The Impact of Social Networking Technologies on Business - Essay Example

IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING TECHNOLOGIES ON BUSINESS The impact of social networking technologies on business Customer inserts his/her name Customer inserts tutor’s name Customer inserts grade course 02, 04, 2012 Part A Endnote library is one of the best reference generators and provides users with the best results. However, this does not necessarily mean that errors are not possible. There are common errors associated with Endnote library as discussed from the following articles. Shirky, Clay. 2008. ‘Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations,’ 1st Edn., New York; Penguin Press The software cannot change capitalization of words for the title of the book. There are no instructions provided on how the same operation is to be carried out. The bibliography provided for this book was not the exact one. The software imported a bibliography from their database since the actual bibliography could not be located. ‘PAWS Pet Company, Inc. Announces Acquisition of Impact Social Networking to Create a New Technology Business Unit,’ PR Newswire, 1-2 This article was formatted into word but with an unfamiliar coding that is difficult to discover. Even after the word document is kept in a formatted way, the initial citation was still inserted to appear in the provisional format contrary to what is expected. Boughzala, Imed & Dudezert, Aurelie. 2011. 'Knowledge Management 2.0: organizational models and enterprise strategies', in Chapter 5: WEB 2.0 Social Networking Technologies and Strategies for Knowledge Management, IGI Global, New York, pp.93-100. Capitalization for the book could not be changed. The bibliography provided is directly imported from the database and there is nowhere stated whether or not it is the actual bibliography requested. This occurs, especially when the requested bibliography is not found in the database. Endnote does not inform the user of the unavailability of the reference requested for but instead, goes ahead to insert the next best alternative, which is after all wrong. Santosh, S.V. 2010. ‘Social Networking Technology as a Business Tool,’ Proceedings of the Academy of Information and Management Sciences, 14; 2 The databases, especially Scopus, produce citations of the article in such a way that one may think it was directly accessed from the database, which has always not been the case. It displays an error message when one directly tries to insert a reference stating that there too many references in the database even if references are very few. Li-Zong, Z. ‘Social Technographics and Business Strategies,’ Proceedings of the International Conference on Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management & Organizational Learning Academic Conferences, 531-535 There is a capitalization problem and this seems persistent even after formatting the journal into a word document. An error message is displayed when trying to insert a bibliography in the formatted word document. The error message emphasizes that there are too many references in the database even when there are just but a few references. María, D. & Sánchez, F., 2011, ‘Blended Teamwork: The Facebook Experience,’ Global Conference on Business and Finance Proceedings: 6; 2 The name of the second author is displayed as initials. It makes it difficult to know the actual name for the author whose name has been written as initials. María, D. & Sánchez, F., 2012, ‘Blended Teamwork: The Facebook Experience,’ Business Education and Accreditation: 4; 4 The name of the second author is displayed as initials. Attempts to insert another bibliography within the created word document are not successful and an error message is displayed instead. The error indicates that there are too many references in the database even when there is nothing. The tool for the Endnote lacks in the word document and makes it difficult to carry out formatting tasks. Part B Cusumano, M 2011, “Technology Strategy and Management Platform Wars Come to Social Media”, Communications of the ACM, vol. 54, no. 4, pp.31-33. The bibliographies generated do not necessarily represent the one requested for. There is a problem of capitalization of the title of the journal even after formatting into the word format. Any attempt to insert another bibliography in the word format is not accepted and an error message is displayed instead. The error message states that there are too many references in the database even when there are just a few references in the library. Bellamy, K 2009, “Integral for the Masses A fresh Perspective on Technology and Its Role in Furthering Integral Leadership”, Integral Leadership Review, vol. 9, no. 4, pp.1-5. The capitalization of the title could not be changed. The word document retains the capitalizations and attempts to change it are not easily acceptable. It is even hard to format bibliographies, especially a group of them. It is also difficult to insert new bibliographies in the formatted. Majchrzak, A, Cherbakov, L & Ives, B 2009, “Harnessing the Power of the Crowds with Corporate Social Networking Tools: How IBM Does It”, MIS Quarterly Executive, vol. 8, no.2, pp.103-108. The second author’s name appears as initials. Attempts to change it are not accepted and it is more difficult to insert a new bibliography into the word document. Generally, Endnote works well in generating references and stands as a better solution for this task. However, the errors encountered while using the software are sometimes detrimental and can hamper certain operations, especially when trying to edit the word document. In addition, it is common to find errors like display of a wrong bibliography which is different from the one requested for. The best remedy for some of the errors associated with Endnote is either uninstalling the software then installing it afresh or referring to the manual for more instructions. However, some of the problems cannot be solved and requires that the developers consider such malfunctions in their new versions to improve the effectiveness of the software. Santo Venkatraman, S 2010, “Social Networking Technology as a Business Tool”, Proceedings of the Academy of Information & Management Sciences (AIMS), vol. 14, no.2, pp.1-3. This article is a summary of the change in technology that has spearheaded the emergence of social networks on a global scale. It is estimated that there are 500 million subscribers to the social media and people spend about 25% of their time on these sites. The most affected group with the new trend are the youths. Given the new shift in consumer behavior, it has therefore become necessary for the businesses to redefine their structures and strategies in order to cater for the new changes. Technology has also facilitated the introduction of geo-location system that helps trace the exact location of people as they access the social networks. This was first introduced by Foursquare and has been adopted by Facebook, which boasts of being the most visited social network. Most businesses and other online advertisers have started seeing the need for reaching out to this population online changing their strategies and approach. Considering that the younger population is the most affected, it is therefore, imperative that business organizations re-focus their attention to them because the future lies in them. Several businesses have already adopted the social network system in reaching their customers and facilitating transactions via them. However, the cost of using the social networks is on the upward trend and there is need for further research to come up with the best way of utilizing these technologies but at a relatively lower cost. Zhang, L 2010, “Social Technographics and Business Strategies”, Proceedings of the International Conference on Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management & Organizational Learning, pp.531-535. This article brings in the aspect of the social Technographics and defines the various components that it comprises of the creators, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators, and inactives. In this case, it is suggested that before a company embarks on adopting a social media strategy, it is important that they consider their target group. This will ensure efficiency and effectiveness in reaching out to the customers and positively accomplishing the organization’s goal. In a case study from research conducted in Australia, it is evident that most consumers are subscribing to the social networks in different capacities and businesses should take advantage of the new trend to engage their customers online. The social media can be used in marketing of business products and services as well as carrying out some transactions online with the customers via the social networking sites. The number of social network users is increasing and hence forming a potential market for business organizations. Social media is an avenue for businesses to provide certain services to their customers, know what consumers want by getting feedback from them, interact with them, and form consumer profiles that will help a great deal in following up customers, especially when introducing new products into the market. Cusumano, M 2011, “Technology Strategy and Management Platform Wars Come to Social Media”, Communications of the ACM, vol. 54, no. 4, pp.31-33. This article discusses the various opportunities and threats facing social networking sites. The number of social networks is on the upward trend and there seems to be a stiff competition between the new entrants and those that have been in the market for a relatively longer time. Most of these networks solely depend on the advertisements charges as their revenue. However, with the increasing number of new networks, it has become important that a change in strategy is adopted to ensure survival in the market. Some of these strategies have been implemented by networks such as Groupon, and this has ensured their dominance in the market despite the competition. Companies like Google and Facebook have also done incredibly well in gaining popularity among the users and therefore getting more clients who wish to advertise their products and services via their site. The new trend of competition calls for extraordinary innovations that will generate superfluous effects for attracting more clients and customers. The social network platform is at presently not dominated by one network and there are opportunities for more sites to come in and get a share. Given that Facebook has been banned in countries like China, Iran and Pakistan, it implies that other networks have a chance to rise though it will be an uphill task for them to outdo Facebook, especially if they decide to incorporate additional features that are currently lacking on their site. Bellamy, K 2009, “Integral for the Masses A fresh Perspective on Technology and Its Role in Furthering Integral Leadership”, Integral Leadership Review, vol. 9, no. 4, pp.1-5. This article looks at the pros and cons of technology, and how technology can be used to realize positive results for an organization. Social media has been of greater help to organizations and the society at large. It can be used in team building and ensuring the productivity through customer profiles between the customer and the organization. On the other hand, technology has been instrumental in the erosion of culture and moral values within the wider society. Fatal accidents have occurred because drivers were busy texting or following up something on a social network. Employee performance can be decreased because they spend most of their working time time reading emails or meeting friends on a social network. Moral values have been on the decline accompanied by lack of physical contact among members of the society. Despite the negative impacts of technology, it is difficult to do away with some of these appliances considering their positive contribution to the organization. Therefore, this article concludes by stating that technology and social media are important tools for the overall successful success of an organization but should not be abused. Technology has both positive and negative implications; organizations and users should utilize more of the positives and ignore the negatives. Majchrzak, A, Cherbakov, L & Ives, B 2009, “Harnessing the Power of the Crowds with Corporate Social Networking Tools: How IBM Does It”, MIS Quarterly Executive, vol. 8, no.2, pp.103-108. This article reflects on the various principles that can be applied in the utilization of the social networks. The article mainly focuses on the utilization of social networks for corporate purposes. In this case, employees are connected and enabled to interact, enquire, and obtain information concerning certain aspects of major concern. In this respect, it helps in team and capacity building in order to realize the overall success of the organization. It is based on the fact that when people get interested in something, they voluntarily take part in it. Due to the passion within them, they will be motivated to provide relevant information that serves their purpose. Also, they will put in more effort to ensure information circulates to people who need it. The best example of a corporate that heavily uses social networks in their operations is IBM. They have three social networks that provide employees with an opportunity to exchange ideas and know one another. ‘Thinkplace’ provides employees with a platform to expose their ideas and inventions to the relevant personnel who can help them develop these ideas further. ‘SmallBlue’ helps employees to share certain ideas and exchange knowledge whereas ‘Beehive’ provides them with an opportunity to share out their views concerning their jobs and even their personal lives. Conclusion Social media and technology are new tools that should be embraced to spearhead development in the business organization sector. In this case, organizations should take advantage of the availability of such opportunities in capacity building and establishing long lasting relations with their customers. Technology comes with both the positive and negative effects. Organizations should build more on the positive and exploit it for the benefit of the entire business. As seen from the case studies provided in the articles, some companies like IBM have capitalized on such provisions to generate more ideas and foster harmony and teamwork within their staff. If such an example can be emulated by other companies in creating a conducive internal environment that will encourage employees to share more of their ideas and spur innovativeness. Reference List Bellamy, K 2009, “Integral for the Masses A fresh Perspective on Technology and Its Role in Furthering Integral Leadership”, Integral Leadership Review, vol. 9, no. 4, pp.1-5. Boughzala, I & Dudezert, A 2011, “Knowledge Management 2.0: organizational models and enterprise strategies”, in CHAPTER 5:WEB 2.0 Social Networking Technologies And Strategies For Knowledge Management, IGI Global, New York, pp.93-100. Cusumano, M 2011, “Technology Strategy and Management Platform Wars Come to Social Media”, Communications of the ACM, vol. 54, no. 4, pp.31-33. Fernández, M 2011, “Blended Teamwork; The Facebook experience”, Global Conference on Business & Finance Proceedings, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 238-238. Fernández, M 2012, “Blended Teamwork: The Facebook Experience”, Business Education & Accreditation, vol. 4, no.1, pp.33-48. FL-PAWS-acquires 2012, “PAWS Pet Company, Inc. Announces Acquisition of Impact Social Networking, Inc. to Create a New Technology Business Unit”, PR Newswire US. Majchrzak, A, Cherbakov, L & Ives, B 2009, “Harnessing the Power of the Crowds with Corporate Social Networking Tools: How IBM Does It”, MIS Quarterly Executive, vol. 8, no.2, pp.103-108. Shirky, C 2008, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, 1st edn, Penguin Press, New York. Venkatraman, S 2010, “Social Networking Technology as a Business Tool”, Proceedings of the Academy of Information & Management Sciences (AIMS), vol. 14, no.2, pp.1-3. Zhang, L 2010, “Social Technographics and Business Strategies”, Proceedings of the International Conference on Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management & Organizational Learning, pp.531-535. Read More