The Functional Model of Social Media in Attracting Users for the IRIB

Currently, the presence of emerging forms of media and its characteristics (flexibility, diverse content, engagement, interaction, more movements and maneuvers, and broader discourse of users that characterize the use of new media platforms) are considered the main concerns of media practitioners. Since the media, in all its forms, seek to attract the attention of the audience, attracting and retaining the audience for a media such as the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) is also vital. Therefore, identifying the factors that attract the audience is necessary. One of the effective methods for attracting the audience is to use the capacities and opportunities available in social media. In this study, the role that social media can play in attracting the audience for the national media is examined and presented in the form of a model. The research method is qualitative, and it is based on grounded theory. Data were extracted through theoretical sampling through in-depth interviews with 16 experts, including university faculty members, managers and experts of the IRIB, program makers, and celebrities. Based on the findings, social media can play an effective role in attracting audiences for the IRIB and this media can achieve results such as commitment, trust, loyalty, maximum audience attraction, satisfaction, creativity and innovation, and internal motivation of the audience, by adopting some strategies. These strategies include reconsideration of the processes and policies in dealing with social media, improving the media literacy of audiences in using social media content, content marketing strategy in social media, and using social media as a tool for shaping the public sphere in order to create discourse and reflect public issues affecting society that are raised in all media.