Business in Social Networks - Assignment Example

Individual Assignment #9 Answer to Part I: Social networks tailor-fit their pages and options for members depending on the needs of members. LinkedIn is a social network that caters mostly to skilled persons and businesses, which gives the site a more business-like or professional image. There is a greater focus on what individuals are capable of and which companies or groups would be interested in their skills (Gillin 101). For many companies is better to conduct business using LinkedIn since there is a lesser chance for network members to misuse the site, as well as an increased degree of professionalism among groups and members (106).

Various groups that have similar lines of expertise could also team up or collaborate to increase the range of their connections, thus bringing different businesses together by means of intermediaries, but without the hassle of actually meeting up with each one of them in person. There is also no need to particularly know who these people are personally, and communications often happen by consulting groups or individual people according to expertise, thus every group has opportunities to show their skills equally since business owners or companies aim to get the job done professionally as to how they would want it done.

It is easier to conduct business or sales using social networks such as Facebook. This is because while in LinkedIn transactions are done via consultants or third parties depending on their expertise, Facebook harnesses the power of word-by-mouth in promoting marketing and sales (105). There are also fewer barriers among businesses since they could conduct transactions directly with customers, upon being introduced to potential consumers by their loyal customers. People belonging to active social networking sites have the power to promote companies or put them down using the strength of suggestions and impressions, like how many people tell their product satisfaction online.

The image of the company is also important for consumers, and with the power of suggestion, a company could gain or lose profits if, for example, a group of people would tell others within their networks whether the products or services of a company are good or bad. Answer to Part II: Different societies having various cultures accept social networking depending on whether the people have a collectivist or an individualist culture. For example, in individualist societies LinkedIn is more often used for finding connections and business partners but without the intention of fusing personal relationships with business associations.

Everything conducted within this networking site is purely business, and oftentimes anything personal is excluded so as to maintain the site members’ professional image. There is also much more focus on what an individual’s skills are, rather than how many people the person knows, and this gives all job aspirants equal chances of being hired. The atmosphere on LinkedIn is more focused on building business connections through other people but without the intention of building personal relationships, which is acceptable in individualist societies (Gillespie 73).

On the other hand, collectivist cultures tend to put more focus on actual relationships and establishing them through larger networks. In this case, Facebook is much more used than LinkedIn since the network members value people having common friends, rather than establishing links with people that they do not know entirely (74). People in collectivist societies also have a strong will of avoiding uncertainties, thus more often than not people in these cultures would rather meet with people that they have mutual relations with, as well as choose people or groups that have already made a reliable record.

These people put importance on who they know since this they equate this with what they know, and the idea that they could avoid high risks and uncertainties by sticking to what they know would help them decrease the possibility of failures in the future. Thus LinkedIn is much more acceptable among individualist societies, while collectivists use Facebook more often.