Brands and Media Gatekeeping in the Social Media: Current Trends and Practices – An Exploratory Research

The purpose of this paper is to examine current trends and practices regarding brand communication through the social media, as brand activation in the online social environment rises and proliferates rapidly. Believing that further interdisciplinary contributions are needed to bridge the gap between brand management on the one hand and ICT potential on the other, the authors designed and implemented an exploratory research. They interviewed middle and senior-management executives, working either in companies who promote brands in the social media or in agencies who undertake social media projects and tasks. The authors' results indicate that gatekeeping remains an integral and very important aspect of social media brand management. Most brands consider what to release rather than what not to. They withhold information based on a narrow campaign-oriented mindset which reflects traditional marketing and public relations' practices and has not embraced the requirements for transparency and openness that prevail in the digital and social media environment.