Advantages and Disadvantages of Utilizing Social Networks in Business

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing social networks in a business context. It begins with an introduction highlighting the growing importance of social media for customer engagement and data generation. The report outlines the project objectives, which include discerning the benefits and drawbacks of social networking, assessing its advantages, and considering its future scope. The project scope is limited to the study of social networking concepts and their impact on businesses. A thorough literature review examines popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, discussing their features, benefits, and criticisms. The research employs a deductive approach with a quantitative methodology, using surveys to collect primary data from employees and managers, along with secondary data from scholarly articles. The study formulates hypotheses to investigate the benefits of social networking outweighing the drawbacks and the recommendation of social networking services for organizations. The research design includes a sample size of 200 respondents, employing simple random sampling and questionnaire design with various measurement scales. The data analysis process involves descriptive statistics and regression tests. Research limitations include the sample size and focus on specific aspects of social networking. The project is scheduled to be completed within six months, covering research formulation, methodology, data collection, analysis, and publication.

Running head: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING SOCIAL NETWORKS
IN BUSINESS
Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Social Networks in Business
Name of Student:
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................2
2. Project Objective.....................................................................................................................2
3. Project Scope...........................................................................................................................3
4. Literature Review....................................................................................................................3
5. Research Questions/Hypothesis...............................................................................................6
6. Research Design and Methodology.........................................................................................7
7. Research Limitations................................................................................................................8
8. Time Schedule..........................................................................................................................9
9. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................10
10. References...............................................................................................................................11

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1. Introduction
Social media has been identified as one of the most effective platforms to generate data
for the customer in real time. In general the increasing interest of the people for the social
media has been seen to be evident with more than 600 million Tweets, 95 million of photo
and video has been seen to be uploaded on Instagram. Some of the main advantages of social
media have been identified with the use of social listening and the use of relevant
information on the customers (Thornton, Henneberg and Naudé 2015).
The main aspects of the report has been able to focus on the significant advantages on the
use of cloud computing. The main section of the study has been further able to associate the
review of the existing literature, project objective and scope of the project based on the
formulation of the hypothesis. Furthermore, the research has been able to consider the
methodology and design of the research to analyse data. The last section of the study will be
able to enumerate on the time constraints and resource limitation for the research plan.
2. Project Objective
The main aspects of the research will be able to highlight on the negative and positive aspects
of social networking in business. The objectives of the research are stated as follows:
 To discern the advantages of social networking in a business
 To assess the significant advantages of social networking in a business
 To consider the future scope of social networking in a business entity.
 To ascertain the drawback of social networking for the individuals.

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3. Project Scope
The important scope of the study has been constrained to the study of social networking
and the various types of the related concepts along with it. The main scope of the study has
been further able discern about the various types of the consideration which has been seen to
be taken based on the drawbacks and the advantages of Social networking in a business.
4. Literature Review
The important consideration of the literature review for the study has been discussed with the
different social media platforms along with ascertaining the drawbacks and the benefits of social
networking in business.
The increasing nature of the public for the use of social media networks has been seen
with individuals responding to the business needs which have been seen to be used in the social
platforms. The main form of the marketing needs to be taken into account based on the
considerations of social media which has been seen to be published in every platform. The
various types of the choice of the social media platforms will be able to interact with the needs of
the customers and be able to familiarize with the audience. Some of the most popular social
media platforms has been discussed below as follows:
Facebook
Facebook is identified as one of the biggest platform in terms of recognizing name and
the total users. In 13 years since the launch of Facebook, the company has seen to grow from
simple website for connecting friends, colleagues and relatives and transform to a multifaceted
web and mobile social platform, in which the users are able to stay in touch with celebrities,

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business and organization through the features of Facebook pages (Zamudio, Anokhin and
Kellermanns 2014).
By the consideration of the application as a wealth option, Facebook has been identified as
the starting point for the business not considering the industry. Facebook has been seen to be
ideal for sharing video, photo and seen to be important for maintaining the social network.
Whether the post is seen to be made daily or weekly, Facebook has been considered to be ideal
for business requirements (Bharadwaj et al. 2013).
Facebook has been often identified with several criticisms which are related to the privacy
and security of the information. In various cases Facebook has been identified with several
drawbacks for fake accounts (Halinen, Törnroos and Elo 2013).
Twitter
The most prominent feature of Twitter has been identified with short text updates of 140
characters. This has been seen to be ranging from the various types of the information which has
been seen to be evident in from the use of the media such as polls, images, videos and links
which has been seen with consideration of the business. This platform has been further seen to be
conducive for interacting with the users in the posts. Twitter has been further seen to be a great
way to quickly connects with the people all over the globe (Qu et al. 2013).
This particular social media platform has been seen with a total average of 328 million
active users all around the globe from the top ten websites in United States. Due to the wide
reach the platform which can be not only considered as a wide way to reach the audience but also
identified as an effective channel for customer handling process. For instance, in case an active
user database for handling of the customer service. The advertising in twitter has been further

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seen to be evident with promoted tweets; promoted accounts, promoted trends and Twitter
amplify. The mobile app feature has been also seen to be conducive for the promotion of the
business content (Wang et al. 2014).
Instagram
Instagram has been considered as the social media platform which is completely linked
with the use of photo and video posts. The network of Instagram owned by Facebook has been
further seen to use more than 700 million users with the various types of the travel, art, fashion
and similar nature of the subjects (Zolper, Beimborn and Weitzel 2014). Instagram has been seen
to be more suited to the artistic niches and may not be suitable for the business needs based on
the industry. Despite of the individuals running the account the detail has been placed with the
use of basic photography and posting of short videos for the business needs. The most prominent
feature to market the business idea in Instagram has been observed with the use of Hashtags
(Boso, Story and Cadogan 2013).
YouTube
The most prominent platform for the video sharing tools has been seen as video sharing
platform. Several businesses over YouTube have been seen with a visual, creative or the
educational component (Roh 2016). The platform has been further seen to be tailored for making
product reviews which is done by various experts on a particular category. The subculture of
Vloggers has been often considered to maintain large audience. Very often it has been further
seen that the users have been able to engage with the large group of audience (Tata and Prasad
2015).

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5. Research Questions/Hypothesis
Primary Question
What are the pros and cons of using social networking for the business entities?
Secondary Questions
1. What specific advantages of social networking have been seen to be most suited for the
business concerns?
2. How concerning are the drawbacks of social networking for business entities?
3. How the delivery of social networking services has influenced the choice of networking
services platform?
4. What is the future scope of social networking for business concerns?
The hypotheses considered for the study are discussed below as follows:
Null Hypothesis (H01): The various natures of the benefits of social networking have not been
able to outweigh the drawbacks of such platforms.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1): The various natures of the benefits of social networking have been
able to outweigh the drawbacks of such platforms.
Null Hypothesis (H02): The use of various types of services of social networking is not
recommended for an organization.
Alternative Hypothesis (H2): The use of various types of services of social networking is
recommended for an organization.

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6. Research Design and Methodology
Research design process
The main approach of the research will be followed with the use of a deductive approach
and this is seen to be relied on the specific tests of hypothesis. Social Networking is further seen
to be an existing theory and henceforth the use of deductive approach has been seen to be most
appropriate in nature. The next approach in the research process has been seen with the
application of quantitative approach. The primary data analysis approach will be based on the
use of graphs and methods of statistics. The secondary analysis will involve the thematic
approach (Rajasekar and Philominathan 2013).
Data collection
The data collection will be based on the use of both secondary and primary data. The
primary data collection shall be done with survey. The survey will be based on the questions
which will be sent to the employees and managers who are seen to rely on social networking
constraints for business needs. The secondary research for the data will be based on the use of
scholarly articles on Google scholar, website journals which has been able to state on the benefits
and drawbacks of social networking (Rajasekar and Philominathan 2013).
Sampling and sample size
The consideration of the sample size will involve a total of 200 respondents. Among this,
150 respondents relying on the service of social networking are considered as employees of
business enterprises and 50 respondents will be holding managerial posts. Simple random
sampling has been seen to be the main technique for sampling of the respondents. This will be

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able to ensure that the responses from the employees and managers will be unbiased and relevant
(Ranjit 2014).
Questionnaire design
The questionnaire will be designed on the use of “Cardinal, nominal, ordinal and ratio
measurements”. The consideration of the general questions will be identified based on nominal
measurements. The ordinal scale measurements has been identified with measures like 5” -
“strongly agree”, “4”- “moderately agreeing”, option “3” - giving a “neutral” opinion, option for
“2” -“disagreeing” and option “1” - “completely disagreeing”.
Data analysis Process
The analysis of the data has been discerned with the measures of dispersion and
descriptive statistics. The regression test in the study will be able to prove whether the hypothesis
set for the study needs to be accepted or rejected. The main form of the data analysis will be
seen with the use of the tools such as bar charts and pie charts.
Reliability and validity of the data
The important aspects of the validity and reliability of the data will be done considering
only those respondents who are directly related to rely on the services of social networking. The
reliability aspect will be further maintained with an unbiased opinion of the survey population.
7. Research Limitations
The limited sample size of 200 survey respondents has been identified as the main
limitation of the research. Although there are multiple facets of services offered by the social

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networking sites, the research will highlight only on those aspects which has been positively
contributed to the business and drawbacks of the same. The use of the statistics methods has
been further seen with the use of regression analysis, descriptive statistics and use of mjeasures
of dispersion.
8. Time Schedule
The research work has been intended to be completed in a total time span of six
months. The scheduling of the activities are shown below as follows:
Activities/ Period Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 &4 Month 5 & 6
Research idea
Formulation

Proceeding with
Research
methodology

Beginning of
Data collection
procedure
 
Formulating Data
analysis

Publication 

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process
9. Conclusion
The study will be able to consider the important aspects which will be able to depict
the advantage and drawback of use social network in business firms. The research has been
further able to consider the various aspects which have been most frequently used in social
networking services. The consideration of the main participants for the research has been further
seen to range from employees and managers. The various types of the other respondents have
been further seen with the designing of the questionnaire for the study. It has been further seen
that the hypothesis for the study has further seen to be related to the literature review of the
study. The total time span of six months has been considered for scheduling of the activities for
the research work.

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10. References
Bharadwaj, A., El Sawy, O. a., Pavlou, P. a. and Venkatraman, N. (2013) ‘Digital Business
Strategy: Toward a Next Generation of Insights’, MIS Quarterly, 37(2), pp. 471–482. doi:
10.1.1.216.1018.
Boso, N., Story, V. M. and Cadogan, J. W. (2013) ‘Entrepreneurial orientation, market
orientation, network ties, and performance: Study of entrepreneurial firms in a developing
economy’, Journal of Business Venturing, 28(6), pp. 708–727. doi:
10.1016/j.jbusvent.2013.04.001.
Halinen, A., Törnroos, J.-Å. and Elo, M. (2013) ‘Network process analysis: An event-based
approach to study business network dynamics’, Industrial Marketing Management, 42(8), pp.
1213–1222. doi: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2013.05.001.
Qu, Z., Wang, Y., Wang, S. and Zhang, Y. (2013) ‘Implications of online social activities for e-
tailers â€TM business performance’, European Journal of Marketing, 47(8), pp. 1190–1212. doi:
10.1108/03090561311324282.
Rajasekar, S. and Philominathan, P. (2013) ‘Research methodology’, Research methodology, pp.
1–53.
Ranjit, K. (2014) Research methodology a step-by-step guide for beginners., Sage. doi:
10.1177/1362361315580442.
Roh, T. H. (2016) ‘The Sharing Economy: Business Cases of Social Enterprises Using
Collaborative Networks’, in Procedia Computer Science, pp. 502–511. doi: