Title: ”When The Line Between Transmitter and Receiver Blurs” – A Study of how organizations look at social media as part of their external communication and how they respond to the environment in the new media tool Number of pages: 49 (51 including enclosures) Author: Ida Hansson Käll Tutor: Cecilia Strand Course: Media and Communication Studies D 30hp Period: Spring 2010 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University Purpose/Aim: The aim of this essay is to study how five organizations look at social media as part of their external communication and how they respond to the environment in the new media tool. Material/Method: A qualitative method has been used. Five interviews as primary sources have been conducted with representatives from each organization. Main results: The main results of the study is that organizations have to integrate social media as part of their external communication plans in order to face and respond to their surroundings in a new interaction and multi-way communicative platform. Results also show that organizations are well aware of the importance of making use and participate in social media. Keywords: blogs, external communication, facebook, respond to the environment, social media