Impact of Social Media on Contemporary Business Communication

This essay discusses the impact of social media on contemporary business communication with relevance to Amazon Inc. and the challenges and opportunities faced by the company.

Running Head: Impact of Social Media
Amazon Inc.
Impact of Social Media on Contemporary Business Communication

Impact of Social Media 1
Social media is being used in the business context for sharing information amongst the target
audience and amongst the branches of the organization in different locations instantly. It is a web
based and mobile based technology which integrates the interactive communication with the help
of internet. Social media has set up a significant part in individual’s as well as of organizational
life. With regards to the sustainable development and growth for an organization, adaptation of
Information and Communication Technology is very crucial (Habermas, 2015). ICT helps the
businesses to share information amongst the department, branches, as well as to the target
audience and this increases the opportunities for organization in terms of enhancing the
productivity and efficiency. In this essay, impact of social media on contemporary business
communication will be discussed in relevance with the number one online shopping company
across the globe i.e. Amazon Inc. Business Communication plays vital role in the success and
growth for an organization and it is widely used in modern business environment. Sometimes,
business communication methods and procedures lead to generate several opportunities and
threats which may affect an organizational performance. This essay will focus over these
scenarios in the context of Amazon Inc.
Business Communication has been changed in past twenty years and various developments,
innovations and advancement have taken place. Initially, communication has transformed from
source-to-consumer model to consumer-to-consumer model. In 1996, internet was making a
place in the communication tools. Prior to the introduction of internet, television, radio, paper
magazines, media, mail producer, etc. were the popular sources of communication. Over the last
20 years, wide change has been noticed in the communication tools and communication is now
being more socialised and it has also been segmented. Amazon Inc. was established on 5th July
1994 and initially it was formed as Cadabra, Inc. Jeff Bezos, founder and current CEO of
organization formed this company with the objective of selling each and every item through
internet. Today, company has established its image as the leader brand in the online shopping
company. The company was formed when internet was at its infancy but today, Amazon Inc. has
launched its own business communication tool as Chrime. Prior to this, several other
communication tools are Skype, Google Hangouts, etc. Chrime is an advanced version of
business communication tool which allows its users to make video calls, VoIP calls, etc.
(Jackson, et. al., 2010).

Impact of Social Media 2
Business Communication has been changed a lot over last 20 years. When Amazon entered the
market, information was shared amongst the stakeholders through one way communication
method which includes newspaper, paper magazines, television network, radio, etc. Though,
these mediums reachability is huge but they are expensive too (Herbane, 2010). Apart from this,
Amazon was not able to profile its target audience and the outcomes originated from these
mediums were also less in comparison to the modern business communication tools. With the
help of modern business communication tools such as social media, internal communication
methods, etc., Amazon is able to target its audience in more effective manner along with
profiling. In one way communication methods, users were not able to share their views,
feedbacks, etc. to the company but after the introduction of modern communication tools,
Amazon and other companies have used the modern business communication tools in order to
take reviews, feedbacks and suggestions from the consumers in order to improvise the services
as well as to deliver quality products and services to its target audience so as to attain the desired
goals and objectives in the target market. Thus, contemporary mediums of business
communication are included in the two way communication methods and they also originate
effective and valuable outcomes for the organization (Du, Bhattacharya & Sen, 2010).
Time is changing rapidly especially for businesses and in relation to this, an organization needs
to adopt entirely fresh and new marketing channels with the combination of social and web.
Apart from this, organizations are required to analyse its competitiveness and the market position
in order to utilise the available resources in an effective and appropriate manner. In relation with
the communication, Amazon Inc. faces several challenges in 21st Century which were not in
frame till 20th Century. Communication tools are majorly used for spreading information
amongst the target audience so that they could be attracted towards organization. Purpose of
using advanced communication tools and techniques is to enhance the customer base, revenues
and the profitability so that distinct position could be developed and maintained in the target
market along with the attainment of competitive advantage (Weske, 2012). Several challenges
are being faced by Amazon due to ineffective communication. It could affect the productivity,
revenues, demand of organizational products and services and it could also affect job satisfaction
and reduce their morale. Amazon is known as complex, wide and huge company under which
chances of glitches, misunderstanding and error is high in comparison to the other companies.

Impact of Social Media 3
Different perceptions and unclear messages may lead to miscommunication at organizational as
well as at individual level. Communication failure occurs due to overload information, bad
timing, and unethical communication. In order to resolve the issues generated through
miscommunication, Amazon has created a separate team which takes feedback from the
consumers and analyse the environmental conditions so that the appropriate goals could easily be
attained (Bohnsack, Pinkse & Kolk, 2014).
Except communication, there is no filed where advancement is more established. In just 10-15
years, communication tools for businesses as well as for individuals have been changed. Changes
in the communication have affected businesses’ performance in both negative as well as in
positive manner. Forward thinking companies such as Amazon Inc. and other are evolving these
tools in their procedure which is an important characteristic in terms of sustainable business
development. It is very necessary to adopt and implement change in the functionalities to stand
strong in the competitive business environment. Keeping up with business communication trends
will help the businesses to know what they need to be doing right now as well as to be ready for
the future (Chen, Chiang & Storey, 2012). Following are the changes in business communication
which have impacted the business’ performance:
 Social Intranet Software: In recent times, adaptation of social intranet software is on the
rise. Major factor for the adaptation of this software are enthusiasm and engagement. Big
players of this software are Facebook and Twitter. Organizations have adopted Social
Intranet Software in their functionalities with the objective of making effective internal
communication system. Primary advantage of this software is that it is more comfortable
and convenient way to communicate with each other and it also allow everybody to share
their views, ideas, suggestions, etc. This software develops a feeling amongst the users
like they are crucial part of the organization (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
 Collaborative Online workspaces: Amazon has recognised the importance of group
network. Collaborative online workspaces have been replaced by traditional spaces.
Interaction and innovation are two crucial terms of these workplaces. With regard to give
importance to the creative ideas and innovative ideas, Amazon has taken a positive move
to support good work processes, diversity of thoughts of employees, and a good sense of
community. With the help of modern collaborative workspaces, small group interactions

Impact of Social Media 4
could be supported in less formal settings. Due to large spaces, small groups feel
uncomfortable and it also limits the effective internal communication. However, small
group workspaces lead to create meaning discussion along with originating unique ways
to share creative content (Kotter, 2012).
 Chat Services: Though, this service is bit old but it is still being used by various
companies as primary business communication tool. Resolving customer’s queries,
sharing information in the internal business environment and for various other purposes,
Chat service is being used by Amazon. In modern chat service, all types of media could
be sent such as video, audio messages, etc. Amazon uses this service in order to share
information amongst the departments and Chat is real-time while remaining modest,
hence its attraction (Kirschner, Buckingham-Shum & Carr, 2012).
 Video Conferencing: This tool exists in the market since 1980s but now it has been
adopted by business organizations with the motive of sharing information in effective
manner along with avoiding misunderstanding. With the help of video conferencing,
managers could conduct meetings with employees anywhere anytime in virtual rooms
(McNaughton & Light, 2013).
In recent years, method of performing business functions has been changed. In traditional times,
workplace was known as the physical work space where employees are working face-to-face in
fixed working time which is generally 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. However, now organizations are
performing at multiple locations, devices, hours and this has changed the norm for employees
and this is the reason why workforce is no longer confined to single workplace environment.
Amazon Inc. is present is most parts of the globe and for managing the wide range of
functionalities, CEO of the organization has adopted several trending communication tools so as
to share the information within the organization as well as for sharing information with the
consumers. In relation with this, Amazon has adopted digital workplace strategy. This strategy is
capable enough to manage the industrial changes along with the fulfilment of organizational,
governmental as well as the target audiences’ needs (Guffey & Loewy, 2010).
Amazon has combined technologies and digital workplace with regards to break the
communication barriers and this is the major factor for enhancing organizational efficiency.
Certain crucial business communication tools adopted by Amazon are Social Intranet Software,

Impact of Social Media 5
Chat Rooms/Group Messaging applications, Discussion forums, Issue/error tracking software,
Blogs, video conferencing, audio conferencing, etc. (Okoro, Washington & Cardon, 2011).
Intranet: Intranet is a private hub which could be accessed by any authorised user within the
business organization. Primary motive of this technique is to fulfil the requirements of internal
communication and collaboration. With the help of content management systems, Amazon is
building modern intranets so that non-technical staff could easily manage them. This software
helps the organization to make a flexible workforce and ensuring that the efforts of all employees
could be directed towards one direction in order to attain organizational desired goals and
objectives (Guffey & Loewy, 2012).
Chat & Private messaging applications: Collaborative spaces are the mediums through which
private and group messaging chat functions could be developed. As per Amazon’s perception,
this tool is considered the most crucial and effective as business communication. This tool helps
the teams to coordinate and interact with each other without putting much efforts and this tool
also plays crucial role for those employees who believe in performing rather speaking much.
Amazon Inc. has various functions to perform and due to busy schedule of company’s managers
and supervisors, this tool plays vital role in the success and growth of the organization. Instant
messages makes update on running projects along with making the general team discussion
much easier.
Discussion forums: Discussion forums are one of the old technologies but it is one of most
preferred business communication tools today. Discussion forum helps the Amazon to bring
upper level management and employees together with regards to share views on any topic. This
procedure generates perfect way along with an alternative to perform the task in the most
appropriate manner (Felix & Stolarz, 2013).
Apart from these techniques and procedures, organization also uses certain effective social media
platforms. These mediums are generally used for attracting target audience along with the
attainment of desired goals and objectives. Modern businesses also use social media and related
platforms in order to take feedbacks and reviews from the customers in relation with adaptation
of appropriate measures so that the quality of service could be enhanced along with developing
reliability for organization amongst the target audience (Wirtz, Schilke & Ullrich, 2010).

Impact of Social Media 6
From the aforesaid researches and findings, it can be concluded that social media plays vital role
in enhancing the performance of business communication tools. This essay concluded several
threat, challenges and opportunities faced by Amazon in relevance with the usage of social
media and other business communication methods in its operations. Under this essay, certain
areas have been addressed in relation to the impact of social media over contemporary business
communication.

Impact of Social Media 7
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Impact of Social Media 8
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