Social media

Social media

Used for sharing content among networks of users Enables communities of practice

People related by a common interest

Social media roles

Social media providers Things like facebook, linkedin, youtube Attract and target demographic groups

Users

Individuals and organizations

Communities

Mutual interests Transcend familial, geographic, and organizational boundaries

Directed connections

Where a connection goes one way EX: Where you can connect or follow someone, and they don’t have to follow you back to still see their content and interact with it

Undirected connections

Two-way relationships, like where there is no direction because its mutual EX: on facebook how you have to be added back by someone in order to interact with them

SM in sales and marketing

Customers craft their own relationship able to search content, contribute reviews, and ask questions

SM in customer service

Customers can have their questions answered about products freely by other customer or customer service specialists

SM in manufacturing and operations

Business to consumer communications Crowdsourcing for funding

SM in human resources

Recruiting and knowledge management

Live-streaming

Used for promotion of products in real time

Official live streaming

Used by brands

3rd party

Used by influencers

Peer recommendations

When peers directly recommend products and services to influence demand

Homophily

People with similar interests tend to cluster in networks More dominant in predicting demand than peer recommendations

Social media and information asymmetry

When one party has more information than the offer

Social media helps reduce asymmetry by making information on products widely available

Social media helps exacerbate asymmetry if companies selectively share positive information to manipulate perceptions

Social media polarization

Can intensify divisions by reinforcing existing beliefs and exposing users to emotionally charged content