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Historically speaking, the use of mass communication channels in public relations practice has mirrored the diffusion of new technologies. Early 20th century public relations efforts largely relied on newspapers and magazines as channels to promote clients and causes. Radio and television became staple tools for public relations upon their introduction and mass diffusion through society. By and large, these technologies were one-way communication tools for public relations to transmit information to publics, and most often content must have first passed the scrutiny of media gatekeepers. However, with the introduction and widespread penetration of the Internet, public relations practitioners could communicate directly with publics on an unprecedented scale without the approval of media gatekeepers or conformity to their rules. Through so-called Web 1.0 platforms, like websites and early blogs, practitioners could create their own content and directly reach their publics-and they had no idea what to do. Early research on the adoption of Internet-enabled technologies by practitioners suggests they were indeed confused about what to make of this fledgling communication tool. Some embraced the new platform; others viewed it as a distraction. By the turn of the century, it was still considered noteworthy for public relations practitioners to utilize websites for public relations purposes, and many regarded the technology with skepticism as to its strategic value (Hill & White, 2000). It was within this murky and uncertain technological environment that Kent and Taylor (1998) proposed the five principles of dialogic communication in their article, "Building Dialogic Relationships Through the World Wide Web." The article was the first comprehensive theoretical framework to guide the field of public relations in its use of digital communication. Their work was among the earliest public relations studies to recognize the relationship-building potential of digital communication technology (at that time, mostly websites) and to provide strategies for communication professionals seeking to build relationships with publics. In the 2 decades since the article's publication, the dialogic principles have become a touchstone for the public relations literature, and Kent and Taylor's (1998) article outlining the principles is among the most cited and influential articles in public relations history. The principles have been applied in fields such as public relations, advertising, marketing, management, organizational communication, and information studies. Hundreds of studies have used the dialogic principles to analyze various types of organizational websites (

The public relations literature on social media has focused primarily on how social media platforms can be leveraged to the advantage of organizations for relationship building and so-called dialogue with publics. Yet most research has positioned relationships in social media merely as opportunities for information exchange, perpetuating models of public relations grounded in systems theory that ignore power imbalances. Consequently, this article offers insights from postmodernist theories to first deconstruct existing research and then offer suggestions for future social media scholarship. The article argues that social media scholars have privileged dominant rational models of social engagement. Dissensus and disorder, according to Lyotard, may be as legitimate and more liberatory states of discourse for marginalized publics. Postmodern theories of language games and differential consciousness are also positioned as ways in which social media theory and practice may be advanced. The article thus complicates how relationships are theorized in contemporary scholarship and challenges both scholars and practitioners to rethink approaches to social media practice through a postmodern lens.