Current Challenges of Using Social Media - Dissertation Example

Current Challenges of using Social Media Introduction This paper presents an analysis on the current challenges facing the use of social media in thesociety today. Social media is a vital resource offering a platform where communication and interactions warrants sharing of ideas among a vast and a range of audiences. Thus it provides a collective of online communications channels designated to community-based input, content sharing, collaboration, and interactions (Kaplan, 2004). Social media is significant in the present management frameworks. The social media virtual communities offer vast information relevant to marketing, recruitment, employees’ voice besides aiding in Research and Development (Bradley & Mcdonald, 2011). Therefore, organisations need to adopt and implement social media within the management strategies to achieve the unquestionable benefits attached to social media and social networks. There is a range of social media tools presently existing for the business and government organisations (Kaplan, 2004). For instance, Websites and applications devoted to microblogging, social curation, forums, social networking, wikis and social bookmarking. The commonly known examples of social media may include, YouTube, Reddit, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter and instant messaging, as well as Google+. The present application of social media and social networks are increasingly believed to provide firms and government agencies a significant platform to enhance the processes, communication, and performance (Kaplan, 2004). Social media has presented a platform that aids in marketing, recruitment and even improving the Research and Development capability (Patrut at al., 2013). Modern business and technology journal are particularly hopeful about the beneficial impacts of such technologies avail to the organisations that successfully adopt (Kaplan, 2004). The escalated use of social media, however, has attracted potential risks and challenges that have to be delineated and addressed immediately. The primary goal of this is an article to investigate critically the challenges organisations face when using social media as an information tool to manage (Swanson, 2012). Benefits of using Social Media Enhance Efficiency and Productivity Social media is important in an organization in many ways for example, the firm can follow the feedbacks and complaints from the social sites and incorporate by telling products that meets the needs of the consumers (Ariza 2014). Therefore, the productivity will be enhanced since the inventory control will be raised as supply chain is shortened. This is because the products will not accumulate as only products needed by the customers are produced and immediately delivered to the target market (Information Resources Management Association 2014). For, example Zara Clothing organisation checks on the customer’s needs, design, and produce and sells products that enhances both efficiency and productivity. Enhance Sharing and Retaining of Information Social media enhance sharing and retaining information within the organization. Presently, the Multichannel Marketing has become effective in any marketing strategy. The Integrated Marketing Communication has greatly relied upon the social media virtual communities to reach both potential and loyal customers (Swanson, 2012). For example, John Lewis retail shop has remained Omni present using both online and mobile marketing to share its retail information (Akhilesh 2012). Moreover, Apple Company has also effectively shared the brands information using the social media. Social media has a wider coverage and therefore, firms are benefiting by posting the information and retrieving information needed by integrated social media with their websites like johnlewis.com used by John Lewis Retail Shop (Association For Information Technology, 1986). Enhance Customer Relations Social media has increasing enhanced customer’s relations amongst many organizations. There is increased connectedness and interactive platforms that make customers to constantly ask question and get immediate solutions. This has greatly helped both the firm and the customers as they develop good rapport by continuously sharing the information of concern. The firm thus gets the prospects of the customers whereas the customers understand the brands and the products (Swanson, 2012). Also, the customers post-purchase evaluation is enhanced as customers can access the call centres integrated with Social networking sites to inquire and seek for answers the lead to their satisfaction. For example, the customers can just post in the social sites about the usability of a given product earlier purchased or chat directly with the organization agents to understand the usability of that product without the need to travel with product back to the organization (International Symposium (Symorg, Levi-JakšIć & Barjaktarović 2012). Impact on Employee Communications and Employee Turnover Level Social media impact on employee communications and employee turnover level. The employees are all the time socially interconnected online and can share the information from a department to a department without the need to walk into each department. For example, a firm that employs social media bolsters employee engagement online since employees require social interaction, and this makes employees feel part of the company (Swanson, 2012). Moreover, via social media managers can posts simple messages of praise at the accomplishment of a project and monthly memos highlighting team achievement as well as a thank you note (Akhilesh 2012). The employee turnover levels are thus reduced as the firm ensures that it hires the right employee from the beginning and strictly follow their actions through the social media. Challenges of using Social Media Overview The critical analysis of the challenges of social media as an information tool to manage the organisation will be a three-fold examination. It will involve discussion on human (security and privacy risks), organisational (such as costs) and Technical challenges (Kaplan, 2004). Despite the overarching potential benefits amongst the organisations that integrate the social media and social networks information as an information tool to manage, there exist a range of daunting challenges and risks that arise from such arrangements (Swanson, 2012). For instance, organisations are frequently hierarchically structured. There is a higher possible of clashes between such hierarchical structures and social media virtual communities and social networks. In addition, a range of arguments may be inevitable between new social technologies and the rules and regulations or norms of standards of behaviour and the degree of accountability and control preceding such technological inventions (Kaplan, 2004). Organisational management must therefore proactively address the issues circumventing governance accompanying these platforms before indulging into actual implementation of social media and its associated networks (Kaplan, 2004). Such management concerns may include the new company policies to design, the operators and participants, as well as the usage rules. On the other hand, there are ever-increasing fears of ultimate diminishing worker productivity as employees become distracted by social networking and social media (Bradley & Mcdonald, 2011). In addition, posting of hateful, critical and inappropriate materials by the employees about the Company by the employees in public-facing virtual communities stands to shutter the Company reputation and brand image (Kaplan, 2004). Moreover, there is an increased concern circumventing the loss of commercially sensitive and confidential data on such sites and data possession where an organisation utilizes the platforms owned by third-parties not usually of European-based. In addition, society has suffered from a passive role out mechanism that is riskier (Swanson, 2012). Organisational Challenges a) Inadequate Knowledge and understanding of social media The organisation faces a greater challenge due to inadequate knowledge and understanding about the widespread uses of social media. The strategies sufficient to mobilize communities and facilitate its practical implementation (Kaplan, 2004). In addition, the fear and apprehension resulting from the uncertainty as well as the inability to control the process of communication is a great threat to utilization of social media tools to manage. Indeed, the organisation is at a risk of how to effectively deal with the increased transparency associated with adoption of social media especially, the transition of powers away from managers to workers (Kaplan, 2004). Additionally, the organisation might be at risk due to insufficient consideration to the workforce indulgent in implementing social media mainly to maintain engagement post-implementation as well as dealing with problems of cynicism (Swanson, 2012). Moreover, there is a problem of mistrust as organisation fails to trust the workforce to use social media responsibly as well restricting the workforce taking forward the social media initiatives. Furthermore, the organisation suffers greatly with respect to concerns of shifting to new channels of communicating (Bradley & Mcdonald, 2011). b) Difficulty in Managing Information Flow Notably, in managing the information flow as communication fluctuates from one-way to two besides conveying the primary purpose of social media tools. Finally, top management may possess insufficient skills and exposure to social media that stifle their perception of outstanding pros attached to social media (Swanson, 2012). In such a case, the leaders are prevented from pursuing cultural readjustments necessary for a top-down hierarchical culture movement to realize a transparent and accountable culture that culminates into honesty and openness. In addition to these organisational challenges, social media usage poses serious risks to the organisation that adopts them (Lovett 2011). The use of social media amongst the corporate workforce culminates in exposes the work linked misbehaviours like posting photos of an individual on a boozy night out and then calling in sick (Jackson et al., 2012). c) Threat to Firm’s Reputation Another daunting challenge arises from the threat of the reputation of the organisation as employees post comments and thoughts that can be disastrous to the organisation for instance, posting criticisms of the management of the organisation as well as its products (Torres-Coronas & Arias-Oliva, 2009). Additionally, the organisation may suffer from the problem of cyber bullying, a phenomenon in which workers post negative comments about themselves on social networks (Jennex, 2013). The team productivity will thus decline as teamwork is at stake because employees create enmity in the workplace eroding the benefits of collaboration. d) Increased Organisation’s Vulnerability to Competitors In addition, social media possess the power to disseminate critical business information to the unauthorized and fierce competitors (Information Resources Management Association, 2013). The organisation’s key areas of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are exposed hence competitors develop counteractive barriers or strategies to wipe out such organisation. The organisation may also suffer from the problem of overcoming cultural obstacles to adopting and implement social media information tool satisfactorily. Many organisations suffer from the setback of cultural barriers as they embrace social media as information instruments to manage (Jennex, 2013). The problem mainly escalates in case of the existence of an international corporate. The problem chiefly arises from the difficulties in mobilizing the broader community members to get indulged. e) Expensive to Install Notably, the challenge of effective application of social media principles to the employees’ work. The organisation thus spends exorbitant time and resources required for understanding, designing, developing and finally implementing social software (Information Resources Management Association, 2013). Organisation that just install a traditional software company, and optimistic to attract communities without spending tend to fail (Patrut, Patrut & Cmeciu 2013). Also, the underestimation of the resources and investments in social media is a major problem affecting such organisations. Technical Challenges a) Difficulty in integrating Tools and Data Portability There is a daunting challenge faced by the organisation as they integrate various tools used in the same structure and data portability. In other words, this implies whether the organisation can transfer their data from a particular platform to another should they choose to alter technology providers. The issues of data protection the ability a European cloud to resolve the regulatory issues remains a challenge (Information Resources Management Association, 2013). b) Employees Gaging from Posting In addition, it is technical to balance between gagging the employees from posting issues about the organisation (Information Resources Management Association, 2013). Such a deadlock situation arises from the fact that social media is amongst the chief channels for collaboration and information sharing presently and, therefore, employee’s indigent must never be restricted (Franks 2013). However, there should be a balance between limiting workforces from spreading disapproving comments about their companies and warranting employees the liberty to deliberate about genuine concerns (Dinsmore at al., 2011). The concept of corporate and whistle blowing becomes increasingly inevitable. In addition, the organisation faces the difficult to determine the magnitude of response and their proportionality to the context conveyed. c) Difficulty to Create users Balance and Comments A draconian shutdown mentality becomes counterproductive despite the valid reasons to create a balance (Patrut & Patrut 2013). One of the biggest challenges to social media is when its integration exists in a silo and does not involve stakeholders and members within an organisation (Information Resources Management Association 2014). First is when a business outsources an expert to manage its social media. With no participation of the members, the result is a generic and unsatisfactory. If this is assigned to a non-mainstream, department, it is unlikely to sail through (Dinsmore at al., 2011). Failure to involve employees instead of encouraging it leaves out important values (Jackson at al., 2012). Often, users profile information on social media is inaccurate. The untrustworthy data results to marketing efforts aimed at the wrong audience while the target audience remains elusive. The excess number of players in the field is also an impediment. Finding the right media to use can be difficult with the many social networks that are available (Leistner, 2012). Human Challenges a) Security and Privacy Risks Social media greatly impacts on the users mainly employees in a number of aspects. The security and privacy risk is a significant threat to human life. The use of social media virtual communities presents an excellent opportunity for erosion of safety and privacy of individuals (Franks 2013). The number of scammers and fraudsters has continuously increased to benefit from the social media users. Moreover, these people hide their identity and entice the employees using these sites to fall for their scamming and fraudulent acts (Jackson at al., 2012). Many users have lost a lot of money to this uncontrolled behaviour. In addition, the privacy is eroded as people share and interact with social media. b) Cyber Bullying An employee might be lured into exposing his personal life and identity to strategies and thus left exposed to the unscrupulous behaviours in social media (Bradley & Mcdonald 2009). Also, social media facilitates immoral acts as people post comments and pictures that may affect the attention of the employees. In such cases, an employee might become so much preoccupied and thus becoming less productive (Leistner, 2012). Such an employee is at a risk of even losing the job as organisation’s goals and objectives may be shuttered if such an employee continues to be part of the workforce. c) Employees Dismissal due to Negative Post about the Organisation The organisation might take the initiative of dismissing or retrenching such a worker as a counteractive measure to curb the spread of such actions into other loyal and focused workers (De-Stricker, 2014). The firms are thus under pressure deliberating on the sufficient ways to design and implement data security, working time as well as privacy policies to guide the workforce (Ariza-Montes, 2014). The employee may stay connected even during weekends and thus questions of what follows when an employee quits the firm might be devastating. Another problem is managing the behaviour amongst the social media users (Khosrow-Pour 2015). The strategies of working are ever altered, but organisations are yet to employ satisfactory digital working conditions and its affiliated practices as the chief focus is still on the management of productivity within a less structured work environment (Leistner, 2012). d) Reduced Employee Productivity The organisation finds it hard continuously to evaluate the employees productivity performance with the increasing use of social media. Such an evaluation difficulties is further enhanced by the challenged way and time of work of the social media in an organisation (European Conference Knowledge Management, Mcgrath, & Remenyi 2003). The workforce might end up developing negative attitudes towards the organisational policies to gag them to use the social media and social networks available in the organisation and may seek employment in another form that allows access. In addition, there might a resistance to change as employee fear the job security and risk of losing such positions as social networks and social do a range of explicitly structured work (Mathos at al., 2012). Conclusion Many organisations are currently pugnacious to justify investments in social media information tool to manage mainly to identify the starting points and lines of business. The available literature on the topic demonstrates that social media has both challenges and benefits to organisations (Bradley & Mcdonald, 2011). In addition, the application of social media information as a tool to manage is currently a critical step in supporting and strengthening the business in such organisation that sufficiently adopt and implement social software. The organisation, however, have no choice but to adopt the social software as failure to do so would be posing significant threats to organisation’s overall productivity as the software is a temporal fashion. The adoption of the social media in the organisation is strongly advocated by the employees (Bradley & Mcdonald, 2011). However, organisations must proactively design strategies for enterprise social networks based on realistic fathoming of the risks, benefits, and challenges linked to social media. In so doing, the organisation develops working framework fully to exploit the pros attributable to social media (Olivas-Lujan & Bondarouk, 2013). The organisation must thus efficiently find the business value, overcome cultural barriers, legal constraints, and manage behaviour (Information Resources Management Association 2012). In addition, the future of social media utilization in organisation remains unknown due to the haste with which social and digital technologies advance (Bradley & Mcdonald, 2011). The organisation must always be observant to identify the chief aspects of organisational life to be disrupted by social media adoption and implementation (Information Resources Management Association USA, 2015). In addition, consideration of the further technological advancement to enhance employees voice. There is the need to get an answer to the trade-off between spending much time tinkering away on a keyboard and employees increased ability to communicate and convey their grievances (American Society for Information Science 1970). Such discussions about work experience and its further improvement are essential to organisational success (Mcgrath & Remenyi, 2003). Bibliography Akhilesh, K. B. 2012. Emerging Dimensions Of Technology Management. Dordrecht, Springer. Http://Public.Eblib.Com/Choice/Publicfullrecord.Aspx?P=1083433. American Society for Information Science. 1970. Journal of The American Society For Information Science. New York For The Society By John Wiley & Sons]. 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A. 2012. Managing Social Media In Libraries: Finding Collaboration, Coordination And Focus. Oxford, Chandos Pub. Torres-Coronas, T., & Arias-Oliva, M. 2009. Encyclopedia of Human Resources Information Systems: Challenges in E-Hrm. Hershey, Information Science Reference. Read More