Social Media, Organizational Identity and Public Relations

5 Plausibility, authenticity and collective enactment

From a CMS perspective, discursive power and legitimation of meaning are key components of the formative context in which sensemaking happens. These forces influence the plausibility of meaning and restrict or inform the range of possible meanings that individuals and organizations may accept as ‘true.’ In this chapter, I will discuss plausibility as reflected in the rhetorical strategies and practices of organizations in the process of constructing their identities.

The connection between legitimation and plausibility is often constructed communicatively through a process of authentication. What is the authentic or ‘real truth’ in terms of identity construction through social media? As discussed ...