Effect of Social Media on Business Communication

Running head: EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
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1EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Introduction
Business communication is related to the sharing of information between the people
inside the organization or with the customers or stakeholders of the organization. This type of
communication mainly takes place to provide various commercial benefits to the
organization. The business communication related process of an organization encompasses
various departments which include, brand management, consumer behaviour, customer
relations, public relations, reputation management, employee engagement, interpersonal
communication (Schivinski and Dabrowski 2016). The various media channels that are used
for the purpose of business communication are internet or social media, radio, television,
print media, word of mouth and ambient media. Business communication can also be defined
as the ways by which the employees and the communicate with each other to discuss their
organizational goals. Business communication includes various types of ways which include,
video conferencing, web-based communication, reports, telephone meetings, presentations,
face-to-face meetings and forums (Ngai, Tao and Moon 2015).
The style of business communication has gone through many changes in the changing
business environment. The changes have occurred due to the increase that has taken place in
the demands of the consumers and the increase in the need to communicate with the
customers on a regular basis. These changes that have taken place in the process of
communication will be analysed based on the example of the Australian organization named
Woolworths. Woolworths has its operations in the Australian retail industry and holds the
topmost position in the market based on revenues that is generates from its retail based
operations (Kumar et al. 2016).

2EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Analysis of the changes that have taken place in business communication
The business organizations are moving with a faster pace as compared to the situation
in the previous times. The expectations of the organizations from the employees have also
increased in the process. The organizations are obsessed with speed to sustain their operations
successfully in the highly competitive market. The mobile communications and internet have
further affected the situation by increasing the speed of various processes. The process of
business communication is now based on short and crisp messages rather than the long
processes. The rapid advancement in the technologies have affected the communication
process in business organizations (Razmerita, Kirchner and Nielsen 2016).
The innovations in the business environment is expected to bring more changes in the
process of communication. The technology-driven transformation is used by the
organizations so that they are able to cut down the costs that are related to communication
with the customers and stakeholders. The increasing range of internet can provide a huge
technology platform to the organizations which can be helpful to facilitate the communication
processes. The continuous changing technologies are bringing dramatic changes in the
process of business communication (Godey et al. 2016). During the last ten years, the high
levels of technology advancements have taken place which have been able to provide new
direction to the trends of business communication. The technologies will further cause more
changes in the business communication related process in the various organizations. The
tools and the trends that are a part of business communication process deal with the
technological developments and the applications that pertain to the business processes
(Trainor et al. 2014).
The use of technology in business communication has increased the speed of the
process and the messages reach the target audience faster than before. The opportunities that

3EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
are provided due to the expansion of communication are also huge. The individuals are able
to communicate with each other and conduct a business relationship without even coming
face to face with each other. The use of technology has therefore affected the communication
related processes in a huge manner (Paniagua and Sapena 2014).
The business communication process is however facing many challenges in the
21st century which have affected the organizations in a negative manner. The use of
technology and social media for the communication related purposes have increased the
opportunities that are provided by the organizations. The social media platforms like
MySpace and Facebook have enabled easier process of communication between the
organizations and the stakeholders. This media however, has many negative effects on the
relationships that are developed between the various individuals in the business organizations
(Kane 2015). The security related threats are also major concern for the communication
process that is conducted with the help of social media. The productivity of the employees is
also reduced in some occasions due to the extensive usage of social media for the purpose of
communicating with each other. This can further cause a distraction in the work process of
the employees. The customers are sometimes highly worried about the privacy issues that are
related to the communication that takes place through the social media (Lipschultz 2014).
This can prevent the customers from using this media for the purpose of communicating with
the help of social media with the organizations. The return on the investment that is made by
the organizations on social media communication cannot be measured easily. The employees
form a major part of the brand image on social media and any wrong step taken by them on
the social media platforms can have negative effects on the reputation of the organizations.
The information that is communicated or shared by the organizations on social media are
totally out of their control. The sharing of wrong information can cause permanent damage to
the image of the brand (Felix, Rauschnabel and Hinsch 2017). The negative reviews that are