Discuss about the advantages and disadvantages of the social networks for businesses.
Most of the organisations these days use technological tools to make their function prominent. Most of the functions of the companies like recruitment, marketing, advertising etc. are practiced with the help of digital tools (Abeza, O’Reilly and Reid, 2013). This draws the attention towards implementation of the social networking tools in the companies these days. Social networks are used by most of the companies in order to hire the people for marketing purpose such as market research, communication etc. some of the companies like Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Dominos etc. are using various social network tools very efficiently. As it provides various advantages to the companies, there are many risks associated with the same such as cyber-attacks etc. This report focuses on the research methods and the analysis that has been conducted in order to research about the advantages and disadvantages of the social networks for businesses.
The primary objective of this research is related to the role of social networking in different organisations.
This research proposal is effective in analysing the examples of various companies who make use of social networking in their business functions (Liamputtong and Serry, 2013.). The research is supported by various theories and thus it helps in understand the basic concept of social networking and its role and impact on the business organisations. This project not only helps in analysing the advantages of using social networking but also helps in identifying the disadvantages of the same for businesses.
Summary of literature review:
As per Trusov, Bodapati and Bucklin (2010), social networks are the online mediums that serve the users with various facilities such as connecting with their friends and relatives who are living at distance, accessing the data and information present on internet etc. with the advancement in the social networking field, its uses have increased and now it is not just restricted to the use of individuals. It has been suggested by Williams (2017) that there are around 3 million social networking sites and Facebook is amongst the sites which are most popular (Cheung, Chiu and Lee, 2011). As far as the advantages are concerned, it has been analysed that most of the companies like Amazon, Facebook, etc. are doing their business online and are successful in their strategies (Safko, 2010). Thus, social networking is providing too many benefits in terms of marketing of the products and conduction of market research as well. In addition to it, there are various other forms in which the social networking is proved to be very advantageous such as recruitment and hiring, brand and business expansion, communication with the customers etc (Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy and Silvestre, 2011). the companies have started using the social networking mediums for the purpose of marketing their products (Lin and Ye, 2009). But, later on they realised that they can interact directly with the customers and make their brand stronger by analysing the opinions of the customers directly. This also develops brand loyalty as well because the customers feel more connected with the company (Bell, 2013). After marketing department, the recruitment process also takes place on social networking sites by contacting the candidates through social networks (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). This is because more and more people are engaging themselves with social networking and thus it becomes easy for the companies to source the people, and also for the people to look for the opportunities available for them (Rowlands, Nicholas, Russell, Canty and Watkinson, 2011). As there are many advantages of using social networking, it also brings many demerits such as cyber-attacks, copying of the strategies, online data corruption and threats, etc. According to Goolsby, Shanley and Lovell (2013), social networking is a sensitive approach of doing business as it becomes easy for the hacker to hack the data and information.
Literature gaps and opportunities:
The literature review is very supportive in analysing the advantages and disadvantages of social networking for business. It has been analysed from the literature that most of the companies are using social network in their business operations. However, there are several gaps in the literature as well. It does not allow the scholar to analyse the growth and evolution of social networking since times. Moreover, it also does not explain the recommended strategies for the companies in order to use social networking for businesses effectively.
Primary Question
Secondary Questions
Research Design and Methodology:
Research design is the part that helps in analysing the methods and the strategies that has been used in the research process to conduct the study(Neuman, 2013). It has been analysed that there are different elements of research design that are described below:
Qualitative research
It is the type of research that helps in analysing the qualitative aspects of research. This is done to help the researcher to understand the theoretical concept of the topic and the reasons behind the concept (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2013). Literature review is one of the best methods for the above research to conduct the qualitative study (Fowler, 2013). Following is the process that should be followed for a general qualitative research.
Validity and reliability: in terms of validity, it has been analysed that the data collected in the qualitative research and the result concluded from such research are assumed to be valid for long time but cannot be reliable. This is because of the non-inclusion of numerical facts and figures.
Sample size and sampling: sampling helps the researcher to select the segment of the population on which the research has been done. In this case the sample size is 50. 50 employees from different companies of different industries have been selected to conduct the research with the method of random sampling.
Data collection: the data collection method that can be used is literature review. This is the best source to collect the data. It is the secondary data source that helps in analysing various studies that has earlier been conducted on the topic.
Data analysis: the analysis tool that has been used in this case is content analysis as the method that has been used for collecting the data is literature review. Content analysis helps in analysing the content and understanding its various aspects.
Variable specification: in this case, the industry selected can act the variables as the uses of social networking changes as per the industry.
Quantitative research
It is the method of conducting the research that considers numerical values in it (Saunders, 2011). This study or research is more effective in nature because the quantitative research helps in conducting research on the facts and figures.
Step for research:
Validity and reliability: as it is the quantitative research thus it help in analysing the facts and figured as well as numerical data. This is more reliable than the qualitative research. As far as the validity is concerned, it has been analysed that the data can be valid only till the statistics remains same.
Sampling and sample size: sampling can be defined as the process to select the group of sample from the overall population. The sampling method that has been used in this case is cluster sampling method and the size is 100.
Data collection method: questionnaire and interviews is the most important and the reliable data collection method. In this case of quantitative research, primary data collection method has been used to collect the data. The data collected in this case is more real and the reliability of the data is more.
Data analysis method: as there are two data collection method used thus the data can be analysed through two types of methods such as statistical data analysis method and content analysis. Content analysis is used in the case of interviews and statistical is used in the case of questionnaire.
Research Limitations
The research that has been conducted in this case is basically on analysing the advantages and disadvantages of social networking in the business functions. This research can be made more effective if some of the limitations would have been removed. The first limitation that has been found in this research is that of sample size. The sample size is too small which somehow manipulates the results or the outcomes and the outcomes cannot be implied on overall population. As per this case, another limitation is found to be the industries chosen. There are only 5 industries chosen to conduct the research and thus the results of the research are only about those industries and the companies operating in those industries.
Time Schedule (Research plan)
Activities involves in the research plan:
Conclusion
This is the research that has been conducted on the social networking usage and its merits and demerits for the businesses. The research has been conducted by two methods that are qualitative and quantitative. The results of both the research is as follows:
Qualitative: it has been conducted by the literature review. The literature review supports the arguments that social networking has ant metrist and advantages to different businesses such as in functions like marketing, recruitment, brand extension etc. some of the demerits that has been analysed from the literatures is related to cyber-attacks and crimes. It has been analysed that it becomes easy for the hackers to jack the company’s data online.
Quantitative: this research has been conducted by two of the data collection methods that are questionnaire and interviews. The statistical analysis of questionnaire suggests that 60% of the employees believe that social networking has improved the efficiency of their performance and the business functions. There are some disadvantages but the merits are more comparatively. As far as the content analysis of interviews is considered, it has been analysed that training of skills related to social networking is required to make their effective use and if they get the same they can make better use of the social networking tools available in the company. Thus it is recommended to the companies to train the employees and hire the skilled employees for the purpose of using social networking in business functions.
Reference List
Abeza, G., O’Reilly, N. and Reid, I., 2013. Relationship marketing and social media in sport. International Journal of Sport Communication, 6(2), pp.120-142.
Bell, T., 2013.Establishing Brand Loyalty through Social Media. [Online] Texas Tech University. Available at: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/comc/research/outpost/blog/brand-loyalty.php#sthash.GymG5BDh.dpbs [Accessed on 17/01/2018]
Cheung, C.M., Chiu, P.Y. and Lee, M.K., 2011. Online social networks: Why do students use facebook?. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(4), pp.1337-1343.
Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K., 2013. Research methods in education. Routledge.
Fowler Jr, F.J., 2013. Survey research methods. Sage publications.
Goolsby, R., Shanley, L. and Lovell, A., 2013. On cybersecurity, crowdsourcing, and social cyber-attack.OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH ARLINGTON VA.
Kaplan, A.M. and Haenlein, M., 2010. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business horizons, 53(1), pp.59-68.
Kietzmann, J.H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I.P. and Silvestre, B.S., 2011. Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business horizons, 54(3), pp.241-251.
Liamputtong, P. and Serry, T., 2013. Making sense of qualitative data. Research methods in health: Foundations for evidence-based practice, pp.365-379.
Lin, F. and Ye, W., 2009, May.Operating system battle in the ecosystem of smartphone industry.In Information Engineering and Electronic Commerce, 2009.IEEC’09. International Symposium on (pp. 617-621). IEEE.
Neuman, W.L., 2013. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Pearson education.
Rowlands, I., Nicholas, D., Russell, B., Canty, N. and Watkinson, A., 2011. Social media use in the research workflow. Learned Publishing, 24(3), pp.183-195.
Safko, L., 2010. The social media bible: tactics, tools, and strategies for business success. John Wiley & Sons.
Saunders, M.N., 2011. Research methods for business students, 5/e. Pearson Education India.
Trusov, M., Bodapati, A.V. and Bucklin, R.E., 2010.Determining influential users in internet social networks. Journal of Marketing Research, 47(4), pp.643-658.
Williams, B., 2017. There are now over 3 billion social media users in the world — about 40 percent of the global population. [Online] Mashable. Available at: https://mashable.com/2017/08/07/3-billion-global-social-media-users/#xuskr05uaaq7 [Accessed on 17/01/2018
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