Social Media as a Necessary Evil in Todays Business Operation - Literature review Example

Heading: A study of social media as a necessary evil in today’s business operation Your name: Course name: Professors’ name: Date Proposed topic: A study of social media as a necessary evil in today’s business operation Section 1 Aims and objectives The main aim and objective of this study is to identify why social media is regarded as ‘a necessary evil’ is highly indispensable in the modern business. Background Kaplan and Haenlein (2010, p.61) argue that social media is the employment of internet-connected programs built on the ideas and foundations of web 2.0 to allow establishment and converse of user-produced content. Twitter and Facebook, among other platforms in existence today, have facilitated the development of virtual customer environments. Through the same, most corporate, brands or products attain their online community. Despite the opportunities presented by the social media, some firms may fail to engage their devoted clients due to their incapability to harness its full advantage. Moreover, Marovich and Stanaityte (2010, pp.101-106) state that the notion of Social Media is the way forward for every business managers at the moment. In fact, corporate executives are now running up and down in an attempt to look for ways in which companies can harness from social media such as Facebook, YouTube, SecondLife, and Twitter. For value attainment, firms need to bring into mix the community building element in their road to social media operationalization. New communities, chaired by different individuals at different times gather and disperse quickly. As stated by Azizul and Craig (2008, pp.1-18), mobile interfaces like Twitter and 2go play a vital role in keeping groups up to date by alerting them on trend movements of a specific firm, brand or product of interest. Social media has been instrumental in allowing online communities to actively participate in posting and vetting information as opposed to era of static web pages. As Boyd and Ellison (2007, pp.210-230) puts, it enhances the strength of online community in four ways: they encourage tight relationships, allow rapid firms’ growth, perk up the conception and allow proper sort of information. According to Hulsmann and Pfeffermann (2007, pp.107-113), consumers, today, hook up with brands in totally new approaches, that is through social media channels that are far much beyond the manufacturers’ and retailers’ power. It has changed economics of marketing and made obsolete numerous ancient plans and structures. It is, therefore, a high time for marketers to shift to the new era of marketing. Research done in June 2009 issue of McKinsey Quarterly by David Court revealed that far from firms trimming down their options, today’s consumers take an repetitive and non-reductive procedure of considering, evaluating, buying, enjoying and advocating and bonding. This is the power of social media. From the same research, it was found out that there is a deep confusion following main phrases the online communities use to discuss the company’s products. Social monitoring tools were used to reveal the fact. It is so unfortunate for companies that rely completely on email list as a means of marketing goal. According to Susan and Craig (2010, pp.97) many social media sites have the ability to advertise, upon registration some demographic data is collected and the same is used to target market niche when advertising. The same research reveals that most teens don’t read their standard emails but entirely rely on social media addresses to communicate. A study by Trepte and Reinecke (2011, p. 27) shows that social network sites are becoming prominent resource for any individual or business. As stated by Boyd (2008, 119-142), privacy distress around sharing information in public are enhanced by social network sites’ structural features, which may conceal the actual market target due to their technical properties and ways of use. Early works by Acquisti and Gross (2006, 36-58), centered on privacy shortcomings of Facebook and other social network sites and argued that people were unknowingly revealing details that might put them off in the eyes of some group, such as potential employers, or that could expose them to identity theft or other undesired results. Specifics of the study Rationale This paper seeks to resolve the controversy brought about by the implementation of social media in marketing. The social media marketing is becoming a must strategy for any company prospecting prosperity. However, there exist speculations concerning privacy and ethical issues. In this study, I will consider Australian firms for my case study. Scope/Limitations The relevant dimensions that would be considered in this study are: what are the positive and negative impacts of social media in marketing for organizations, effects of employee monitoring, rights to privacy violated and ethical issues surrounding use of social media in marketing? This research will help the entrepreneurs in finding out the advancement in the technology and how to cope with the change. Reliability and validity In relation to the several studies that have been conducted prior to the study, it explicit that this research is very reliable because of the consistent results obtained when the study is done more than one times. This implies that the same research findings can be obtained if the study is repeated by another research team. In terms of validity, the findings of the research are going to measure the situation’s reality. Significance and Innovation It is a fact that every firm is craving for high returns on their investment. To ensure that this happens, a firm must strive to grab a large market share. Through this research study, the marketers will be able to adapt to market trend changes and make sound decisions concerning marketing. The same will help the participants to operate under set rule and guidelines. Section 2: Approach Ethics: System of moral principles by which research can be charged as right or wrong will be applicable, and not only with an aim of producing excellent data, but also what is done in order to do that, and if the same is tolerable in the society. Though in this study, I will be involved in seeking permission from the employers intrude into their privacy by closely tracking down their daily operations without the consent of the employees. It is a fact that monitoring someone’s actions without prior notice is violation of privacy rights and unethical (Fortner & Fackler 2011). Moreover, another ethical issue to consider in this study is confidentiality. Here, the participants’ information will need to be kept confidentiality. This means that their information should not be disclosed to any other individual that is not connected to the study. Moreover, anonymity is also significant in this study in that the participants will be made anonymous to anybody including the evaluation team. The ethical issue concerning a right to an informed choice is also worth considering in this study. This means that the participants should be well aware of what they are doing, and that they should give their absolute consent to take part in the research. The aforementioned issues should, therefore, be addressed by obtaining the participants’ consent before getting information from them, informing them about the study and its purpose, keeping their responses confidential, and anonymous. Approach: In this study, I will take the strategic approach. This will lead me to meeting various groups of people using social media, for example the employees, employers and organizations’ executives. Section 3: Design For this study, I am going to employ cross-sectional/survey design that aims to look for relationship between variable over a short and fixed time (Evans 2008). Cross-sectional approach is ideal for gathering information on a population at a particular time instance. Since I will be conducting survey of asking a certain demographic group about their take on social media marketing, I will be rich on knowledge of how that population feels; I will not need to know their taste over time since technology changes at a faster rate. In employee monitoring, I will scrutinize movements of employees of a specific firm at a specific moment in time. The strength of this design is that it allows large amount of data collection from a large diversity of subjects. However, it might be expensive in terms of cost due to increase in sample size. Longitudinal research design will also be of great importance since I will need to check specific employees’ emails over a time period because I may need to know their behavior before and after being informed that their emails are being intruded for firms’ security reasons (Evans 2008). Study area The area of study in this case is at Starbucks Coffee Company in Melbourne. Besides, the organization has a variety of employees working in different departments of the company. In the study, the information will be collected at the company’s different departments, especially the marketing department. Here, the employees will be interviewed on the importance and impact of social media in the business. The evaluation team can also observe the employees work online, especially their interaction with the media while in the organization, and how often they visit the company pages on social media like Facebook and Twitter. Target participant In this study, the target participants comprise of employees and consumers of the organization, which in this case is Starbucks Company. The participants must be members of Starbucks marketing department, who are aware and willing to voluntarily take part in the study. This should be individuals that are well-conversant with all the company’s marketing strategies, particularly the use of social media and its effects on the company’s performance. Literature review Barefoot (2010, pp. 115-120) has shown that social media has both positive effects and negative effects on businesses that use them in their marketing strategies. One of the advantages of employing social media like Twitter and Facebook is that it allows the organizations to have a better and a more effective engagement with their consumers (Evans 2008, pp. 338-340). This is because of the conversations and interactions that take place online. Moreover, social media allows companies to inform their clients about the new products, their prices, and other important organizational developments (Barefoot 2010, pp. 115-120). Consequently, the firms can attract and retain more clients in their businesses. Most important, social media improves the manner in which companies treat their clients. Here, Evans (2008, pp. 338-340) says that social media imply better customer services and satisfaction. In fact, many organizations globally are performing excellently because of their online marketing strategies. On the other hand, the use of social media is a termed as necessary evil in the present business because of many threats that the company get from interacting with the online communities. One of the negative effects of social media in business marketing is intrusion into some people’s private information; it violates institutional rights to privacy (Neergaard & Ulhøi 2007, pp. 438-441). Moreover, rivals can decide to steal information from each other, or have people commenting negatively on the sites. As a result, the wrong information of a company can spread fast; hence the poor business reputation. Moreover, social media, such as Facebook and twitter have no return on investment (ROI) because they are designed to meet long term strategies. Explicitly, Neergaard and Ulhøi (2007, pp. 438-44)1 argues that social media enhances marketing strategies of a company by attracting and retaining as many clients as possible. Nevertheless, social media has its share of drawbacks on the businesses that have employed it. Therefore, the study should be in a position to confirm the above effects on social media on businesses, and the why is it a necessary evil for any organization. Appropriate Methodology: This study will employ qualitative methodology because it provides centered, refined and analyzed study of the participants and their setting. This is because qualitative methodology employs a good number of data collection methods. Some of the data collection methods are case studies, observations, interviews, and key informants (Flick 2006, pp. 12-20). To start with, observation is one of the research techniques that allow individuals to collect firsthand information on processes, programs, and behaviors under study. In this case, the study will involve the observation of organization’s use of social media in their operations (Gia 2009, pp. 12-20). This observations can be done online; by observing the frequency and degree in which companies employ social media in the promotion of their businesses. Moreover, observation method can be used at the summative and formative stages of evaluating the study. Secondly, interview used in the study will enable the evaluation panel of the study to get the views of the staff and project participants (Flick 2006, pp. 12-20). Further, the method will be used in the study by assuming that the participants posses sensible and knowable perspectives. Moreover, the participants’ view should be capable of being made clear, and that they will enhance the project’s success. This technique is significant in allowing us get personal comments, viewpoints, and reactions about the participants’ take on social media usage. Case studies on the other hand, are vital information collection techniques that rely on participant observer and ethnographic methods. They are useful in this particular study because of they will provide extensive descriptive examinations (Flick 2006, pp. 12-20). The technique will enable us to immerse ourselves in the real life of the organizations and institutions under study. This is because we will have a chance to engage in both formal and informal discussions with the respondents, observe related activities, and develop analysis of cross-case and individual results. Another motivation to selecting this method of data gathering is the fact that it offers involving, resourceful explorations of the application or project as it advances in the reality. Nevertheless, Gia (2009, pp. 12-20) says that the method requires the researchers to be informed that coming up with illustrative, modest case studies is a tedious task since it cannot be achieved by short and occasional visits. Furthermore, Flick (2006, pp. 12-20) asserts that the use of key informants is essential in the study because they will aid in the evaluation of the study through the application of their salient skills and professional background knowledge on the research topic. Besides, these individuals are influential in the study because they are well-versed with and have access to relevant information to the area of study. More so, Sha Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2008, pp. 659-667) argue that they are instrumental in helping the study team understand better the topic under evaluation, behaviors, backgrounds, attitudes, language, and ethnic considerations. They are also indispensable in the data collection process because of they have more expertise than the research team (Gia 2009, pp. 12-20). Therefore, the evaluation team will interview the key informants on the use and impacts of social media in business today. Therefore, with the use of the aforementioned qualitative data collection mechanisms, the study will be effective in obtaining sufficient information on the use of social media in businesses today. Sampling and recruitment of participants First, the participants ought to be individuals that are well conversant with the topic under study (Babbie 2010, pp. 192-200). This is influential in enabling the evaluation team obtain accuracy and relevant information to the study. Moreover, the sample population used in the study will be done randomly, for example, in the organizations under study; the participants will be selected randomly from a given population. In addition, Babbie (2010, pp. 192-200) argues that the participants can be recruited by the use of systematic sampling whereby picking every nth individual, where n represent a specific number in the population. Further, non-probability sampling can be used in the research, whereby the participants who are easily available and willing to take part are selected. Data collation and analysis In terms of data collation, the evaluation team will apply various methods, such as, unities method, rectangles method, and zero method. According to Sapsford and Jupp (2006, pp. 57-65), data collation is beneficial for the study in that it will minimize cases of missing information forms, double counting, incorrect data grouping, and incorrect addition of data. On the other hand, data analysis will be done by use of graphs, such as, line graphs and bar graphs. Charts can also be used in the data analysis process of the study. Philosophical and Epistemological underpinnings: In terms of ontology, social media is in existence today, and it has both negative and positive effects on businesses. On the other hand, epistemology in this study shows that the existence of social media and its effects are evident in the behaviors of business communities (Lewin 2011, pp. 123-130). Therefore, this reality and knowledge determines the manner in which the study will be conducted in order to achieve the desired objectives. Here, both positivist and expressivist paradigms are employed. According to Acquisti and Gross (2005, pp.71-80), the philosophical underpinnings of social media does not have any relationship with the artifacts or networks that drive social media. The stance that moves this ethic is per chance the biggest swing that brands and companies are going to implement. This of course explains why social media has been so swiftly and more productively engaged by individuals. People tend to be flexible on change and rebranding is a couple of hours. Social Media is talked of as if it is a single entity altogether. This is the foundation of lots of “you-are-not-getting-it-right” arguments online: people battle saintly fights to defend their side it is hard for two to agree over something since they aren’t discussing about similar matters (Girard 2011). It is also in the public domain that the majority of established users (including firms) of social media come from Australia and that advertising has been greatly impacted by social media with almost 18% of traditional television campaigns earn positive ROI. Edelman’s 2010 Trust Barometer survey discovered that social media customers throw away confidence in their colleagues since they give personal views concerning products and services. Faith has dropped down to almost 50 percent since 2008 leading to only 3 in 4 users to lose faith on their online associates for trusted information (Hung 2002). Time table Task Timing (weeks) Priority Meeting the supervisor 1,7,15 Medium Literature review reference order 1, 2 Normal Literature review 2-5 High Identification of hypothesis 4-5 High Task Exp 1 Exp2 priority Identification methods and materials 6 12 Medium Designing experiment 7 12 Medium Starting fieldwork 8 13 High Finishing fieldwork 8 13 Normal Input data 9 14 Normal Data analysis 10-11 15 Normal Writing methods of data collection 12-13 17 Normal Complete experiment 14 18 High Discussion writing 20-23 21 High Binding and submission of research report 24 High Conclusion Evidently, social media has become an indispensable tool in business today. This is because businesses use it in their marketing campaigns in order to capture larger market shares than their competitors. Moreover, it improves organizations’ customer satisfaction through effective communication. Nonetheless, social media is evil because it leads to violation of privacy rights of companies, cyber crime, and poor reputation of businesses in case of bad comments by social site users. References: Acquisti, A, & Gross, R 2005, “Information revelation and privacy in online social networks” Proceedings of WPES’05, Wiley, Australia, pp. 71–80. Acquisti, A, & Gross, R 2006, “Imagined communities: Awareness, information sharing, and privacy on the Facebook”, Proceedings of 6th Workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technologies, pp. 36–58. Azizul, IM & Craig, D 2008, “Media pressures and corporate disclosure of social responsibility performance : a case study of two global clothing and sports retail companies, in AFAANZ/IAAER”, Conference proceedings of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand and International Association for Accouting Education and Research Conference, AFAANZ/IAAER, Sydney, pp. 1-18. 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