Using Social Media in the Workplace | Communication

Running Head: USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE WORKPLACE TO COMMUNICATE 1
Using Social Media in the workplace to communicate
Author’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Date

USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE WORKPLACE TO COMMUNICATE 2
Using Social Media in the workplace to communicate
Introduction
Today, employers use social media sites like YouTube, Twitter, Whatsapp Facebook,
LinkedIn, Google +and Pinterest to communicate to their employees. This follows an exploding
growth of social media, and diminishing reliance on verbal communication and decreasing
human contact in the workplace. However, mainly employees would prefer using Twitter and
Facebook to pass on certain information to their employees. Even though some employers find
the use of social media disruptive and subject to abuse, they still have to use it. Social media is
the in thing that a modern organization like Bunzl Plc cannot eliminate from its communication.
In essence, this report seeks to explore use of social media at Bunzl Australasia ltd. The company
deals in a variety of goods such as catering equipment, food packaging, food service, disposable
tableware among other products. This organization is an affiliate of Bunzl Plc, a British company
that mainly offers outsourcing services. In trying to understand use of social media at Bunzl
Australasia ltd, the communication strategy I have chosen is communicating for a response. In
addition, this assignment seeks to address two groups. The first audience being targeted in this
report is employers. Social media can only be used once an employer authorizes it, and therefore
this report addresses employers on how they can leverage this communication platform. The
second audience involves students who will use social media in the work environment to respond
to employers’ enquiries or statement.
Discussion
To explore use of social media at Bunzl Australasia the following headlines will be
explored.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE WORKPLACE TO COMMUNICATE 3
Impact of social media on organization communication
In this case, the focus would be to give an insight into how Social media has
revolutionized organizational communication in a magical way. Indubitably, today, employers
are exploiting social media platforms to communicate with their employees rather than engage
them one on one. It is without a doubt that the exploding growth of this digital technology is
being embraced by a majority of organizations ostensibly to improve their communication with
employees.
Advantages of social media in the workplace
In this section, the focus would be to understand some of possible advantages
contributing to the use of this technology. Employers are adopting social media use in the
workplace because of its advantages. Some of the most notable advantages of using social media
include: very fast and reliable, more informal, allows employees to ask questions and find
solutions, It builds relationships since it allows employees to network, it is easy to use and cost-
effective to a majority of employers, appealing to tech-savvy employees and bolsters
transparency (Aguenza et al.,2012).
Disadvantages of use of social media in the workplace
Use of social media has its own downsides that sometimes scare some employers from
using it. In the event an organization uses a social site like Facebook to communicate with its
employees, it is most likely some would not feel comfortable with such a platform (SHRM,
2016). Ideally, the most notable disadvantages of using social in the workplace include, only
appeals to a section of employees who are tech-savvy, diminishes face to face communication,