Public Relations Journal Vol. 4, No. 3, Summer 2010 © 2010 Public Relations Society of America Can you see the writing on my wall? C eqpvgpv cpcn{uku qh vjg Hqtvwpg 72Óu Hcegdqqm uqekcn pgvyqtmkpi ukvgu Tina McCorkindale, Ph.D. Currently, there are more than 45 million active user groups on Facebook and more than 10 million users become fans of Pages each day (compared to 4 million users in March 2009). While public relations research has investigated how organizations are using blogs and websites, few have analyzed social networking sites such as Facebook. A content analysis of 55 Facebook member and fan pages was conducted to determine how the 2008 Fortune 50 companies used Facebook. The sites ygtg cpcn{¦gf vq fgvgtokpg jqy ocp{ ÐhcpuÑ cp qticpk¦cvkqp jcd, what organizational information was included, use of photos and videos, use of discussion boards, level of engagement, whether the site generated feedback, and whether there was a discussion of community relationships or social responsibility. Overall, most companies in the Fortune 50 were taking advantage of the opportunities of Facebook, but were not utilizing this medium to its fullest extent. While some corporations posted news releases and mission statements, most organizations were not using the site to disseminate news and information about the organization, both internally and externally. Finally, there needs to be more in terms of engagement and relationship-building strategies, as well as incentives to encourage users to revisit the sites. INTRODUCTION The study of social media is one of the most popular research topics in public relations today. Weber Shandwick and KRC research (2007) surveyed Fortune 2000 companies and found 69% currently used social networking sites, while 37% planned to use more of them over the next five years. Similarly, social media Web sites, such as Facebook, are not only becoming commonplace in large corporations and nonprofits, but are also frequently utilized by journalists, thereby demonstrating its importance in public relations (Melcrum, 2007; Nursing Standard, 2007; Poynter Institute, 2008). One such social networking site that has exploded in terms of growth is Facebook. According to the Facebook Web site in September 2009, there were more than 300 million active users (those who logged on in the last 30 days), a 70% increase from only six months earlier. Currently, there are more than 45 million active user groups on the site and more than 10 million users become fans of pages each day ______________________ Tina McCorkindale, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Appalachian State University, mccorkindaletm@appstate.edu .