Case Study Analysis of Social Media

An organization using social media to engage with its clients may experience a number of benefits and drawbacks. The broad client coverage that may be accessed through social media accounts as compared to company websites is one of the noteworthy advantages. It is clear that the number of Twitter users has steadily increased throughout the first few years, indicating that a business that focuses its advertising through Twitter would afterwards gain a sizable following (Ashcroft, 2014). Meanwhile, the use of social media has also been described to be associated with several setbacks with the most profound being the apprehension that some sites only allow a given number of characters to be typed at a time. Twitter is an example of a social media platform where the advertising company does not have the freedom of typing a lot of details as it is limited to 140 characters, which could not be insufficient to advertise the company details and products unless there is an accompanying link to an external site. Another setback that is noted in the use of social media is that there is no control to whatever is posted in many cases as the companies intend to prioritize freedom of expression over security. For Twitter, for example, one would note that the vision statement underscoring “Twitter is a global platform for public self-expression and conversations” would promote the spread of propaganda as anyone would be at liberty. An organization would thus need to strategize mechanism to avoid its profile being used for misinformation. Thus, the apprehension that only a limited number of characters can be allowed and the safety concern challenge greatly inconveniences a company seeking to reach the broad range of customers and global communities.

Communication barriers tend to manifest in the case of social media when the user is not much conversant with the symbols that are applicable to the given scenario or platform. This weakness is particularly evident in the case of using Twitter, where the users keep track of each other using a variety of user innovations. In Twitter, the various innovation included @, #, RT, and FF, with each being invented through the company considering the pressure and trends that users were displaying in their usage (Ashcroft, 2014). A new user would, however, find it a challenging venture to juggle with the symbols, and a confusion in the use of one instead of another in a given setting could result in communication barriers. The message would not be delivered and overall, it would be perceived as a communication barrier. However, in the case of traditional media, the only symbols that are applicable include the typical language rules and the including the punctuation marks that are universally accepted in a given context.

Managers ought to be in a position to ensure that they communicate effectively through social media by ensuring that they are able to open and distinguish their communication techniques to warrant that the social media site is used only for constructive purposes. It is noted that in 2009, Barack Obama was the first president have a twitter account. Just as any manager, the president is a public figure whose account can be subject to spreading propaganda when other bogus users open an account in the president’s name and use it for malicious purposes. It is thus the role of the manager to ensure that their account is distinguished from the rest of the fake accounts so that communication through the primary account is primarily official and not used for personal crises. The other step for effective communication on the manager’s part would entirely be based on the ability of the leader to keep updating their profile frequently and the happenings so that the team is updated in every step as it proceeds. An example of a leader who effectively utilized this feature was Egypt president’s Hosni Mubarak resignation that was made popular for over a week before the leader resigned from his position as president. Such a technique of keeping members and the team updated is likely to avoid confusions later in the management as it would be clear on the steps that were taking place at the helm of the management.

There should be rules for business organization employees on the use of social media after the office hours. First, it must be emphasized that the employees should try to avoid posting pictures of the company’s automobile and aircraft that could be subject to terrorist attacks or for malicious use. It is of particularly importance that the employees are conversant about the need to ensure that their safety ad that of the company is maintained in the course of keeping their followers engaged through the social media. A notable case that warrants the relevance of this feature is the January 2009 incidence when a US airline landed in the Hudson river and a twitter user Janice Krums followed it up with a tweeter posting that was widely distributed within minutes (Ashcroft, 2014). Such an act by the company employees should be discouraged especially considering that they are the most likely first witnesses to post about the whereabouts of the company aircraft and automobiles, which terrorists could take advantage of to cause harm. It is thus important that it is explicitly stated that the employees are only allowed to post about the company’s tours when they are official in nature and not when there is a risk of security as it occurred with Janice Krums posting about an airline that was on water nd risk the lives of those on board if there were any.

A manager trying to use the social media for creating an organizational internship program would face the challenge of having their posts last only for a short while before they are obscured by newer posts. It would mean that the number of people who can access the internship advertisement would only be those who can access their social media accounts at the opportune time, which can be a major hindrance for many users. It is also noted that the manager would have to invest a lot of time in trying to keep their profile and that of the advert in an updated format for a longer time if it has to be valid. It is thus recommended that when advertising for an internship program, managers should always consider the mainstream media which could be costly but more convenient. Alternatively, in case it is inevitable and it is paramount that the social media is used, then they will have to dedicate more time keeping the advert accessible (Sandilands, 2017). It would appropriate to consider social media platforms where the company promotes advertising with Facebook the most convenient method.

References

Ashcroft, J. (2014). The Twitter Case Study. Experience Worth Sharing.

Sandilands, T. (2017). Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media Marketing. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-social-media-marketing-21890.html