Fostering Interactivity through Responsiveness: The Case of Turkish Environmentalist Non-Profit Organizations’ Websites

The aims of the chapter are to reflect changes in the communications environment occasioned by technological developments, relay information on the relationship between responsiveness and interactivity, address the potential benefits of websites as facilitators of interactivity and responsiveness, and to reveal the potential benefits to Turkish environmentalist non-profit organizations (NPOs) of exploiting dialogic communication and responsiveness through websites. Given these aims, for success in communication, it is critical for organizations to understand changes in consumer behaviour. Today’s technological developments have created a new type of savvy, sophisticated, and well-informed consumer. They are no passive recipients of messages (Pickton and Broderick, 2005; Finne and Grönroos, 2009). Instead, consumers are eager to participate and become involved in every process, from idea generation to product development to brand performance. Furthermore, they now tend to rely on messages and recommendations from other individuals, rather than depending upon information from organizations. As a result of these changes, the ways organizations communicate with their target groups have been affected. Particularly, the integrated marketing communication (IMC) approach has evolved from the 1990s, involving brand-oriented communication in relationship building.