Business Research Report: Social Networks in Business - Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing social networks in a business context, with a specific focus on the telecommunications industry. It begins by highlighting the significance of social media as a crucial channel for business promotion, emphasizing its cost-effectiveness in reaching target customers. The report then explores the project objectives and scope, followed by a literature review that examines the impact of social media on businesses. The study delves into the various applications of social media in business, including different social networking methods such as public social networks, social extranets, and employee networks. It then details the advantages of social networking, such as worldwide connectivity, commonality of interests, real-time information sharing, and increased news cycle speed. Conversely, the report discusses the disadvantages, including time intensiveness, lack of control over feedback, distant and local business fans, and risks associated with identity theft. The report concludes by assessing the overall impact of social networking on business sustainability, emphasizing the importance of strategic usage and security measures. The report underscores the need for businesses to balance the positive aspects of social media with its potential drawbacks to maintain a competitive edge and ensure long-term success.

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH
Advantages and Disadvantages of using Social Networks in Business
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Project Objective.............................................................................................................................2
Project Scope...................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review............................................................................................................................2
Use of Social Media in Business.....................................................................................................3
Social Networking Methods............................................................................................................4
Advantages of using social networking...........................................................................................5
Disadvantages of Social Networking Process.................................................................................6
Impact of Social Networking on business sustainability.................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Social media is one of the most significant channels of promoting business. This
inexpensive way of promoting the business and gathering the customer base is much beneficial
for the company (Jussila, Kärkkäinen & Aramo-Immonen, 2014). The business can reach to the
right customers through the social networking mediums. In spite of the positive contributions,
use of social media has some of the recognizable disadvantages as well. The study would explore
the consequences faced by Telstra in using social networks for the business. The identification of
the advantages and disadvantages would be presented in this research project.
Project Objective
The objective of the project is to identify the significant pros and cons that Telstra has
been dealing with while using the social network systems for the business purposes.
Project Scope
The information gathered from the project would develop the clear ideas regarding the
exclusive benefits and devastating disadvantages of using social network. This information
would be used as the secondary research data for the similar project work in future.
Literature Review
Social media is the most advanced and modern tool for the business marketers that are
trying to reach to their target customers. It is true that the social networking process has the
positive contribution to the business purposes (Trainor et al., 2014). Similarly, the misuse of the
social networks can cause harm to the business in a significant way. The literature study would

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present the structured information related to the significance of using this promotional medium
to gather customer supports. The benefits and disadvantages of social networking sites would be
discussed in this literature review section.
Use of Social Media in Business
In current scenario, it has been observed that people spend most of their time on internet.
The development of the sophisticated trends has made the customer dealing in an easier way.
Promoting the business through the social media sites is much helpful for the business marketers
(Leftheriotis & Giannakos, 2014). The customers prefer searching the information regarding the
business brand through online sources. The major motto of social networking is to connect
people largely and making them aware of any specific brand, product, or services. The use and
role of social networking process in business world is widely discussed topic. Internet is one of
the most beneficial advanced technologies that provide the better opportunities to the business
marketers to promote their business to the target customers. By sharing the thoughts over the
internet sources, the business marketers can find out their target customers. It is to be specified
that the telecom industry is highly competitive (Luo & Zhong, 2015). The best internet
connection service ensures more money in this industry since people tend to deal with the
beneficial service and product specifications.
In majority cases, it has been observed that the telecom companies generally offer the
similar type of services. Therefore, it becomes quite difficult to differentiate from the
competitors. In such cases, the improved and well-developed social networking process would be
much beneficial for the telecommunication company to increase the customer base (Tsimonis &
Dimitriadis, 2014). Managing the communication through the social networking is much

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beneficial. Especially, in order to remain more competitive, this technique is much useful for the
business marketers. However, unlike the other business strategies, the social networking system
also has the pros and cons in it. Making the rational and significant use though using different
approaches to overcome the challenges is necessary to participate in this competitive scenario
(Fan & Gordon, 2014). There are various types of the social networks that the businesses are
using for connecting to their target customers. The further section of the literature would explore
these mediums/
Social Networking Methods
There are three distinct type social networks available in the business. These methods of
social networking methods are served for improving the business communications with the
internal and external stakeholders. These three social networking methods are as follows:
Public Social Network: Companies sometimes use Twitter and Facebook for connecting
people worldwide. They share their expectations, experiences and demands through these social
media sites. Hence, the business finds it easier to communication with the diverse people from
different parts of the world. LinkedIn is another most useful network that includes the business
profiles (Tiago & Veríssimo, 2014). However, this social media site is used by the service
professionals for contacting the business employees worldwide.
Social Extranets: Social extranets facilitate the collaboration and communication with
the potential customers through the private business-to-business networks. Majority of the
businesses use this process for communicating with the B2B customers.

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Employee Networks: The employee networks are usually used for maintaining the
internal communication among the employees. The millions of users receive this facility of
contacting the service professionals through such social networking process.
Advantages of using social networking
It is to be stated that social networking process has transformed the business
communication in today’s world (Dijkmans, Kerkhof & Beukeboom, 2015). People are much
influenced by the social media promotional aspects that are enabling the filter search regarding
the necessary information. The companies can avail the advantages of social networking that are
discussed further:
Enables the worldwide connectivity
Social networking sites are the most significant platforms for connecting people
worldwide. Every day, millions of customers are surfing internet and looking for the information
as per their requirements. Therefore, the business promotions become much easier for the service
companies. The promotions through social networking sites is the most helpful and inexpensive
way of attracting more customers towards the brand.
Commonality of Interests
When the business companies opt to participate in the social network community, it
becomes easier to pick the customers with similar likes and dislikes. It is one of the most helpful
ways of building commonalities. In fact, the method can be used for sharing tips and ideas. The
telecommunication industry can promote the innovative data plans or specific service facilities

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through the social networking process (Leftheriotis & Giannakos, 2014). Therefore, it would be
easier to understand the preferences of the customers in selecting any data offer.
Real Time Information Sharing
It has been observed that many of the social networking sites include the feature of
instant messaging. This instant messaging system is utilized by the people for sharing
information or exchanging information through a chat. The managers can even use this technique
to arrange meetings or conferences. Business people usually use such means for interacting with
the target customers or other clients.
Increasing the News Cycle Speed
According to Laroche, Habibi and Richard (2013), currently, the social networking
methods have brought revolutions to the speed of the news cycle. Majority of the information or
news are collected from the social networking sites. Moreover, it is used for sharing a large
number of information as well. This transformation has led towards the development of the
instantaneous news cycle. People share their expectations, experiences and demands through
these social media sites (Kasemsap, 2014). This process is really helpful for identifying the
social issues or any news linked with the business aspects. Availing these advantages is
transforming the business promotions. Moreover, the businesses are much benefitted by the
usefulness of the social networking process. On the contrary, the social media marketing is also
much troublesome for the business marketers. The disadvantages of the social networking
process are described further:

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Disadvantages of Social Networking Process
In current business world, the marketers find out an array of choices with the continuous
increases in the social networking usage. Millions of customers spend time on internet every day
and it benefits the business marketers (Okazaki & Taylor, 2013). However, some of the
drawbacks are also much recognizable.
Time Intensive
Social networking process is generally focusing on establishing the long-term
relationship with the customers for generating more sales revenue (Tomše & Snoj, 2014). It is
essential to appoint one person to monitor each network, answer to the questions, respond to
comments, and post the adequate information related to the product specification. It is quite
difficult for a person to monitor these activities that are necessary for the businesses.
Lack of proper control over the feedback
Social networking process turns out to be the biggest disadvantage for the marketers due
to the negative responses of the customers. The freedom of sharing the feelings is the most
common feature of the social networking sites. Business marketers sometimes even fail to satisfy
each of the customers. Therefore, when the marketers cannot make the customers happy with any
specific feature, there is the possibility of posting the negative feedbacks (Thomas et al., 2016).
These negative feedbacks are highly influencing others and fueling the negative ‘word of
mouth’. It is quite troublesome for the maintaining the business reputation since the marketers
lack the control over these negative feedbacks.
Distant and local business fans

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The emergence of social networking process has provided the opportunities to operate
through online sources. These business operators do not need to pay any advertising cost for
targeting the right customers. This frequency is availed by majority of the business marketers in
a repetitive way. Many of the customers do not trust dealing online (Tiago & Veríssimo, 2014).
They prefer dealing with the products or services through local customers. Hence, the social
networking through online sites is sometimes disadvantageous.
Identity Theft or Risk of Fraud
The business marketers post the information that is publicly visible. The increasing
number of the cyber crime is quite a threat to business. The online hacker can easily get the
information and they might misuse the websites. The business marketers may face real
difficulties in dealing with such risks (Dijkmans, Kerkhof & Beukeboom, 2015). Moreover, it
creates the long term reputational damage, which is a significant threat to the company. Hence,
in such cases, the use of the social networking is a recognizable threat to the business marketers.
Impact of Social Networking on business sustainability
The above discussion signifies that in spite of the positive contribution towards
increasing number of customer base, use of social networking sites can be much disadvantageous
for the business marketers. However, it depends on the proper usage and the level of security. If
the business marketers tend to focus on satisfying the customers with their products and services,
it is essential to generate the feedback regarding their demands and necessities. Managing the
communication through the social networking is much beneficial. Especially, in order to remain
more competitive, this technique is much useful for the business marketers (Tiago & Veríssimo,
2014). However, unlike the other business strategies, the social networking system also has the

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pros and cons in it. Making the rational and significant use though using different approaches to
overcome the challenges is necessary to participate in this competitive scenario. The impact of
the social networking is widely accepted techniques. While connecting people worldwide, the
business marketers become aware of their demands and expectations (Dijkmans, Kerkhof &
Beukeboom, 2015). Hence, it is persuading them to introduce the diverse products and services
that help the company to secure and sustain the competitive position. Hence, the feedback
received and communication through the social networking process is much significant for the
business. Simultaneously, it is even essential for the business marketers to be cautious about the
negative aspects.
Conclusion
The study explores the positive and negative features of using social networking in the
business with special reference to Telstra. The telecommunication companies often sell the
similar type of products and services that are difficult to differentiate. In such cases, using the
social networking process to gather more customer buzz and remain competitive is much fruitful.
This inexpensive way of promoting business has the significant contribution on increasing
customer base. Internet is one of the most beneficial advanced technologies that provide the
better opportunities to the business marketers to promote their business to the target customers.
By sharing the thoughts over the internet sources, the business marketers can find out their target
customers. However, the negative consequences such as fraudulent act can also be threatening to
the business marketers. However, the impact of social networking on business is much
appreciable.

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References
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