Social Media in Organisations for Web Application -myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theSocial Media in Organisations for Web Application. Answer: Introduction: Social media can be defined as the different forms of the computer based technology that mainly concerns round the facilitation of the sharing of different types of information. It also helps in building of the virtual networks. Researchers are of the opinion that social media is one of the best internet based approach that helps users by mainly offering them electronic communication of not only information that is personal but also even other types of content. This may include videos as well as photos and many other articles ad objects of interest (ElQuirdi et al., 2015). Different mediums by which users are seen to engage with social media are computer, smart phone, tablets and via different web based software and web application that are used effectively for messaging. In the initial days, social media was seen to originate mainly as a tool by which friends and families use to interact with each other (Ellison et al., 2015). However, later with time, it was noticed by the research ers that different business organizations started taking advantage of the popular new method of communication so that they can reach out to a wide level of customers. Therefore, this assignment will show how different social media affect organizations, its employees, and the different strategies that may be taken to overcome any barriers. Overview of social media: Social media in the present generation has taken the shape of different types of tech-enabled activities besides, sharing of messages. It involves sharing of photos as well as blogging, , video sharing, social networks, social gaming, virtual worlds, business networks and many others. Researchers have said that often individuals in the present generation are highly inclined in keeping touch with their friends and extended family. Moreover, they also use social media for remaining connected to network of different career opportunities. They all like finding people all over the world who share different types of common interest, liking, contents and many others and here social media plays an important role in such a scenario. They are now seeing to engage in different types of activities which is considered as being the parts of the virtual network (Bharati, Zhang Chaudhary 2015). In case of different types of business, social media is seen to be acting as an indispensable tool. They are found to be extremely helpful for finding as well as engaging with customers. Social media also helps in maintaining of sales, advertising as well as promotion and even gauging trends and offering customer service (Siamagka et al., 2015). Moreover, it is also seen that governments and politicians are utilizing this form of social media so that they can effectively engage with not only constituents but also voters. Therefore, it has become an easy medium of connectivity among a wide number of individuals. This makes information sharing easier as well as faster. The role of social media is of great importance in business organization nowadays. It helps in the facilitation of effective communication with the different groups of customers that enables proper melding of different forms of social interactions on the different types of e-commerce sites. It has a huge ability for collecting information that in turn helps individuals for focusing on market effects and even in market researches. The social media is also effective in helping organizations to promote their products and services and help this information to reach out to target audience who are not restricted to own nation. It helps in sharing information with customers all over the globe thereby increasing the span of audience at a large scale (Ngai, Tao moon, 2015). Moreover, it also enables the distribution of exclusive sales and coupons to all would be customers thereby attracting them to their organization and developing trust in them. Moreover, many of the researchers are also of the idea that social media has become an effective method of relationship building with the consumers. Many of the organizations are seen to develop loyalty programs linked to social media through which they not only interact with their consumers but also enable a development of strong relationship with them. Impact of social media in an organization: Social media has been associated with large number of impacts on the organization. The first effective use of social media is that it becomes an easy means of sharing information among the different employees at the same time. Often in many cases, researchers have been seen to a conclusion that social media has been one of the most cost effective method of sharing information among the employees (Behringer Sassenberg, 2015). This is said so because no additional costs and resources remain associated when employers need to share information with the employees at a larger scale. Moreover, the information sharing on the social media is also time effective. When organizations print out information and put them on the notice board expecting a look at the notice by all employees, they may fail miserably. Employees may overlook the messages on the notice board but putting such information on the social media and thereby tagging them can effectively engage the later into reading the informa tion instantaneously. Besides, being a fast method of information sharing within an organization, it has become an effective method of establishment of bonds among the employees. Often employees who remain connected on the social media within an organization are seen to be closely connected with each other on an emotional level (Rokka, Karslsson tinnari, 2014). They tend to share both formal and informal messages and interactions on the social media that engages them with each other and helps in developing bonds with each other. The relationship that develops over the social media also gets extended on the work floor where higher productivity and effective teamwork are seen to be the results of social media usage among the employees. Moreover different types of apps are nowadays launched on social media. This provides information about the achievement of different employees on a monthly basis target. It also shows expectation of the employers towards the employees This helps employ ees to develop an idea about their position, their target that needs to be achieved and expectations that the organizations have from them (Parveen , Jaffar and Ainin, 2015). This makes employees to be more steady and responsible for their work and plan themselves accordingly. Besides the impacts on the inner environment of the workplace, social media is seen to have immense impact on marketing and brand positioning of the products launched by companies. They also impact interactions with customers, real time updates, relationship building with consumers and many others. Positive and negative aspects of social media in an organization: Social media has a large number of both positive as well as negative aspects within organizations. They are extremely helpful for the new employees in the organization as they gradually learn and develop ideas about the trends and organizational culture of the company from the interactions that take place on the social media platform. They learn to understand the extent of openness practices in between the superiors, employers and different levels of hierarchies (Guesalaga, 2016). This helps them to prepare themselves in ways by which that can effectively align with the power matrix and power distribution within the organizations. Moreover, it also provides huge advantage for the human resource department of the organization as the department can successfully communicate different policies, company news, benefits and other social events through social media sites. They can also convey professional development opportunities that become available to a large number of employees at the s ame time (Leonardi Vasst, 2017). Moreover, with the effective use of the social media, organizations can take the responsibility of ensuring employee engagement. Researchers have conducted interviews where professionals had stated that internal social networking platforms are more engaging and inspiring for greater participation than regular email communications (AliHassan et al., 2015). Besides, it also promotes social learning as well as knowledge sharing and even effective communication during disasters is ensured. The different negative aspects that remain associated are the security issues where the organizational data and information may be mis-utilized by hacking and data thefts (Djikis et al., 2015). Employees may also engage in harassing behaviors towards co-workers on a social network. Again, in many cases employees with negative attitudes may post wrong or fake information about the organization that may affect the reputation of the origination. Besides, employers become more susceptible to charges of legal violations when social media is used in workplace. Potential loss of productivity and different wage hour issues may also result due to social media use. Positive and negative aspects of social media on employees: Researchers are of the opinion that a large number of possible aspects are intricately associated with the use of social media by the employees (Leonardi Vasst, 2017). The different sites of the social media help the employees to remain focused and make them inclined towards the corporate objectives. With the effective use of social media, employees are able to share information and resources with their colleagues very easily as well as effectively. Researchers have also put forward important facts that help to shed more light on the positive aspect of social media. Social media comprises of a large number of tools which are effective in flattening the corporate hierarchy (AliHassan et al., 2015). At the same time, they are seen to empower the individual employees at all the levels and thereby provide a direct path to individuals who are executors and decision makers. Internal social networking can encourage people to connect as well as communicate with each other. These help them i n cross pollinating the different ideas and thereby developing valuable insights on different topics. Moreover, it is also seen that as employees develop the ability to communicate insights, issues and different solutions, it automatically leads to generation of new ideas. However, there are certain negative aspects that every organization need to manage effectively. Some of the negative aspect includes employees with negative behaviors may engage in the possibility of hacking for committing frauds as well as launching of spam and even introducing virus attacks. It also exposes data to many numbers of employees where some employees may participate in data and identity theft (Charoensukmongkol, 2014). In other cases, it is seen that if employees engage themselves in viewing offensive and objectionable material, it may invite negative comments from other employees about the company that may affect image of the company. One of the most important points is that many employees are someti mes seen to be busy in updating profiles that may contribute to loss of productivity. Ways by which organizations manage social media Effective management of social media in different complex organizations may not be easy tasks as re multiple departments are present. Divisions, multiple policies, multiple leaders, and many others might lead to confusion. Therefore, every departments need to be consistent where the organization needs to develop a social cohesive media plan so that there are no mixed messages, duplicated accounts, redundant posts and others. An individual can be given the responsibility for effective monitoring of the issues and taking active initiatives to avoid the issues (Van et al., 2015). Many other researchers are of a second opinion (Leonardi Vasst, 2017) where they have stated that organizations should have one fearless leader so that he can oversee the social media of the different organization as a whole and thereby educate, and guide the employees in ways by which they can realize the main motive of the utility of social media. Effective leadership may help the employees to adhere with th e organizational goals and targets rather than wasting time on social media and hampering productivity. Another important method is to educate the team effectively about the real advantages of the media so that they do not develop any negative habits or behaviors for inappropriate handling of the social media. The HR should also incorporate proper policies for effective handling of social media, breaching of which may result in penalties and punishments (Colbert et al., 2016). Ways by which employees need to manage social media: Employees need to understand the importance of ethics in workplace and thereby they would be able to engage in different effective ways of managing their social media accounts. An employee who shows positive behavior shows dedication to their organization would exhibit responsible handling of the social media. Such responsible employees should take the responsibility of not only educating their staffs about proper handling of the social media accounts but should also report any fake or negative comments posted on the media. This has the potential to affect the morale of new employees and therefore effective reporting would be helpful in proper managing of the social media (Filo et al., 2015). Team members should encourage each other to be careful about the post they make as that have the impact on organizations reputation as well as productivity. Conclusion: From the entire discussion above, it becomes clear that organizations and employees need to be very careful while handling the different aspects of social media. When on one hand, they have the capacity to share information and make connections among the employees. However, they have negative impacts like losing of valuable information to hackers, posting of fake information y employees with negative attitudes and many others. Therefore, effective strategies need to be taken so that the organization can ensure higher productivity and use social media effectively to meet organizational goals. References: Ali-Hassan, H., Nevo, D., Wade, M. (2015). Linking dimensions of social media use to job performance: The role of social capital.The Journal of Strategic Information Systems,24(2), 65-89. Behringer, N., Sassenberg, K. 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