Social Media and Knowledge Management: Benefits and Risks

Running Head: Knowledge Management
Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management 1
Contents
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................2
2.0 Social Media and Knowledge Management.........................................................................2
2.1 Social Media.....................................................................................................................2
2.2 Knowledge Sharing...........................................................................................................3
2.3 Building Social Capital.....................................................................................................4
2.4 Supporting Innovation......................................................................................................4
2.5 Aiding Problem – Solving.................................................................................................5
3.0 Benefits of Social Media......................................................................................................6
3.1 Marketing with Social Media............................................................................................6
3.2 Increased Exposure/ Brand Awareness.............................................................................6
3.2 Competitor Research.........................................................................................................7
4.0 Risk of Social Media............................................................................................................7
4.1 Phishing Scams.................................................................................................................7
4.2 Data Collection, Protection and Security..........................................................................7
4.3 Reputation Management...................................................................................................7
5.0 Conclusion and Recommendation........................................................................................8
6.0 References.............................................................................................................................9

Knowledge Management 2
1.0 Introduction
Knowledge management is a multidisciplinary approach used by the organizations for the
achievement of its objectives by way of utilizing knowledge in the best possible manner. It is a
process of creating, managing, sharing and using knowledge and information associated with an
organization. The exchange of knowledge among different organizations, communities and
people is termed as knowledge sharing (Donate and Sanchez de Pablo 2015).
Social media provides a platform for millions of users to interact with each other on daily basis.
Social media has gained immense popularity with the passage of time and is increasingly being
used by the multinational organizations for the purpose of enhancing their image. It also plays a
key role in shaping up of the organization. This is done for the purpose of encouraging the
employees of the organization to interact socially so that new ideas can be generated which in
turn have the capability of leading the organization towards a new direction.
2.0 Social Media and Knowledge Management
Knowledge management can be defined as the systematic management of the knowledge assets
of the organization for value creation and fulfillment of strategic and tactical requirements
(Webb 2017)There is a relationship between social media and knowledge management as social
media enables knowledge sharing and supports a number of knowledge management practices.
Social media allows the companies to incorporate knowledge management and organizational
learning by gaining knowledge from the experiences of the companies and using such knowledge
for the improvement in the products and services.
2.1 Social Media
Social media can be defined as a computer-based application that makes the use of the internet
with the help of information can be exchanged between the users (Bretschneider and Parker
2016). Web 2.0 is the current online technology which offers greater collaboration and user
interactivity, enhanced communication channels and more persuasive network connectivity. It is
advantageous in case of social media as it allows the expansion of the social contacts of the
business by building connections through individuals.

Knowledge Management 3
The traditional marketing tactics such as public relations, advertisings and publicities have
changed completely after the emergence of social media. Social media platforms such as
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are widely used by individuals and organizations. For the
effective marketing of the products, organizations have started using these platforms. Effective
communication in the organization can perform the task of reducing uncertainty and ambiguity
of the business. Moreover, social media acts as the shortest route for the marketing and
communication for an organization (Du Plessis 2007).
2.2 Knowledge Sharing
Most of the multinational organizations encourage knowledge and information sharing among
the employees and allows them to access intellectual capital. Such practices are followed in a
number of organizations and the employees are rewarded for the actions undertaken by them. For
example, in IBM, employees are rewarded for encouraging them to share knowledge. The
company is being further developed as a result of this initiative of the company (Wang, Noe, and
Wang 2014).
Knowledge sharing allows the knowledge of the individuals to get transferred to the company
which in turn results in the generation of innovative ideas within individuals and ultimately leads
to enrichment of the organization. It further assists the organization in facing competition from
other major market players. Multinational organizations are capable of gathering information
along with improving them for the purpose of keeping up with the customers. Therefore, the
organizations are able to win the competition against the competitors in the market and can
easily achieve the goal (Bharati Zhang and Chaudhury 2015).
Interactive individuals are more capable of producing creative knowledge. Multinational
organizations such as P&G have developed pages on the social media so that the customers can
easily follow the companies on the social networking sites and can share valuable information
related to the products of the organization. Moreover, the company can also share facts and
information for publicizing the products.
Social media encourages multinational organizations for effectively communicating with the
clients and other prospective customers and to find out their personal views through instant