Analysis of Social Media Usage in the Workplace Communication

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of social media's role in workplace communication. It begins by examining the emergence and effectiveness of social media in organizations, highlighting how it has transformed business operations and marketing strategies. The report then delves into the specific ways social media is used for communication within the workplace, exploring its impact on employee productivity, engagement, and internal communication strategies. It also addresses potential drawbacks, such as distractions and security risks. The report includes findings from various studies and surveys that measure the effectiveness of social media in the workplace. The report concludes with recommendations for managers, emphasizing the need for balanced strategies that leverage the benefits of social media while mitigating potential challenges. The report suggests ways to ensure competent and positive use of social media within the workplace.

Running head: USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE WORKPLACE TO COMMUNICATE
USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE WORKPLACE TO COMMUNICATE
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USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE WORKPLACE TO COMMUNICATE
Executive summary
The chief objective of the report was to analyze the use of social media sites for communicating
in the workplace. The report delved upon the advent and influence of the social networking sites
on the culture of organizations. It further provided the views of different scholars on the benefits
and adverse affects of the social media use by employers and employees at workplace. the report
also mentioned the findings of many studies that were carried out to measure the effectiveness of
this new medium of communication within organizations. The report concluded with some
recommendations to managers after analyzing both strengths and weaknesses of the social
media.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Emergence and effectiveness of social media in organizations.......................................................3
Communicating through social media in the workplace.................................................................4
Recommendations............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The importance of social media within the sphere of business has recently been realized
by organizations. Prior to it, business organizations had limited access to the actual desires of the
consumers. The medium has become in some ways, more important than the messenger has.
Further, managers and employees are seen communicating through this platform increasingly in
the workplace.
The report will analyze the growing tendency in organizations to communicate through
the social media within the workplace. The report will first focus on the emergence of the new
form of media and then discuss its effectiveness. It will then highlight the prevalence and
efficiency of the media for communicating in the workplace. The report will provide some
recommendations for the managers of organizations to make relevant use of the social media.
Emergence and effectiveness of social media in organizations
The emergence of social media is fast transforming the way organizations function and
more importantly, communicate. Irrespective of the nature of the business, organizations across
the globe are devising new ways to grab the advantage presented by the new technology
providing greater interactivity, propinquity and clearness. Previously, the social media usage was
limited to the common public who utilized it for sharing experiences and interests with people
living in other parts of the world. Studies conducted throughout the years on the effectiveness of
the social media in the workplace reveals that employees who use this platform are more creative
than those who do not.
Starting roughly around the early 2000s, the social media phenomenon grabbed the
attention of the population worldwide. It then became the common ground for people from

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different backgrounds – political, cultural and social – to come together and share their ideas and
interests. Gradually, the social media caught the attention of various organizations, which
thought of it as an excellent opportunity to expand and succeed. Business organizations in
particular have benefitted greatly from the advent of the social media as it helped those create
marketing plans that directly reflected the needs of the consumers. Organizations now employ
various strategies to make their presence felt within industries by promoting their services and
products in the social media platform. The emergence of social media has also made it possible
for organizations to do their market segmentation by analyzing the behavior of customers in sites
like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn amongst others. All these platforms served different
purposes for the organizations. Facebook provided them with the opportunity to look at the
social behaviors of the customers while Twitter gave them a chance to start a trend that attracted
customers. LinkedIn on the other hand, had different functionality as it focused less on social
networking and more on forming network of professionals allowing people to build their careers.
Organizations found it to be a great platform where they could reach out to competent
individuals who could prove an asset to the organization. As Icha & Agwu (2015) point out,
social media use has advanced from simple tool for marketing and creating awareness of
products or services to the broader spheres of public communications involving interactions with
stakeholders and customers alike. Social media also allows the managers of organizations to
contact employees in quick time. Urgent issues are also solved fast with the help of these
platforms. Social networking sites further have the potential to reduce the extra time wasted in
contacting the employees.
Communicating through social media in the workplace

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Several surveys and studies have been undertaken in the recent past that revealed the
effectiveness of social media in increasing employee productivity and consequently
organizational profit. Employees who are more active on social media platforms have been found
to be more interactive and creative persons at the workplace. Many renowned firms use social
media for internal communication to foster employee engagement. Lenovo, one of the largest
tech companies in the world, uses social media as a means for internal communication to
encourage complete engagement. The strategy boosted Lenovo’s workforce power as employees
were seen more enthusiastic and loyal to the company. Haddud, Dugger and Gill (2016) carried
out an extensive study to find the relevance and employee enthusiasm of social media for
communication in the workplace. the study revealed that 95% of who used Bosch Connect, an
internal social media communication tool, knew the expectations the organization had from them
while the percentage differed by 4% as those who did not use Bosch Connect amounted to 91%.
The most glaring difference was found in the attitude of employees regarding the willingness to
change. Around 80% employees who used social media for communication were willing to
welcome change whereas 66% of non-users reported obliviousness to change.
The study as mentioned in the previous section also found some negative outcomes that
raise questions regarding the social media use for communication. The findings cannot validate
the influence of social media use for communication in the workplace on employee engagement
and competency. Another vital concern of social media usage for workplace communication is
that it might prompt negative comments for the organization. Baker et al. (2011) put forward the
various ways by which the effectiveness of social media could be reduced. According to the
author, the extreme use of social media by employees might hamper the production; it might
invite cyber frauds that may lead to severe breach of security along with other threats. Experts

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who are not in favor of employing social media within the workplace argue that it would
detriment the production of the company and increases the risk of security breach through data
sharing online. They further argued that employees and employers both might face discrepancies
due to illegal sharing of their professional and sometimes personal data as well. Aguenza, Al-
Kassem and Som (2012) mention the study conducted on the use of social media by the
employees while at work that finds that surfing the internet during working hours have led to a
decrease in productivity by more than one percent. These findings suggest that social
networking sites are not always encouraging to employees or the organizations and might cause
deficit rather than profit.
Recommendations
Some recommendations could be given to organizations that they could follow in order to
ensure competent and positive use of the social media.
 It can be recommended that the managers who are responsible for managing the usage of
social media within the workplace should install a device that checks and measures the
usage.
 It is further recommended that organizations should refrain from enforcing strict rules
against the use of social media by employees in the workplace as it might instigate them
to do the opposite.
 The organizations that are based mostly on marketing and selling of products and
services, should encourage increased use of social media in the workplace while
monitoring the activities.
Conclusion

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In the end, it has to be stated that social media use at the workplace encourages employee
engagement at either a low rate or high rate. The rate of employee engagement depends on the
strategy employed by organizations to utilize this platform of social media. An adequate amount
of time given to the employees to use the social sites while at work might encourage positive
results. The report above provided an insight into the use of social media sites for
communicating in the workplace. The report first provided a brief overview on the emergence of
social media and its effectiveness in organizations. Then, it focused on the use of social media by
employees across organizations during work. The report concluded with some recommendations
for organizations on ways to enhance the positive use of the platform.

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References:
Aguenza, B., Al-Kassem, A. H., & Som, A. M. (2012). Social media and productivity in the
workplace: Challenges and constraints. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research in
Business, 2(2), 22-26.
Baker, D., Buoni, N., Fee, M., & Vitale, C. (2011). Social networking and its effects on
companies and their employees. Retrieved November, 15, 1-14.
Haddud, A., Dugger, J. C., & Gill, P. (2016). Exploring the Impact of Internal Social Media
Usage on Employee Engagement. Journal Social Media for Organizations, 3(1), 1.
Icha, O., & Agwu, E. (2015). Effectiveness of social media networks as a strategic tool for
organizational marketing management.