Korean and American Companies in Cyberspace: Comparing Public Relations Models Reflected in Web Sites

This study compares public relations models reflected in the Web sites of Korea’s 100 largest companies and 100 randomly selected Fortune 500 companies. The literature suggests that Korean public relations practices and models are more craft oriented, while those of U.S. companies may be more professionally oriented. However, this study of Web site menu items (information, function, activity) found few differences, and many similarities, between public relations models reflected in the Web sites of both groups of companies. Korean Web sites were more interactive and used multimedia approaches far more often than American Web sites, suggesting that new technologies may be spurring development of professional public relations practices in Korea.