Google Glass and public relations: The use of optical head-mounted displays in building dialogue

The field of public relations is almost always on the forefront of new communication technologies, such as Web 2.0, social networking, and now “wearables.” One prominent example of an emerging wearable technology is Google Glass, an optical head-mounted display (OHMD) that was released in a large-scale beta version by Google Inc. from April of 2012 until January of 2015, with a future commercial version on the way. Using a qualitative content analysis to explore how the current and potential use of Google Glass complies with the tenets of the dialogic theory, this study found that OHMDs have the potential to assist the creation of dialogue between organizations and its publics. This was especially true of the dialogic tenets of mutuality, propinquity, and risk, which were clearly supported by Google Glass. The tenets of empathy and commitment, however, were not. These findings suggest that there is potential for public relations practitioners to use Google Glass and similar wearable technologies to create dialogue, despite the need for some adjustments to the technology or the use of the technology.