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Social Networking

This review will address the many different uses of social-networking and will be focused on how business can use social networking sites to improve their competitive advantage and to promote their organisation. The different types of social networking websites will be mentioned and the common once used for businesses and personal social life.

Some of the information that has been researched and analysed by my group are the things which talk about the advantages and disadvantages of social networking, the use of social networking for businesses and associations. A real business example (Intrawest Placemaking) has been used to show the uses of social networking in the business world today. Our group has also covered what different literatures and critics has said about social networking and their uses in businesses. Some of the social networking websites used for business are LinkedIn,  Ryze and Spoke. All of this will be looked at in more detail in this review of our group assignment.

Case study # 1 - Social networking for businesses and associations; outlines how many common social networking websites are more focused on friendships and social activities rather than professional business practices. However this case study introduces a few websites that offer professionally-focused online networks that can be used by businesses and organisations. Some of these uses include; using social networking to find an expert or locate explicit knowledge, ease post-acquisition integration, understand and visualise the actual communication paths within the organization, share knowledge and prepare for coming demographic changes in business. 

Case study # 2 - Intranet Case Study: Using OpenRoad’s social software; Intrawest Placemaking has used OpenRoad’s social software ThoughtFarmer which has allowed their employees to experience freedom to input their ideas into the business. Through the use of ThoughtFarmer, it has helped Intrawest Placemaking to have fewer barriers when sharing knowledge amongst employees, increase in employee communication, where employees can communicate instantly and more often and administrators are no longer needed because the employees edit for one another.
As a result Intrawest has become an employer of choice as new employees wanted to work for a company that engrossed itself in the technological world. Younger generation employees are interested in social networking and being able to network socially at work would be an advantage to the job.

Case study # 3 - Using Social Networking for Business; this case study discusses the three most common used social networking websites that are geared towards the entrepreneur for businesses. These websites are known as;

LinkedIn: which creates an individual profile based on your professional history and, via e-mail, allows you to invite other individuals to be part of your social circle. Ryze: is focused on linking individual people by determining common interests. Members receive a free home page as well as access to topical forums called Networks. Spoke: which is used to connect companies. 

 These three case studies have all common grounds, where they discuss the use of social networking in a business perspective. This has been quite a new step towards using more technology and incorporating that technology in business strategies. What these case studies don’t have in common however is the use of the many different types of social networking programs or websites. In my opinion this can cause allot of confusion and concern in terms of which social networking website or program is the best one to use? Although the case studies outline the benefits of using social networking in businesses, there is also literature that has some negative perspectives on using social networking, such as the high level of computer skills needed to use some of the social networking websites and programs, and the on-going maintenance of a social networking in a busy business organisation.  

This in turn will raise questions and issues for educators and practitioners, where the use of social networking in business is questionable whether it is a worth while process to invest in. On the other hand the benefits outlined in the case studies mentioned are good reasons for businesses to adopt these social networks and to consider trying new things out. Some social networking websites are cheap and easy to run, and is worth while to adopt for businesses who are wishing to stay highly trained and updated with communication and gain the extra boost of advantage over their competitors. The future of social networking at this stage is seen to become more and more popular. Many businesses today have already adopted some of the practices and the available networks out there. Some other businesses mite not even be aware that they are using social networking in their business everyday. This therefore shows the increased use and popularity of social networking used not only for social and fun reasons but also for business practices.  

To conclude, this review and research study has brought up many issues in regards to social networking and its use. In the end, the popularity of this can be seen as evident of many literature reviews and text about this new phase and interaction. One thing that is certain is that fun social networking websites such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace, have already made big impressions on young teenagers and adults, there is no reason why the future generation would stop using social networking as a source of communicating and finding out about our surroundings in our social life and in the professional business industry.