Using propinquital loops to blend social media and offline spaces: a case study of the ALS Ice-Bucket Challenge

Abstract

The social media phenomenon of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) Ice-Bucket Challenge attracted more than 3 million donors to upload 1.2 million Facebook videos and give more than US$115 million. In fundraising terms, it was a social media anomaly. This article applies Kent and Taylor’s dialogic theoretical component of propinquity (immediacy of presence, temporal flow and engagement) to explore how the ALS Ice-Bucket Challenge leveraged a propinquital loop (and subsequent chain), to enable participants to move between social media and offline spaces, while creating relational elasticity between participant and cause. Propinquity and its function within a social media context is an area of research that has not yet been greatly considered in the literature, yet may have the potential of informing public relations professionals from the non-profit sector and more widely about social media practice.

University student social media use and its influence on offline engagement in higher educational communities

“…However, for some students, the organised offline events in the Berger and Wild study may have also been the conduit for friendships to be formed between peers after meeting elsewhere in the university and conducted online until their next face-to-face interaction. Berger and Wild's (2016) initiative supports the propinqutial loop theorised by Sutherland (2016). A propinquital loop occurs when social media interactions between organisations and stakeholders are encouraged (and supported) in moving between social media and offline spaces on a regular basis.…”

“…Students in the final years of their degrees may have had time to acquire the skills (and to experience the possible benefits) of using social media as a bridge between online and offline interactions in their university community; this is defined as a propinquital approach by Sutherland (2016). The minimal use by first year students of social media as a tool to connect and engage both online and offline with their university community may be due to a skill deficiency or a lack of understanding from first year students about how to use social media technology in this way.…”

“…A possible approach to digital engagement and community building was proposed by Sutherland (2016) who suggested that, instead of keeping social media and offline engagement as separate activities, taking a propinquital approach to social media may be more beneficial. Propinquity, a component of Kent and Taylor's (2002) dialogic theory, refers to an organisation's extension of dialogue to issues that affect its stakeholders and vice versa.…”

“…Within the context of our study, propinquity relates to the interaction and dialogue that occurs between universities and their student stakeholders via social media and offline. Adopting a propinquital approach to social media would involve blending social media and offline environments to simultaneously address interactions in both spaces (Sutherland, 2016). Sutherland (2016) proposed that social media has the technological capabilities to facilitate the realisation of all three propinquital components, because it can: i) facilitate dialogic interactions between parties in real-time, ii) be used to build new and strengthen existing relationships, and iii) provide a mechanism to execute engagement between both parties.…”

“…Adopting a propinquital approach to social media would involve blending social media and offline environments to simultaneously address interactions in both spaces (Sutherland, 2016). Sutherland (2016) proposed that social media has the technological capabilities to facilitate the realisation of all three propinquital components, because it can: i) facilitate dialogic interactions between parties in real-time, ii) be used to build new and strengthen existing relationships, and iii) provide a mechanism to execute engagement between both parties. Therefore, adopting a propinquital approach to social media by blending social media and offline environments has been suggested to increase engagement and strengthen organisational stakeholder relationships, but this approach has not yet been tested within a student engagement context.…”