Negative Effects of Social Media on Company Reputation

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MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Name
Institution Affiliation
Date

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Management Communication
Social media tools could be detrimental and hazardous to a company’s reputation if not
handled cautiously. One of the negative effects of social media is that misuse is inevitable if it is
not properly regulated. Jane was doing well in undertaking the company’s campaign for a
feeding program through social media before tragedy stroke. The misuse of the social media
campaign came about as result of the fact that there were no gatekeepers for the company’s
social media account. In that case, a disgruntled employee could utilize the social media account
to undertake malicious attacks against the company (Ali et al. 2015). Given the high security and
gate keeping nature of the traditional communication channels, it is impossible to vent vengeance
through them. That is because, only authorized persons have the chance and the power to relay
information through the traditional channels (Baum et al., 2017). Social media tools could also
be dangerous to the company when handled carelessly in the sense that it will put the company’s
communication process in disarray. Sunshine 100 company has a clear structure and process of
communication.
However, the social media inception will cause havoc in the process of communication.
For instance, the traditional means of communication would require some procedures to be
followed before the publication of any work. The social media does not allow that given the
decentralized nature it possess. If there is a sensitive matter that needs a cautious and skillful
manner of communication, it will be possible to effectively relay it through the traditional means
of communication (Bell and Leabman, Energous 2017). However, with the social media tools,
the sensitive information may be posted or communicated insensitively to the public by an
irresponsible user. That will cause undue damages that are sometimes irreversible. Several media

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outlets were able to capture the information relayed on social media owing to the irresponsible
handling of information by Sunshine 100 employee. Another danger of social media tools is that
information control is difficult. Sunshine 100 company was not able to control the spread of the
information, let alone the person in charge, Jane. It was difficult to pull down the posted
information because the information spread very fast (Petronio 2016). That is unlike the
traditional means of communication where organizations had full control of the channels of
communication.
In many cases, some information is only meant for internal environment but not for the
external environment. Social media could leak the information that is meant for only the internal
environment, to the external environment. When the internal organizational communication is
relayed to the external environment the meaning of the information may be interpreted
differently in an incorrect manner (Kanki 2019). Social media bears the unofficial and the
official representation of Sunshine 100. The employee’s comment of social media caused a lot of
undue reaction from the external environment to the extent of catching the attention of other
media outlets. That is a clear example of an irresponsible comment from an employee. It is lethal
in the sense that the organization’s intentions for its mission or program may be distorted, like
the incident of purporting the company’s food stuff is merely junk. The distortion of the
information may have a huge negative impact on an organization because its image and
reputation may be interpreted in the wrong way (Noe et al 2017). An irresponsible social media
comment could destroy the reputation that a company has built for a long time, in a very short
moment. The recovery of reputation or image is normally an expensive and hard task. Therefore,
personal comments could cost an organization not only its reputation but also its resources.
Irresponsible social media comments could also lead to legal measures against an organization.