Harmonizing global relations: A speech act theory analysis of PRForum

Abstract This article examines the electronic contributions of academic and practitioner public relations professionals on the listserv, PRForum. One hundred messages on PRForum from March 8, 1994 to October 28, 1994 and another hundred messages fom May 30 to June, 1 1997 were examined for dialectic interacts (two or more messages on one topic). These interactions on topics were further analyzed in terms of the applied model of speech act theory—a means by which people create social reality through language. This article is an opportunity to assess the impact of language creation via technology, especially in regard to the potential for harmonizing relations in global matters. Although initiated by academics in the United States, PRForum attracts an international audience and certainty a diverse dialogue bringing together a variety of cultures to one ‘watering place’ in cyberspace.