Queered online pandemic relationships: Mobile expressions of intimacies, care, and emotion work
Article
Drawing from the assumptions on queer and mobile intimacy, emotion work, and care, this paper explores the role of mobile communication platform access and use among Filipino gay couples who have been physically separated because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper looks at in-depth narratives of 24 gay men whose romances have been transferred to and transformed by messaging apps due to the pandemic. The accounts of these gay couples represent the realities of cosmopolitan gay men in negotiating digital romantic presence as they manage connection despite the distance. Mobile technologies have deepened the synchronous and asynchronous rituals of maneuvering romance as couples manage imagined emphatic romances. The participants’ descriptions revealed queered technology-use in bridging and maintaining imagined intimacies while feeling trapped in the dependence on mediated means of enacting such intimacies.
Public Relations Professionals’ Communication Strategies in Responding the COVID-19 Pandemic Based on Gender
Article
Many studies have examined crisis management in various business sectors. However, COVID-19 has presented unique and interesting challenges. Using an online survey (n = 224 participants) and in-depth interviews, profiling public relations professionals’ communication strategies in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic based on gender was investigated. The findings reveal that male and female public relations practitioners have specific understandings of the COVID-19 pandemic, ways in facing the crisis, and differing public relations activities during the pandemic. They regard this pandemic as a challenge to be adoptive, innovative, and creative, enhance technology competencies, and build relationships with publics by providing up to date information. Female public relations practitioners use social media more than males and give more attention to communication programs dealing with customers, while male counterparts focus on capturing the market by strengthening the organization’s image and reputation through publicity in conventional media.
