الملخص الإنجليزي
This study aimed at identifying the communication strategies for public relations through websites in the governmental units which are subject to the civil service law and its Executive regulations in the Sultanate of Oman during the period from January Till February, 2012.
This study is a descriptive one, in which the researcher used Content Analysis in order to describe and analyze the contents of all the websites of the governmental units, and the communication patterns and technical tools that had been used; in addition to identify the communication strategies on which these contents focused.
The study results indicated that high number of the governmental units had websites and the increase in number of ministries, compared to the rest of the governmental units. Most of these websites are of complex level, as they inserted a number of hyperlinks in the main website. The study showed that the time frame of updating half of these websites was still unknown. Most of the content of these websites had regulatory and legal information, defining and analytic information, service and interaction information, and general information. They lacked strategic information. Also, concerning the service contents, most websites focused on services to the public compared to services to the employees and workers of the institution. The pattern of news coverage engaged all the websites, compared to other communication patterns. The study demonstrated that one third of the governmental units had pages on social media websites, YouTube, Face book, and Twitter- Flicker. Yet, it focused mainly on the Face Book page. Only a few of these websites inserted chatting and discussion forums. The study concluded that all websites used the communication strategies of the "Roller", yet it focused on one - way communication from the institution to the public, represented in the strategies of the information, persuasion and interpretation. The study had come to some recommendations that the researcher sees they might contribute in developing and updating the websites of the governmental units in the Sultanate of Oman.
