Advantages of Social Network Sites-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Social Networks in Business. Answer: Introduction Social media has a great impact in todays world and it has been adopted all over the world as the new trend in promoting businesses. There has been a tremendous growth in a number of social media such as Facebook and twitter which have captured a number of users all over the world just in a few years. The rapid growth of technology is a sign that many people are definitely gaining on its benefits. It has since become part and parcel of human life and its not only used by the developed nations but also the underdeveloped has come to understand the power of social media in bettering their lives. However, every good thing has its own disadvantages and social media is not an exception. It has really affected the society in a negative way despite its importance. This therefore means that the use of social media is on our hands and it is upon every user to use it to its advantage. Billions of shillings are spent in broadcasting corporation by the Australian government and this is a clear i ndication of its vastness and the need of it to be noticed whether its effects positively or negatively impact the users of social media in Australia. This study therefore tries to conduct a research on the advantages and disadvantages of using social network in business in Australia. Project Objective It is evident that there are a number of channels that can be used in promoting businesses such as social media which envelops Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, instar gram, pinterest and many others (Arregle et al., 2007). This study therefore tries to solve certain mystery to achieve the following objectives. To examine the contribution of social network sites on the performance level of businesses. To unlock the advantages and disadvantages of social network sites on the performance level of businesses. To come up with better strategies on how to effectively utilize social network sites for the success of a business. Project Scope In the western countries, social media acts as one of the strongest power of all. It is seen as the most reliable source and the fastest means of promoting a companys business in Australia. Adequate information on the advantages and disadvantages of social network on the performance level of businesses will be gathered from the literature review. Literature review Concept of Social Networks in Business The world is a small village when it comes to modern technology. Social network sites are no exception as they define the web-based services, which allow people to share their common interests with others on the same social network platform. They enhance an organizations advertisement effectiveness; marketers can use this platform as a perfect opportunity to promote their brands. The mostly used social network sites are Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Twitter and YouTube(Baltar Brunet, 2012). Empirical Evidences in Relation to Social Networks in Business According to Bwire (2016), there is an increasing popularity of social media sites among the consumers of Australia. There is however a sizeable gap between the social networking strategies of Australia business and behavior of the customers.27% small scale businesses use social network sites, whereas 34% medium scale businesses use social network sites for promoting their brand value (Carney, 2005). Figure 1: Social Network Usage in Australian Businesses (Source: Carney 2005) Influence of Social Networks on Consumer Buying Pattern Actions have consequences; positive or negative. Over the past few decades, the shopping pattern of the customers has shown a massive change. Customers are now more inclined towards searching for information regarding their required products and services online (Cho et al., 2007). Advantage of Social Networks on performance level of Business Enhancing Brand Image Gabby and Leenders (1999) noted that social network sites increase brand exposure to the new and potential customers thus enhancing the familiarity of the brands to the existing customers. Insights about Customer Preferences Social networking sites can access ample amount of data about the customers in real time, Greve and Salaff (2003). They can gather enormous amount of information about the customers in regards to brand preferences, suggestions, challenges and dislikes. This propagates active engagement between an organization and its customers. Increasing Search Ranking and Traffic Website Organizations post advertisements on social network sites, which mostly contain high quality contents, Shriver, Jenkins (2009). Such high quality contents increase the targeted keywords for the organizations therefore increasing the traffic website in online platform, which enhances brand presence. New Business Opportunities Social network sites undoubtedly form a basis for new business opportunities and amelioration of existing business enterprises. Through the feedbacks gotten from consumers, organizations improve their brands as per core business preferences. Therefore, organizations can find new and improved business opportunities for gaining high level of business performance. Increasing Competitive Advantage It is important for business enterprises to gain a competitive edge against over their competitors. This helps save the organization advertisement costs thus reducing the organizations overall cost. Reduced organizational cost facilitates the organization towards achieving cost leadership and gaining competitive advantage. Improved Customer Service Efficient customer service and relations form part of the backbone of a business. The feedback received from the customers should help organizations in gaining deep customer insights thus the knowledge of customer preferences, dissatisfaction and suggestions regarding particular products and services. (Sledgianowski and Kulviwat (2009) pointed out that such customer feedbacks facilitate the organizations aligning their business model with specific preferences of the customers. Disadvantage of Social Networks on performance level of Business Negative Feedback Just as there exists two sides of coin, so is there two sides of a business; Positive feedbacks shared by consumers encourage other customers as well as the organization. However, there are also negative feedbacks shared by consumers on the social network sites which are discouraging to the customers as well as the organization. Time Investment and Hidden Cost Time is a critical factor when it comes to business ventures. Wright (2005) opined that the organizations may need to invest huge time in posting attractive product information, interacting with customers and receiving feedbacks from the customers. All these activities will definitely require ample and valuable time of the organization. This may however increase an organization's overall cost. Legal Risk Business ventures attract a myriad of risks. Social network sites can result to organizations facing legal risks since there are rules and laws governing the use of social networks for any form of use or purpose. Proper Usage of Social Network Sites Organizations should put in place an efficient team that exclusively deals with the usage of social network sites. This will ensure effective management of the platform right from the selection of the most viable social network platform which is cut out to facilitate business growth of the organization, to the posting of highly attractive advertisement content and finally the efficient handling of feedback both positive and negative on the social network sites (Picazo-Vela et al., 2012). Gap of the Literature Every literature research is bound to face some limitations which would question the quality of the ultimate research outcome. This literature review is of no exception since it has some limitations. Time limitation towards the collection of authentic information from adequate secondary sources about the research topic is one of the challenges. Budgetary issues cant be ignored as they form the basis of the research. Limited budget denied adequate access of secondary sources hence the lack of critical analysis and penetration in the literature review. Research Questions/Hypothesis Primary Question What are the advantage and disadvantage of using social network in business in an Australian context? Secondary Questions How to evaluate the level of social network in businesses? Do the advantages and the disadvantages of using social network in business affect the population of the country? The primary research presented in this study is our main objective of trying to find out the advantages and disadvantages of using social network in businesses. The sub questions are there to give support and sense to the main question. It therefore means that the questions provided and the literature reviews are a single entity. Research questions should be linked to Literature Problems, Gaps, and Hypothesis Research Design and Methodology The study used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods of research design. Quantitative method was used to find out numbers of common traits among the respondents concerning characteristics related to and significant for the study (Sledgianowski Kulviwat, 2009). Some of these characteristics included the numbers that use social media for business purposes, the advantages and disadvantages that accrue after using social network in business, and how this affects their business. Qualitative research allowed for the description of respondents opinions. There was expected to be a varied degree of opinion perceptions and views of the respondents that were sampled. Since the study was mainly concerned with what the respondents think about the advantages and disadvantages of using social network in business qualitative approach gave more room for the interpretation of their ideas (Tsai Ghoshal, 1998). By the use of qualitative method, the study reviewed content pertinent to t he subject in focus. variables The study used two major variables to assist in the process of data analysis; dependent and independent variables. Wright (2005) says that an independent variable is used to predict the outcome of the dependent variable. In this study, advantages and disadvantages of using social network in business depends on what people use social media for. Depending on the use, social media platforms can either be disadvantagious or advantagious to the business success. Therefore, the pros and cons of using social network in business was the dependent variable that depends on what social medis is used for. Social Media use was the independent variable that directly influences the success of a business. Study population The physical research was conducted in the University of Queensland in Australia. The population of the country comprise of the young covering a larger percentage and the old. According to Zimer (1986), a population for study stands for the resident of a community about whom the study is. The study examined human behaviour online, and one of the characteristics of the online media space is that it is unpredictable and not necessarily restrictive according to any factors like age and gender. The study was hence non-restrictive according to age or gender. According to the statistics from Facebook, 69% of their users are aged between 18 and 29. The study targeted the average university students who fall within the same age bracket (Tsai Ghoshal, 1998). By their numbers, have a greater opinion in the social media space than any other age group. Sampling technique and sample size The study employed the use of purposive sampling techniques. Oliver (2012) says that purposive sampling is the type of sampling where the decisions about the subjects to be included in the research arrive at based upon a variety of criteria that may comprise the researchers knowledge of the area of research or willingness to participate in the research and capacity to carry out the research. The study sampled the subjects based on their characteristics relevant to the research. Methods of data collection The instrument for data collection was the use of questionnaires. The questionnaires contained both closed-ended, and open-ended kinds of questions for qualitative and quantitative data. The questionnaires were divided into four sections: section A, B, C and D. Section A had had the respondents bio data and section B to D contained the research questions. Some of the questionnaires were physically administered to the respondents for data collection and collected back afterward while others were mailed to the respondents. Research Limitations Limitations of research can be defined as the aspects involved in the research design or methodology that had an impact or in one way or another influenced the interpretations of the findings in research. They are a consequence of the decisions the researcher chose to do during the conduction of the research study including the method they used to establish validity. The generalization of the study in Australian context could limit the research results; it is therefore prudent to include different countries in the study to obtain better results. The researcher might come across limitations such as time constrains as well as uncooperative respondents. Other limitation can be as the result of lack of proper or thorough research on the topic, lack of available or reliable data, language barrier, cultural constrictions and measure used to collect the data. Time Schedule This research is supposed to run for a period of approximately 6 months. Activities outlined for the first month will include project planning through conducting stakeholder meetings, devising a networking plan and implementing a communication with potential key resource agents. The second month will be limited to data collection and data analysis through GIS, Microsoft Excel and other temporal database. Methodology assessment, prototype development, final interface development, and case study refinements and applications will be the main activities of the third month. The forth month will be limited to policy workshops, formulation of policy recommendations, and the drafting of the final report. Dissemination of the project recommendations and final report will occur on the fifth month. The projects financial report will also be drafted on the fifth month. The sixth month of the project will used to review the entire project and the making of necessary corrections and conclusion. Once the review is done, the project will be ready for submission. The given time frame will give the researcher ample time to collect data and fully analyse the study hence generating reliable findings and a viable conclusion. Conclusion While coming to the end of the study, it is evident the social network sites have a great impact on businesses either in a positive or a negative way on the level of customers. However, social networks can improve the advertising effectiveness of a companys brand instead of using a word of mouth. These sites therefore increase the brand exposure to customers hence increasing their market size. Moreover, feedbacks obtained on such sites concerning the products may help the organization to provide a mixed brand and customized business solution. However, when a certain brand receives negative feedback from customers, it may discourage other willing buyers from purchasing such products. It therefore means that business organization should maintain the use of social media in promoting their products. To achieve this, the business has to choose the social site that will enhance the growth of their business. The most important part is that the organization should be in a position to handle the negative feedback posted by customers on the social network References Wright, K.B., 2005. Researching Internet?based populations: Advantages and disadvantages of online survey research, online questionnaire authoring software packages, and web survey services. Journal of Computer?Mediated Communication, 10(3), pp.00-00. Greve, A. and Salaff, J.W., 2003. Social networks and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 28(1), pp.1-22. Tsai, W. and Ghoshal, S., 1998. Social capital and value creation: The role of intrafirm networks. Academy of management Journal, 41(4), pp.464-476. Carney, M., 2005. Corporate governance and competitive advantage in family?controlled firms. Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 29(3), pp.249-265. Gabbay, S.M. and Leenders, R.T., 1999. 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