Advantages and Disadvantages of using social media in Business

This research paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using social media in businesses. It highlights the impact of social media on businesses and how it can be used effectively. The paper also includes a learning reflection, happenings of the learning process, evaluation of learning, and a plan for applying the learning process in practical life.

Advantages and Disadvantages of using social media in Business 1
Advantages and disadvantages of using social media in business
Assignment 3
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

Advantages and Disadvantages of using social media in Business 2
Learning reflection
Effectiveness and usefulness of the learning experience
This assignment was a research conducted on the topic ‘Advantages and disadvantages of
using social media in businesses’. The learning process is very effective and useful because
of the increased popularity of social media/ networks in business. The learning gained
through observations, research and data collection will create value as it will be helpful for
me to apply it in future. It is very important to tune ourselves as per the recent trends and
social networks are drastically changing our lives by connecting people and businesses
across the world. Social networks helps people to communicate and transform themselves
at the global platform (Kane, 2015).
How learning process is useful?
The learning gained from this research will help me in developing my final project report
using clear concepts and practical ideas. This will further help me in scoring better grades
and will assist me in clearing the program. The learning will further help me in my future in
terms of my career as social networks are present in each and every field nowadays and
learning about it will make me good in using it for the betterment of the business or
profession. It will also assist me in improving my connectivity with people in my personal life
which will make me a more confident person.
The knowledge gained about social networks and its benefits will help me in applying it in
my personal and professional life. I have learned that the advent of social media has
increased the social networking among people. It has also given a platform to the businesses
to interact with the target customers and influencing them. Social networks are significant
for the growth of business in current times because more than 70% of the customers are
influenced by any particular brand through social media (Marlow, et. al., 2015).
Happenings of the learning process
I was involved in collection of data for the purpose of completing this research. The data
collection was done by reading different books, recent journals, newspaper articles and

Advantages and Disadvantages of using social media in Business 3
online websites. I read that the use of social networking is playing a much larger role in the
current business systems. I also experienced while interviewing the four business
organizations that people were using social networks for their personal and professional use
but were not so aware about its advantages and disadvantages both. The observations
made clearly shows that social media provides a boost to the brand awareness among
general public. It increases the inbound traffic at the websites of the companies and
increases the conversion rate of target customers (Bowers, 2017).
I also observed that using social networks consumes a large amount of time which
decreases the actual productivity. It can also lead to negative publicity because of which the
company’s reputation may get hampered (Tiwari, 2012). I heard people saying during the
interview that lot of people use social networking just to connect with each other personally
and not for watching any advertisements or brand pages on social media sites. But from my
personal experience, I think social media has increased the total target market for the
businesses and it is now easier for the businesses to reach the potential customers and to
convert them into actual customers.
Evaluation of learning
This business research was very useful for my learning process as it helps me in improving
my skills which are required for the better personal and professional life. These skills include
team management, communication skills, interpersonal skills, reading habits, critical
thinking, research and development knowledge and more (Sekaran and Bougie, 2016).
These skills will further be applied in the meetings, decision taking situations and business
processes in future. During my coursework, these skills will help me to communicate about
the research project in a better way to my batch mates and to my professors. This will also
show up confidence in me which was lacking before making this project.
How was the learning process?
For developing this research, I divided it in two parts. I took up assignment 1 and 2 to
segregate the understanding gained on research methodology and data collection. These
assignments helped me in gaining new insights about social media and networking. Data
and statistics were used so that the research could look genuine. The learning process

Advantages and Disadvantages of using social media in Business 4
started when the topic was selected and after that I prepared an action plan to carry out
each activity of the research in the given time duration. Data collection was the next process
in which I have gone through various primary and secondary sources to collect enough data
to conclude the research. This data was analyzed afterwards so that proper conclusions can
be derived.
Data collection is an important process after which I sorted data and analyzed it through
statistical tools like SPSS and MS excel. This helped me in realizing the importance of these
statistical tools. These tools will be helpful for me in future too when I have to analyses the
data for coming to a conclusion or decision. After the data analysis, I reached conclusions
and gave recommendations on the basis of that. This is all happened during the learning
process where I got to learn various new insights and had chance to work with different
people with new experiences and knowledge.
Plan for applying the learning process in practical life
This learning will further be applied in the future in the form of my better performance
during course and profession. I can use this information and learning for taking up further
courses in social media which will help in widening up the opportunities for me in this field.
This is a recent trend which is used by almost every business nowadays so the scope of using
this learning will be broad. This learning will be applied firstly to my project report made for
getting good grades in my course. This will further be applied in my professional life. I could
take further training in the subject so that I could seek my career in this field.

Advantages and Disadvantages of using social media in Business 5
References
Bowers, J., 2017. Social Media for Business: A Marketer's Guide. Business News Daily.
Kane, G.C., 2015. Enterprise social media: Current capabilities and future possibilities. MIS
Quarterly Executive, 14(1).
Marlow, C., Davis, M., Sample, N., Curtis, M., Kennedy, R., Krishnappa, Y., Wroblewski, L.,
Boerries, M. and Hayashi, J., Yahoo! Inc, 2015. Identifying and employing social network
relationships. U.S. Patent 8,954,500.
Sekaran, U and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach.
John Wiley & Sons.
Tiwari, H., 2012. Pros and Cons Of Social Networking Sites. International Journal for Science
and Emerging Technologies with Latest Trends, 1(1).