.
Posts for commercial stations were aimed at gaining listeners, increasing popularity and boosting profits, while the public radio stations were found to be more concerned with their credibility and reputation.
To read more: DOI: 10.1080/19376529.2018.1431890
Nili Steinfeld & Tal Laor (2019) New Arenas or More of the Same? Public and Commercial Radio Stations on Facebook, Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 26:2, 194-209, DOI: 10.1080/19376529.2018.1431890
