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Public Relations Review 36 (2010) 336–341 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Public Relations Review Dialogic communication in 140 characters or less: How Fortune 500 companies engage stakeholders using Twitter Svetlana Rybalko a,, Trent Seltzer b a College of Mass Communications, Texas Tech University, United States b Department of Public Relations, College of Mass Communications, Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX 79409, United States article info Article history: Received 8 April 2010 Received in revised form 18 August 2010 Accepted 23 August 2010 Keywords: Twitter Dialogic communication Social media Public relations abstract The current study extends the investigation of online relationship building by examining how Fortune 500 companies use the popular social network site Twitter to facilitate dialogic communication with stakeholders. A content analysis of a random sample of the Twitter profiles maintained by Fortune 500 companies (n = 93) and individual tweets posted on those profiles (n = 930) examined the use of dialogic features within the Twitter profiles as well as the individual tweets. Results indicated that organizations that have a dialogic orientation to Twitter use (61%) employed the principle of conservation of visitors to a greater degree and generation of return visits to a lesser degree than organizations with a non-dialogic orientation to Twitter (39%). © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Previous studies have investigated the dialogic potential of online communication for maintaining relationships with publics (Bortree & Seltzer, 2009; Kent, Taylor, & White, 2003; Park & Reber, 2008; Seltzer & Mitrook, 2007; Taylor, Kent, & White, 2001). The current study extended the investigation of online relationship building by examining the Twitter profiles of Fortune 500 companies to understand how these companies use the popular social networking site to facilitate dialogic communication with their stakeholders. The findings contribute to the understanding of the dialogic potential of online social networks and provide guidance to organizations seeking to utilize social networking sites such as Twitter to their full potential, thus maximizing the possibility of fostering dialogue with the public. 2. Literature review Kent and Taylor (1998) referred to dialogic communication as “any negotiated exchange of ideas and opinions” (p. 325). In outlining a dialogic theory of public relations, they described dialogue as a “communicative ‘orientation”’ (Kent & Taylor, 2002, p. 25). This perspective is compatible with current thinking about the role of communication in relationship building wherein communication is managed by public relations practitioners to cultivate healthy relationships between organizations and stakeholders (e.g., Ledingham, 2003). Outlining a dialogic public relations theory, Kent and Taylor (2002) posited that public relations could facilitate dialogue by establishing channels and procedures for dialogic communication to take place. They identified online communication in particular as an ideal avenue for fostering dialogue. Kent and Taylor (1998) suggested that organizations have an opportunity Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Rybalko). 0363-8111/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.08.004

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Page 1: Dialogic communication in 140 characters or less: How Fortune 500 companies engage stakeholders using Twitter

Public Relations Review 36 (2010) 336–341

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Public Relations Review

Dialogic communication in 140 characters or less: How Fortune 500companies engage stakeholders using Twitter

Svetlana Rybalkoa,∗, Trent Seltzerb

a College of Mass Communications, Texas Tech University, United Statesb Department of Public Relations, College of Mass Communications, Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX 79409, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 8 April 2010Received in revised form 18 August 2010Accepted 23 August 2010

Keywords:TwitterDialogic communicationSocial mediaPublic relations

a b s t r a c t

The current study extends the investigation of online relationship building by examininghow Fortune 500 companies use the popular social network site Twitter to facilitate dialogiccommunication with stakeholders. A content analysis of a random sample of the Twitterprofiles maintained by Fortune 500 companies (n = 93) and individual tweets posted onthose profiles (n = 930) examined the use of dialogic features within the Twitter profilesas well as the individual tweets. Results indicated that organizations that have a dialogicorientation to Twitter use (61%) employed the principle of conservation of visitors to agreater degree and generation of return visits to a lesser degree than organizations with anon-dialogic orientation to Twitter (39%).

© 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Previous studies have investigated the dialogic potential of online communication for maintaining relationships withpublics (Bortree & Seltzer, 2009; Kent, Taylor, & White, 2003; Park & Reber, 2008; Seltzer & Mitrook, 2007; Taylor, Kent, &White, 2001). The current study extended the investigation of online relationship building by examining the Twitter profilesof Fortune 500 companies to understand how these companies use the popular social networking site to facilitate dialogiccommunication with their stakeholders. The findings contribute to the understanding of the dialogic potential of onlinesocial networks and provide guidance to organizations seeking to utilize social networking sites such as Twitter to their fullpotential, thus maximizing the possibility of fostering dialogue with the public.

2. Literature review

Kent and Taylor (1998) referred to dialogic communication as “any negotiated exchange of ideas and opinions” (p.325). In outlining a dialogic theory of public relations, they described dialogue as a “communicative ‘orientation”’ (Kent& Taylor, 2002, p. 25). This perspective is compatible with current thinking about the role of communication in relationshipbuilding wherein communication is managed by public relations practitioners to cultivate healthy relationships betweenorganizations and stakeholders (e.g., Ledingham, 2003).

Outlining a dialogic public relations theory, Kent and Taylor (2002) posited that public relations could facilitate dialogueby establishing channels and procedures for dialogic communication to take place. They identified online communication inparticular as an ideal avenue for fostering dialogue. Kent and Taylor (1998) suggested that organizations have an opportunity

∗ Corresponding author.E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Rybalko).

0363-8111/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.08.004

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to build dialogic relationships with stakeholders through the use of strategically designed websites. They identified fiveprinciples of dialogic communication that organizations could follow to promote open communication with publics. Theseprinciples included: (a) ease of interface – users should be able to easily navigate the site, (b) conservation of visitors – usersshould be encouraged to stay on the site, (c) generation of return visits – users should have an incentive for returning to thesite for multiple visits over time, (d) providing useful information to a variety of publics – users should find information that isspecifically tailored to their needs, and (e) maintaining a dialogic loop – providing users opportunities to ask questionsand provide feedback. Taylor et al. (2001) divided these principles into two clusters: (a) a technical and design cluster,which included usefulness of information, ease of use, and conservation of visitors and (b) a dialogic cluster, which includedgeneration of return visits and dialogic loops.

Previous studies have examined how organizations use online communication to facilitate dialogic communication withpublics. This stream of research has examined dialogic communication via traditional websites (Kent et al., 2003; Tayloret al., 2001; Park & Reber, 2008), weblogs (Seltzer & Mitrook, 2007; Sweetser & Lariscy, 2008; Traynor et al., 2008), andsocial networking sites (Bortree & Seltzer, 2009). The consensus is that organizations are using technical and design clusterprinciples, but are still not fully utilizing the dialogic cluster.

The growth in the popularity of the social network site Twitter and its adoption by companies to communicate with theirstakeholders presents an opportunity for further investigation of the use of online tools to foster dialogic communication.Twitter provides users with a means for “microblogging” through frequent posting of short status updates or “tweets”.Each tweet is limited to 140 characters or less. Users may select other users to “follow”; tweets posted by these individualsappear in reverse chronological order on the user’s profile. Users may also repost (“retweet”) updates from other users. Socialnetworking sites such as Twitter would seem to be capable of providing an organization with a wide range of opportunitiesto engage their publics in dialogic communication.

Based on the previous literature review, the following research questions and hypotheses are offered:

RQ1: Which dialogic features are present in the Twitter profiles and individual tweets of Fortune 500 companies?RQ2: What publics are targeted by Fortune 500 companies’ Twitter profiles and Twitter posts?

H1. Companies that have a dialogic orientation to Twitter will employ the principle of usefulness of information in theirTwitter profiles to a greater degree than companies with a non-dialogic orientation to Twitter.

H2. Companies that have a dialogic orientation to Twitter will employ the principle of conservation of visitors in their Twitterprofiles to a greater degree than companies with a non-dialogic orientation to Twitter.

H3. Companies that have a dialogic orientation to Twitter will employ the principle of generation of return visits in theirTwitter profiles to a greater degree than companies with a non-dialogic orientation to Twitter.

3. Methodology

A content analysis of the Twitter profiles maintained by Fortune 500 companies was conducted. The company’s profilehad to have at least 20 posts and the latest post had to have been made within a month of when the sample was drawn tobe included in the population of Twitter profiles; if the latest post was more than a month old, the profile was consideredinactive. 170 Fortune 500 companies were identified as having an active Twitter account; from these, a random sample of 93companies was drawn. The profiles were all accessed from the same computer at approximately the same time. All profilesand 10 posts (i.e., every other post appearing on the profile’s first page) were coded. Thus, two units of analysis were used(a) the companies’ Twitter profiles (n = 93), and (b) the tweets on each profile (n = 930).

3.1. Operational definitions of dialogic principles

A coding scheme was developed based on Kent and Taylor’s (1998) dialogic principles slightly modified for applicabilityto Twitter. Ease of interface was omitted from the analysis because features of Twitter’s interface are essentially the sameacross profiles. The remaining dialogic principles were operationalized as follows.

3.1.1. Usefulness of informationPrevious studies demonstrated that companies’ websites target three main publics: media, investors, and customers

(Esrock & Leichty, 2000). Our study considered the following elements as useful to the media: links to news releases, mediaroom, speeches, policies, video and audio, and industry news. Features that were deemed useful to investors included linksto annual reports and links to an investor relations page on the companies’ website. Features that were deemed useful tothe general public included the presence of links to a careers webpage, homepage, and to “other” pages on the company’swebsite; providing web addresses to organizational social networking sites or a company’s blog; providing company phonenumbers; and linking to an online media room.

In addition to those items, the presence of other useful information on the profile, such as description of the company,information regarding who is managing the profile, and providing a photo of the user were included as indicators of usefulnessof information. The rationale for including those elements was that users visiting the company’s profile might find it useful to

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have some information indicating what company the profile belongs to, whether the company has accounts on other socialnetworking sites, and identifying who actually tweets on behalf of the company.

3.1.2. Conservation of return visitsTaylor et al. (2001) pointed out that organizations should attempt to encourage visitors to stay on their website rather

than explore other organizations’ websites. We argue that other social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTubeas well as a company’s blog could be perceived as part of a company’s extended social networking presence. Thus linksto Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, the company’s social networking sites, and the company’s blog should be considered part ofconservation of visitors. Linking to a page featuring a description of a company’s products or services as well as linking towebpages other than media room were also considered an element of conservation of visitors.

Other studies included ‘date of latest update of the website.’ For the current study, a company is considered as attemptingto ‘keep visitors’ on its social network site by posting regularly. The last tweet appearing on the first page of the profile (i.e.,the 20th most recent tweet) was also examined to see when it was posted. The profile was coded 1 for “recent update” ifthe tweet was within the last 24 h and 0 if not.

3.1.3. Generation of return visitsAs Taylor et al. (2001) argued, it takes time and repeated encounters to develop a relationship. The following elements

were identified as encouraging visitors to return: links to pages on a company’s site where visitors could request additionalinformation; links to a page on the company’s website describing company events; links to newsworthy information aboutthe company; links to news items about the company in the trade or mainstream media; and links to discussion forums andFAQs on a company’s website.

3.1.4. Dialogic loopThe current study operationalizes the dialogic loop principle as whether the company engages in discussion with stake-

holders by posing a question on Twitter to stimulate dialogue or by engaging in a dialogic opportunity by responding directlyto a question or comment posted by another user.

In addition to coding for the presence of a dialogic loop, previous research has also considered it important to assess actualorganizational responsiveness. Taylor et al. (2001) gauged this by sending an information request to each organizationto evaluate its responsiveness. If a reply was received within two weeks, the organization was coded as responsive. Forthe current study, the researchers were able to evaluate responsiveness based on the content available in the posts. Aresponsiveness variable was developed based on the items constituting the dialogic loop principle – responding to a questionand posing a question. Those two variables were dichotomously coded as 0 (absent) and 1 (present). Because ten tweetswere coded for each company, each company’s responsiveness score could range from 0 (i.e., none of the tweets posed norresponded to a question) to 20 (i.e., every tweet both posed and responded to a question). Companies that had score of “0”on the responsiveness variable were coded as 1 for ‘non-dialogic’ while companies that had a score of 1–20 were coded as2 for ‘dialogic.’

3.2. Coding procedures

A code sheet was developed for use in analyzing both the profiles and the individual tweets. Two coders were involved inthe design and testing of the coding structure, both with previous content analysis experience. Dialogic features were codedas either present (1) or absent (0).

To address RQ2, each tweet was coded for its target public. If an audience was not explicitly identified, it was coded asbeing targeted at a ‘general audience.’ Posts were also coded as being targeted at customers, current employees, a specificuser (i.e., post content was prefaced with the “@[user name]” indicator), or some ‘other’ audience. A 10% subsample of allavailable content was coded by both coders to check reliability of the initial coding scheme. Coders analyzed 17 profilesand 170 tweets. Based on the results, the coding instructions for the individual tweets were refined and a second intercoderreliability check of 100 tweets was conducted. Intercoder reliability was assessed using Scott’s pi (1955) formula; reliabilitycoefficients ranged from .92 to .96.

4. Results

4.1. Results related to the research questions

RQ1 asked which dialogic features were present on the Twitter profiles and individual tweets of Fortune 500 companies.Per Taylor et al. (2001) and Kent et al. (2003), indices were calculated for each of the dialogic principles. Features indicatinga dialogic loop were the most frequently occurring feature (M = 39.07, SD = 32.08), followed by generation of return visits(M = 19.35, SD = 17.38), conservation of visitors (M = 18.9, SD = 12.5), and usefulness of information (M = 14.66, SD = 7.13).

The three most frequently occurring features appearing on profiles were links to the company’s website (95.7%), a briefbiography of the company (81.7%), and an indication of who is tweeting on behalf of the company (26.9%). The least usedfeatures on the Twitter profiles were links to LinkedIn profiles (2.2%), links to Flickr profiles (4.3%), and links to the company’s

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careers webpage (6.5%). The three most common dialogic features found in the tweet posts were an organizational responseto a specific user’s post (60.2%), posting of newsworthy information about the company (58.1%), and attempting to stimulatedialogue by posing a question (30.1%). The least used features in the tweets were posting links to industry news items (1.1%),links to the company’s investor relations webpage (1.1%), links to a corporate Flickr profile (1.1%), and links to corporateLinkedIn profiles (1.1%).

RQ2 asked which publics were targeted by Fortune 500 companies’ posts. The results indicated that the majority of thetweets were targeted at a general audience (74.5%), followed by posts directed at a specific user (23.7%), customers (0.9%),‘other’ audiences (0.5%), and current employees (0.4%).

4.2. Results related to hypotheses

To test H1–H3, the first step was to classify each profile as either dialogic or non-dialogic based on the responsivenessvariable. Altogether, 61% of organizations were classified as ‘dialogic’ while 39% were classified as ‘non-dialogic.’

Next, multiple independent t-tests were conducted to test the hypotheses regarding differences between dialogic andnon-dialogic profiles in their use of the dialogic principles. Because three bivariate comparisons were conducted, the alphalevel was adjusted using Bonferroni’s correction. The new alpha level was calculated by dividing 0.05 by 3, which resultedin a significance level of .0167.

According to the results, non-dialogic organizations (M = 14.65) and dialogic organizations (M = 14.67) did not differ interms of providing useful information (t (91) = −.017, p > .0167), thus H1 was not supported. The most important differenceswere in the use of conservation of visitors (H2) and generation of return visits (H3). Dialogic companies utilized the principle ofconservation of visitors to a significantly greater degree (M = 21.58) than non-dialogic companies (M = 14.72) (t (91) = −2.689,p < .0167). Therefore, H2 was supported. As for the generation of return visits, counter to expectations, companies with anon-dialogic orientation to Twitter used the generation of return visits principle to a greater degree (M = 25) than companieswith a dialogic orientation (M = 15.75) (t (91) = 2.575, p < .0167). Therefore, H3 was not supported.

5. Discussion

Previous studies have demonstrated that neither traditional online tools such as corporate websites nor social networkingtools such as Facebook have been employed to their full dialogic potential (Bortree & Seltzer 2009; Park & Reber, 2008).Websites and social networking sites provide useful information to the public and are easy to use, but they do not fullyrealize the dialogic potential of online tools. Twitter seems to provide useful information to a variety of publics, but it is notthe primary dialogic principle used by Fortune 500 companies; furthermore, there seems to be no difference in the degreeof use of this principle between companies using Twitter in a “dialogic” versus “non-dialogic” fashion.

As for other dialogic principles employed, companies using Twitter to facilitate dialogue used the conservation of visitorsprinciple to a greater degree than companies using Twitter in a non-dialogic fashion; this finding supports previous researchregarding conservation of visitors on traditional websites (Taylor et al., 2001). Dialogic companies made a greater effort tokeep users either engaged on the company’s Twitter profile or within some other social networking site maintained by thecompany; in essence, companies with a dialogic orientation try to keep visitors engaged within dialogic spaces, apparentlyin order to have opportunities to continue the dialogue. In addition, 67.7% of the profiles posted new tweets within 24 h ofwhen the profile was accessed. Such frequent posting should keep visitors interested in following the company’s Twitterfeed and reflects the company’s commitment to ongoing communication. The findings indicate that conservation of visitorsis one of the key dialogic principles used by Fortune 500 companies with a dialogic orientation to Twitter, which reflects acompany’s commitment to providing visitors with an ideal place where dialogic communication could potentially developand mature.

The findings also demonstrate that the usefulness of information principle is the least frequently used dialogic principle.The majority of the companies provided a description of the organization on the Twitter profile and links to companywebsite, which constitutes providing basic identifying and branding information via the profile. However, it could be arguedthat in a social networking environment, providing information about who is tweeting on behalf of the company is moreimportant. It demonstrates the company’s commitment to engaging in dialogic communication by using social networkingto facilitate interpersonal communication between an individual representative and stakeholders; in other words, it isno longer some faceless public relations department or corporate entity communicating with the publics but an actualperson. However, the findings indicate that only 26.9% of the companies clearly identify who is tweeting on behalf of thecompany.

Interestingly, companies with a dialogic orientation to Twitter tended to use the generation of return visits principle lessthan non-dialogic companies. One of the possible explanations of this phenomenon could be that sending visitors to newsitems, to websites detailing company events, or presenting newsworthy items related to the company in the professionaland mainstream media is reflective of how traditional one-way communication operates rather than the two-way com-munication that is intended to be facilitated through social networking. Using Twitter in this manner smacks of subvertinga social networking tool for the simple goal of publicizing what is going on in the company rather than fostering dialogiccommunication with stakeholders.

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In regards to the dialogic loop principle, the findings indicated that 60.2% of the Fortune 500 companies responded to otherusers’ comments, 30.1% attempted to stimulate discussion with other users by asking unprompted questions, and 26.9% ofthe companies asked follow-up questions. Although these were some of the most frequently occurring dialogic features,one would expect that more companies would be using Twitter to facilitate these exchanges; it is evident that companiesare trying to employ the dialogic features provided by Twitter albeit far from its full potential. However, compared with thefindings of Park and Reber’s (2008) study, corporations seem to use their Twitter feeds more effectively than their websitesin facilitating a dialogic loop.

The current study demonstrated that Fortune 500 companies’ Twitter feeds tend to target different publics comparedwith those targeted by websites. Park and Reber’s (2008) study revealed that Fortune 500 companies’ websites primarilyprovide useful information for media, followed by investors, and then customers. In addition to those publics, websites alsotarget potential employees and internal publics. In comparison, Twitter is used to post messages that are primarily directedat either an unspecified ‘general’ audience or specific Twitter users. These findings might imply that companies use differentonline tools to reach different publics with different needs.

5.1. Theoretical and practical implications

The current study extends the investigation of the dialogic potential of online communication by considering a newonline communication tool – one that is finding increased popularity not only among the general public, but also one thatbusinesses are increasingly becoming reliant on to communicate with stakeholders. Overall, the findings support the generaltrend within the online communication and dialogue literature in that, just as with traditional websites, weblogs, and socialnetworking sites like Facebook, Twitter is also being under utilized by organizations to facilitate dialogic communicationwith stakeholders. This is unfortunate since Twitter seems to be designed for the sole purpose of stimulating dialoguebetween users.

Additionally, it is interesting that within the Twitter environment at least one of the traditional dialogic principles wasactually negatively associated with an organization’s dialogic orientation to social media use. The generation of return visitsprinciple, which has been posited as a principle contributing to dialogic communication when applied within other onlinecommunication formats (e.g., websites), seems to have the reverse effect when used in Twitter. The principle that was mostclosely associated with a company possessing a dialogic orientation to Twitter was the conservation of visitors principle,wherein the features underlying that principle served mostly to encourage ongoing opportunities for dialogic engagementin a multitude of organizational dialogic spaces. Taken together, this suggests that the dialogic principles as originallyconceived by Kent and Taylor (1998) and used prominently throughout studies investigating the dialogic capacity of onlinecommunication tools may not be adequate for evaluating the features that are indicative of a dialogic orientation in Twitter,other social networking sites, or future online communication tools which are sure to be promoted as the next “killer app”to be adopted by practitioners.

These theoretical implications also suggest some practical implications for public relations practitioners and organi-zations that are using Twitter and other social media tools. As has been suggested in previous literature on this topic,the findings in this study once again reinforce the importance of putting the responsibility for the implementation ofthese tools squarely in the hands of public relations practitioners who are properly trained in how to use these tools ina dialogic fashion and who have an appreciation for the two-way symmetrical model of public relations practice. Thepersonnel responsible for maintaining a Twitter account for an organization need to clearly understand their role asboundary spanners and how they need to adopt a dialogic orientation to Twitter use through seeking opportunities toengage in and stimulate dialogue with stakeholders. This necessitates someone monitoring the Twittersphere for men-tions of the organization, its products, its services, and its employees (i.e., environmental scanning), and then taking stepsto engage in dialogue when appropriate. Twitter should not be treated as just another means through which to dissemi-nate the same advertisements and publicity pieces that stakeholders are already receiving through other traditional mediachannels.

5.2. Limitations and future research

While there are several limitations to the current study, these limitations do suggest avenues for future research. Themost obvious limitation is that we did not code all of the Fortune 500 Twitter profiles that were available, nor did we codeall the available tweet posts on those profiles. Future investigations into Twitter should content analyze a broader sampleof profiles and posts maintained by Fortune 500 companies as well as including non-Fortune 500 companies in the sample.

Furthermore, we only analyzed the features present on the profiles and individual tweets; while this provides descrip-tive information about the features present on Twitter, it does not indicate whether exposure to these features hasany effect on the users who visit these profiles. This is actually a limitation common to the studies that have beenpursuing this line of research; eventually, the study of dialogue and online communication will need to move fromanalyzing the dialogic features of online communication and start determining what effect engaging in dialogue has onstakeholders.

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6. Conclusion

Kent and Taylor (1998) stated that “technology itself can neither create nor destroy relationships; rather, it is how thetechnology is used that influences organization-public relationships” (p. 324). The results of the present study, as havethe results of previous studies on dialogue and online communication, support this sentiment. A hammer, a saw, and ascrewdriver are all tools for building a house; it is up to the experienced carpenter to determine which tool to apply in agiven situation and to wield it with skill and precision to build a sturdy, long-lasting structure. Similarly, at the end of theday, websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are all simply tools capable of performing a particular job, some better suited tothat job than others. However, it up to the experienced public relations practitioner to determine which tool is best capableof building sturdy, long-lasting relationships with stakeholders and to use this tool with skill and precision. When it comesto social media tools and dialogue, public relations practitioners have correctly selected a hammer for driving home a nail,but they are still basically holding the hammer by its head and not its handle. These tools merely create spaces where theopportunity for dialogic communication exists; it is up to the practitioner to use these tools in such a way so that theyactually allow their organization to engage in dialogic communication.

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