Companies around the globe are embracing and adapting social media for many different
intentions: customer service, marketing, internal communications, public relations or
corporate social responsibility, etc. It is now a reality that social media is channging the way
stakeholders and companies communicate daily, providing opportunities for collaboration,
participation, interactivity, and engagement. Therefore, social media is conceived today in
the corporate world as a strategic communication partner, driving new and unique
possibilities for organizations to engage stakeholders in conversations. We are witnesses of a
new digital era where consumers are becoming active users rather than passive individuals,
changing dramatically how society operates. But these useful technological tools are
employed widely and precisely by corporations in order to facilitate and improve
communications? This research aims to discover the usage of different social media
platforms by Puerto Rican companies. A content analysis was performed to the Facebook
and Twitter official profiles of the top 400 locally owned Puerto Rican companies of 2009.
The principal objective was to find if social media sites were mainly used as a strategic tool
for corporate communication that can enhance stakeholder participation and engagement.
Results showed that Puerto Rican companies are not employing social media platforms for
improving communications with different stakeholders, failing to take advantage of the
enormous possibilities that social media has for communication.
