Social Networking and Information Systems - Research Paper Example

Lecturer: Social Networking and Information Systems Introduction Rapid technology advancement aided by globalization has spawnedmuch information sharing networks across the globe. Social networks have tremendously become an increasing research area for information system scholars; thus many of them have attempted to analyze relationships generated by information technology artifacts among people, organisation, and businesses. The recent new class of information network system known as online social network sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, My Space, Twitter, YouTube and many others has exploded in popularity across the globe. Information technologies have irrevocably altered the way people communicate in the contemporary society. The young generations have switched their communication platform to online social networking sites; thus many of them spend most of their time on social networking sites. The research statistics indicates that the exposure to social network is remarkably high with MySpace being the leading social network with more than 246 million active users followed by Facebook with more than 124 million active users (Johnson 3). Although social networking sites can maintain social ties through communication across the globe, it has implications such as increased cyber bullying and loss of privacy; thus impacting organisation or business performance. Use of Social Networking Sites The use of social networking sites have increased substantially for the last decades; thus, it serves a number of purposes, but the three main roles stand out as common across all sites. One of the functions or purposes of social networking is to maintain and strengthen existing social ties or creating new social connections. The major purpose of using social networking sites is to communicate and strengthen relationships with friends, families or relatives across the globe. Johnson argues that social networking sites have morphed into mainstream techniques for teens, adults and companies to exchange information about themselves through sharing pictures, videos, sharing interests and private messages (Johnson 4). These sites allow users to articulate or navigate and make their social networks visible; thereby, communication or connecting with people who are also already in the social network connections. The social network has made communication much easier because it enables one to communicate effectively across the globe within the shortest time possible. Another primary role of social networking sites is enabling users or members to upload their own content. It is imperative to note that the content shared through social networking sites usually differs from one site to another. Social networking sites have not only enabled friends, families and relatives to connect in time and space but also enabled business entities to communicate easily about their products and services they offer to customers in the market. Companies post their products on social networking sites and others have their profiles, thus they upload their content, which are in turn shared across the social network connections. This is vital because it has boosted the business growth of many companies because they are able to advertise their products and services effectively; thereby, reaching many customers across the globe efficiently. The last primary purpose of using social networks is to find new, interesting content through filtering, recommending and organizing the content uploaded by users. Many social network sites permit users to mark content as public or confidential, while others permit them to tag content. Others social tools such as YouTube allow users to upload unlimited amount of content and users are always allowed to upload interesting contents, which are generally publicly accessible from the profile page of the users. Social sites such as LinkedIn are among of the significant sites for recommending and organizing the content uploaded by users. This site has become commonly used for job seekers and recruiters to meet their intended goals effectively. LinkedIn has currently become the leading networking sites for managing professional identity, building professional profile and connecting with the professional networks. Although this site is primarily a professional network site, some people use it for job seeking jobs and employee recruitment because it helps one to keep in touch with potential clients, as well as, expands the professional network through recommendations. According to Johnson (6), social networking sites purposes has not digressed from the initial intentions of their creation; however, the sites do serve a larger number of individuals. Social networking sites are not only meant for social interaction or communication with friends or relatives but also for business promotion. Most of the business minded people have nowadays found it easier to carry out their business online and even utilize social networking sites for responding to consumer queries. Social media offer a pool of information and business also gather adequate information about their client, which they also use in improving their business activities. Many entrepreneurs have expanded their business because of employing social networking sites as their marketing strategy for increasing sales; thus increasing revenues, as well as, sustaining their business in the ever competitive business world. Johnson argues that online social network has become a significant strategic component for gaining competitive advantage (Johnson 3). The users of social networking sites have become the major contributors to many business organisations because of sharing the content and information of the company; thus enhancing cost advantage for business organisations. Implications and Impacts on Organisations and Business While the usage of social networking sites has grown tremendously for the past decades, the way people are using social networking sites have also changed; thereby contributing to varied implication and impacts on many business and organisations. Social networking sites such as MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook and among other innovations, which are among the leading interactivity and user-generated content have enabled user to interact or collaborate effectively, but many problems have been encountered in the process. One of the implications of using social networking sites is that there has been much increasing cyber pulling and loss of privacy. Cyber pulling is one of the main problems that have become highly experienced among the users of social networking sites. Moreover, there is increased loss of privacy and this has exposed many companies critical organisation data loss. Although companies have made significant efforts of securing and maintaining organization privacy, the rate of data loss is high because most social networking sites require one to share information publicly. Too much use of social sites can also contribute to social disorders and this can severely contribute to serious detrimental outcomes. For instance, too much use of social networking sites can contribute to physical or mental illness, which can deteriorate the health of the user. The research study reveals that many teenagers have become highly addictive to social networking sites and this has contributed to poor performance in varied learning organizations (Johnson 4). Others have also developed social disorders because of too much use of social networking sites. For example, some teenagers engage in drug addiction such as marijuana, cocaine and many others to enable them continue surfing or socializing with their friends for many hours. This is dangerous because it has contributed to deterioration of health and even putting many teenagers to death risks. There are increased risks of malicious software practices because social networking sites allow users to exchange information and files, and these files may contain viruses. The research conducted revealed that more than 100 Twitter and 60 Facebook posts contain malicious code (Johnson 5). These viruses can be spread through chat windows or content sharing from unknown websites; thus exposing organisation to identity theft or loss of critical information or confidential organisation data. Social networking in the business or organisation can contribute to potential breach of confidentiality and the tainting of the corporate image by workforces. This means that workforces can unintentionally post confidential business data on blogs, Facebook or Twitter networking sites. Negative comments and posts intentionally posted by displeased workforces can also ruin the image of the company since information is spread faster through sharing among users. Organisations and business have been structured based on the needs of customers, legal, economic, political and technological changes impacting the business environment. When the social networking software was first introduced, many organisations taught that this will be an effective means of connecting with their clients; thus marketing their products easily; however, organisations did not anticipate the remarkable impact that could have resulted on their internal business structure. The use of social networking and information systems have contributed to varied impacts on the organisation structure in the contemporary business environment than the impacts organisation had in the past. This has forced most business managers in varied organisations have attempted to employ effective strategies and organisations theories with an aim of minimising these impacts caused by social media. While many studies have attempted to reveal that successful business companies are in constant state of flux due to environment and technological impacts, many organizations are still looking at social networking sites as the effective way for marketing products; thereby, achieving a competitive advantage. For instance, the wrong online brand tactic employed by the business can put the business at a viral social weakness; thus damaging the reputation of the corporation. Therefore, business organisations need to understand the way social networks work, when and how to utilize them, as well as, which social networking sites or channels to use in order to met their goals effectively. Social networking sites can also negatively impact worker productivity and this is when employees waste their valuable time online by chatting with friends about their social life and other things through Facebook and Twitter networking sites. Social networking can impact on knowledge management of an organisation; thereby, posing critical challenges in an organisation performance. According to Johnson (6), people in the society are living in the age where Internet has changed the way people stay connected with each other and the way they share ideas or information across the networks. Therefore, with the rise of information technologies, a number of new web applications and tools have come into use for the past decades. These tools and applications have created tremendous changes in the lives of many people and also it has transformed the way business across the globe operates. Social networking sites have considerably lessened the cost of content creation and product distribution because organisations are able to create an online presence more economically. Some social networking tools such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and many others have become the popular social tools for spreading information about the products available in the market. Many companies have realized that social networking is a powerful tool for changing the way world communicates; however, many business entities have been shocked by the impact of online social networking communities on the internal corporate structure. In most cases, the information environment outside the corporate changes faster than information in the internal organization structure. Customers, employees and other stakeholders can find access; hence share information in a manner that organisation infrastructure, culture and policies inhibit. Ethical Issues, Issues Related To End User Use of Such Technologies within the Work Place Researchers have examined the ethicality of social networking sites usage by employees and responses from employers. The subject is considerable for varied reasons because in case a dismissal is seen as unreasonable, it has the potential to produce dissatisfaction within the workplace. Some ethical issues have been raised regarding ethicality of employees using social networking sites. Scholars find that sacking a blogging worker is more likely to be considered ethically wrong in case the subject of the blog is work related rather than non-work related. The key aspects that should be taken into considerations in both kinds of blogging are the moral intensity of the content. The moral intensity concept covers a wide range of factors including the potential or likely consequences of the content or comments made by users that may create harm to the business company. In addition, the ethical intensity of employees using online social networks by making offensive comments about their employers may be seen unethical. Many bloggers clarify the rationale for their blogs as not to nastily attacking their employers but rather offering them enough space to vent when they become frustrated with their job. This kind of social networks uses may be of low damage but taking rough disciplinary measures in these circumstances may be perceived as unethical response. Some organisations have set strict rules regarding the use of social networking tools during working hours especially when the information is not work related. For instance, watching pornography on YouTube during working hours is one ways of violating ethical or moral standards set by the company. Managers may be more prone to construe work related social network usage as a potential annoyance and a breach of responsibility in the place of work. Johnson (6) argues that where corporate ethical values are apparent and brawny; sacking blogging employees is more probable to be seen as ethical. It is therefore potentially significant for business entities and many other organisations to employ social media policies as an effective tool for reconciling the competing positions. From an employee perspective, Johnson argue that it is unfair for employers to take tough actions against employees using social networking sites in case what constitutes unacceptable social media usage is not clear in the context of employment relationship (Johnson 7), however, social media policies may not fully resolve ethical issues related to use of social networking in case workers do not consider those policies as ethical. Johnson suggests that an effective social media policy should be the product of negotiations between employers and employees to find a set of guidelines that are acceptable to both parties (Johnson 8). To most users of information system, information technologies are simply the tools for getting their work done. Most information system users utilize computer software to complete their tasks faster. Some software such as self-deploying characteristic and social network software usage can coordinate tasks, expand social contacts and allow users to exchange work related ideas or information effectively. Literature suggests that end users would be more likely to adhere to ethical values regarding the usage of social networking software (Johnson 9). Although there are instances where the end users need to navigate through different information sources to find information they need, the computer software with evolving ability enable end users to use computer software to expand their information sources and to adapt to their evolving ethical issues. Conclusion Although social networking sites can maintain social ties through communication across the globe, it has implications such as increased cyber bullying and loss of privacy; thus impacting organisation or business performance. The use of social networking sites have increased substantially for the last decades; thus, it serves a number of purposes, which includes, strengthening existing social ties or creating new social connections, enabling users or members to upload their own content and finding new, interesting content through filtering, recommending, as well as, organizing the content uploaded by user. Many entrepreneurs have expanded their business because of employing social networking sites as their marketing strategy for achieving a competitive advantage. the research revealed that while the usage of social networking sites has grown tremendously, the way people are using social networking sites have also changed; thereby contributing to varied implication and impacts on many business and organisations. These include loss of privacy or confidentiality, increased cyber bullying, increased risks of malicious software practices and many others. Therefore, organisations should employ social media ethical policies as an effective tool for reconciling the competing positions. Work Cited Johnson, Robert L. "Corporate Strategy And The Social Networking Phenomena." Journal Of Service Science (19414722) 4.2 (2011): 1-10. Business Source Complete. Web. 17 Sept. 2013. Read More