Social Network Analysis and Applications

This assignment delves into the field of social network analysis (SNA). Students are required to analyze provided research papers that utilize SNA in diverse domains such as marketing, education, and cybercrime. The task involves critically evaluating the methodologies employed, the findings obtained, and the implications of SNA for understanding social phenomena.

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Name
University
Course
Instructor
Date
Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Social Networking in Car Sales
Introduction
Social networking can basically be defined as the use of websites or other
applications found on electronic devices to interact, share, and socialize with other people who
have the same interest. Due to advancement in technology, social networking has been at its peak
with many people using it daily to achieve different goals. Many people use social networking to
sell or advertise their products while others use it to advertise their services. By use of social
networking, many companies have achieved their goals and hence making it one of the best
methods to use for any company to increase profits. There are many sites which teach how to
carry out social networking and be successful and many people enroll in those sites to sharpen
their skills.
The first social media site was developed in 1997 and was in existence till 2001 and it
was called the six degrees (Holmes and O’loughlin 2014). Since then it has experienced a
gradual development and has advanced. This study is designed to evaluate the advantages and
disadvantages of using the social media sites for car sales. Many customers who want to buy
cars base their search on social media sites and in a research done it was found that many of their

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car buyers want the social media to evaluate the type they want and the cost associated with that
type (TyreeHageman et al. 2014). This research will evaluate the advantages and disadvantages
of using the social networking in car sales.
Research objectives
The main objective of this study is to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using
social media for car sales. The following are the other secondary objectives of the study.
1. To access the attitude of customers towards social networking in regard to car sales.
2. To determine if there is an increase in car sales contributed by social networking.
3. To research if many car dealers prefer the use of social networking to market the product
or not
4. To evaluate if the use of social networking has positively or negatively impacted the sales
of cars.
Project scope
This study will be based on the use of social networking for car sales and will not include
any other form of car sales. Also, the study will majorly focus on the advantages and
disadvantages of this method of car sales. The study will be carried out globally by use of the
online survey.

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Literature review
The use of social media has impacted many businesses in the world. Since the
development of social networking from 1997 many businesses have experienced development
and have gained a lot of profit due to its use. From that time many companies have transformed
from analog to digital marketing whereby they use the internet to market their products (Shaw
2014). Other companies like Amazon and Alibaba have based their sales on the internet only
and hence becoming more successful. Also, social networking has not been left out in
advertising the services many people or companies offer.
The social network analysis
This is the process of investigating the structure of networks based on the graph theory to
know how well or bad the structures are (Scott 2017). It involves analysis of people or things in
the network based on sociology to know the attitude or the perception of those people and the
things present in the network at that time. This analysis has its origin from sociologists who
lived many years ago like George Simmel and Emile (Mc Carty and Molina 2015). The method
of analysis was used early 20th century and its main goal was to analyze the relationship
between social groups. This analysis is also in existence today and it helps those people who
want to use social networking understand the best methods to adopt for them to be successful.
In addition, social network analysis makes it possible for any marketers to know the best market
and the best buyers to target. It is done by qualified statisticians who have knowledge in
sociology and who can understand the attitude of people in a good way.
How to carry out Social marketing in the best way
There are many factors which one should consider before they start social media
marketing. The first factor is the social media measurement. Social media measurement

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includes the use of analysis tools like surveys to measure the available market before you
engage into the marketing strategy. This helps in understanding the investment which should be
included in the marketing strategy. Another factor is the social network aggregation which
includes the measurement of the best sites which have the target population. This helps in
understanding which site one should do more advertisements.
Another factor to consider before you start social networking is the cost associated with
the advertisements so as to avoid loss and other related unnecessary costs. This helps in
reducing the losses which may occur.
Advantages of social networking
There are many advantages associated with social networking. The following discusions
will highlight some of those advantages and explain how they are important.
High speed and efficiency
Social networking has made communication very easy since one can communicate with
another person who is far away in just a few seconds. In a recent research, it showed that
communication speed had increased more than three times due to the availability of social
media sites like facebook, twitter, and emails among others (Chu and Du 2013). Due to the
increased speed, many companies make sales very fast and also customers find it very easy to
get the items they want.
Reliability
Many people value the use of social media for easy access to commodities. They argue
that it is more reliable and less expensive as compared to other forms of travelling cost and
other associated costs have been minimized. This makes it very easy and more reliable hence
making many people and companies adopt the system of social networking.

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Disadvantages of social networking
Social marketing also has some disadvantages. The first disadvantage is cybercrime. Due
to development of technology cybercrime has also increased and this has led to the loss of
confidence as many people fear to be victims of this crime. Many sites which do online
marketing are viewed as scams and hence people don’t want to be associated with them. Cyber
security has failed to control cybercrime (Broadhust et al. 2014). Cybercrime is sometimes
carried out by the people who also practice cyber security hence making it very hard to curb the
vice.
Another disadvantage of social networking is lack of knowledge in the field. Many
people when they hear social networking they think that it is easy and that they should jump
into it without even consulting (Carins and Rundle 2014). When they join and invest in it they
end up getting loss due to lack of knowledge.
The attitude of people is another disadvantage. Many people are ignorant and they
believe that social marketing or anything related to the internet is not good and is composed of
many vices which should not be accepted in the society. This makes it very hard to convince
them to join social media platforms and hence those people may be the targeted customers for a
certain commodity and if that happens then the dealers may lack customers if social marketing
id the only method to advertise their products.
In addition, many people may not be willing to join social media platforms because they
don’t have the instagramtime or they don’t know how to join them. Others may not be willing to
join them and hence making it hard to do the social marketing.

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Social media and car dealers
Many car dealers have adopted the use of social networking to carry out their business.
Many of them use social sites like Facebook, Instagram, twitter, and other sites to do
advertisements. In the process of carrying out the advertisements, they are also able to know
their competitors (Armstrong et al. 2014). They use these platforms to upload new models so as
to attract customers (JelenChick et al. 2013). Though the networking is used to get customers it
also makes them aware of the best seasons to carry out the marketing.
The car dealers post pictures on those sites and the people who are attracted end up
sharing those pictures on their pages hence making them visible to other people. Through this
process, much people are reached and hence making the business grow at a high rate. In a
situation whereby a customer buys, the dealers may ship the car to the customer’s residence area
hence making it easy for him or her get the product fast. This leads the customer to recommend
much more people to shop with that dealer. This is one of the most important factors which
have made car dealers to be motivated to use social networking to carry out their business. The
platforms also benefit from these transactions and they become popular hence they also grow
and accommodate many customers. Based on this information, it is very important to carry out
a study to access the advantages and disadvantages of social networking for car dealers and that
is what the study is based on.
Research questions
The primary research question of this study is “What are the advantages and disadvantages
of using social networking on car sales?” The following are the other research questions of
the study.

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1. What is the attitude of customers towards the use of social networking in regard to car
sales?
2. Is there an increase in car sales contributed by social networking?
3. Do many car dealers prefer the use of social networking to advertise their cars?
4. Has social networking positively or negatively impacted car dealers?
Research hypothesis
1. H0 customers have negative attitude towards social networking in regard to car sales
Ha customers have a positive attitude towards social networking in regard to car sales
2. H0 there is no increase in car sales contributed by social networking
Ha there is increased car sales contributed by social networking
3. H0 many car dealers do not prefer the use of social networks to advertise their cars
Ha many car dealers prefer the use of social networks to advertise their cars
4. H0 social networking has negatively impacted car sales
Ha social networking has positively impacted car sales

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Research methodology
Research methodology is the process which is used to collect data and analyze it so as to
be able to make business decisions based on the data (Mackey and Gass 2015). This
methodology should be scientific and verifiable. Also, it should be empirical and based on
mathematical and statistical models. The following discussion will explain the methodology of
this study.
Research type
This research will be a quantitative research. There are twelve steps which should be
followed while carrying out a quantitative research. The following is a discussion of the twelve
steps of a quantitative research.
The first step is the formulation of the research problem. The researcher comes up with
the problem which he or she wants to base the study on. The problem should be empirical and
researchable (Brihla 2016). It should also be a real problem and which when researched on can
benefit people. The second step is the formulation of the research objectives. In this step, the
researcher comes up with the objectives he or she wants to meet after the research (Ramdhani et
al. 2014). There follows the step of the scope of the study. in this step, the researcher explains
well where the research will be conducted and gives a justification as to the chosen area to carry
out the study is of interest.
There follows the step of developing the research hypothesis which will be proved either
wrong or correct by the data collected in the process of carrying out the research. The research
hypothesis should match with the literature review and the objectives of the study so as to make
them scientific hence making the research verifiable and reliable. The hypothesis should also be
testable.

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The next step is the literature review. In this step, the researcher critically evaluates the
existing literature under the topic of study. This gives the researcher a solid background of the
topic and also enables him or her to be able to identify the gaps in the literature (Abbatielo et al.
2015). Then it follows the step of coming up with a research design which will be used in the
study. In this step, the researcher comes up with the design of the study and explains why he
chose to use it.
The next step is the selection of sample size. The researcher explains the participants who
will be included in the study and why they will be included. He or she also explains why the
sample size has been decided to be a given number (Hesse-Biber 2013). The sample size is the
main determinant of a study and should be selected carefully. Then it follows the process of data
collection. In this step, the researcher collects data in the defined rules of the study. The data is
then presented for analysis. in the step of analysis it where the data is transformed to digital and
analyzed to make it’s information and get insights from it. The last step is the communication of
the findings and recommendation. The researcher in these steps communicates the findings of
the research and gives recommendations of what should be done.
Research design
This is the conceptual framework within which the study is carried on. It includes a
blueprint of data collection and analysis (Harrison 2013). This study will use descriptive design
where data will be collected by use of a questionnaire based on an online survey.

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The target population
The target population of this study will be online car dealers. The researcher will conduct
different sites which sell cars through networking and request them to fill survey questions
which will be used for analysis. There will be a designed questionnaire which will be used to
carry out the survey.
Sampling procedures and sample size
The research will include a sample size of 300 participants who will fill the
survey questions. However, there will be no sampling method which will be used because
the data will be collected online by use of a survey and hence there will be no sample
selection. But there will be rules which will guide the participants to be included. Their
participants must be car dealers and specifically doing the business online. They should
also be willing to fill the survey. The survey will only be posted on sites which are
composed of car dealers.
Instrumentation
The questionnaire will be the only tool for data collection and the questionnaires
will be posted online on the sites which are composed of car dealers. The researcher will
request them to fill the questionnaires. Once the limit of 300 participants will be reached,
the researcher will collect the data and make it ready for analysis.
Research limitations
This research, has few limitations. The first limitation is that some of the car
dealers may not be willing to participate in the study hence important information may be
lost. The second limitation is that the data may not be more reliable since it will be
collected online and some people may fill the questioners and they are not car dealers.

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Time schedule
This research will be carried on for a period of two months. the following is the time
schedule of the study.
the first month
first week understanding theoretical
part of the study
second
week
designing the
questionnaire
third week uploading the
questionnaire to sites of
car dealers
fourth
week
monitoring the progress of
the data collection online
the second month
first week retrieving the data for
analysis
second
week
data analysis
third week communications of the
findings
fourth
week
communication of the
recommendation
`

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Conclusion
In conclusion, this study will be scientific and its main goal will be to determine the
advantages and disadvantages of social networking for car dealers. The research will be carried
out in the car dealer’s sites so as to get legit information and make it reliable. Car dealers will be
requested to fill out the questionnaires so as to get genuine data for the study.

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References
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