Hello, my beautiful bloggers and fellow followers! If you read my previous post, Genesis, I briefly discussed why I chose to blog about social media networks and how it can/ may help businesses facilitate communication and build strong business relationships. In this post, I wil be discussing what I, personally, think social networking is actually contributing to organisations and the pros and cons of venturing through the ‘information superhighway‘ (aka the new space age technology called the Internet). I shall save you the suspense and dive right into it. Do note that benefits of social networks rely, or are based on, the media network platform type, attributes and the company itself.
From a business perspective: social media networking programs may allow corporations and/or organisations to improve communication and productivity by distributing or circulating information amongst and between different groups of employees in a more efficient manner, resulting in increased yield/ profitability. It has been a common quote, “Information is power…”, and in a world that is half lived online, information is easily considered to exceed many expectations of business sectors. The lists below will summarize a few advantages and disadvantages for a business who decides they are brave enough to create competitive advantage through the platform of social networking.
Some possible advantages:
- encourages open communication, which leads on to increased information discovery (exposure) and delivery
- provides opportunities for businesses to increase contacts
- targets an extremely wide audience, making it a very useful and effective recruiting tool
- gives employees the opportunity to discuss ideas openly, post news, ask questions and share links
- improves client base and business reputation with minimal use of adverts
- expands and diversifies market research, implements marketing campaigns, and delivers communications and regulates movements of interested people to specific websites.
Disadvantages:
with technology advancing and every detail being recorded on the internet, social networks:
- open up possibilities of hackers to commit fraud, send spam, and viruses.
- highly increases the risk of people being sucked into online scams that appear genuine, resulting in data and/ or identity theft.
- can result in loss of employee productivity, especially if employees are busy updating profiles or statuses instead of doing work during working hours.
- may result in a negative environment or create potential legal consequences for employees or for the organization as a whole if employees tend to be a little cheeky and social networking sites to view objectionable, offensive or illicit material.
One of the main worries of introducing social networks in the working environment is the sharing of personal information. Even the most cautious individual can give away information they should not; the same relates to what is posted on company-approved social networking platforms.
Employees may be oblivious of how their actions online may compromise the security of the company. They must be educated as to how a simple click on a link or an application can result in a virus infecting their computer and the entire network. Advise employees and make sure they are careful not to click on suspicious links and share personal information online. A note to leave you with- just because many employees have online profiles, it doesn’t fully mean that they also have a high level of security awareness.
While social networks can help to expand an organization, and help increase profits, it can also be harmful or a liability to the company if it is misused (0r not fully understood correctly). Look out for my next blog where I ramble on about how companies and organisations can use social networking platforms to become profitable, and to use these networks sensibly. Happy Easter!
Social Media Networks 