This chapter provides an overview of the challenges and benefits of social media across various industries. The use of social media has created the highly effective communication platforms where any user, virtually anywhere in the world, can freely create the content and disseminate this information in real time to a global audience. The chapter argues that professional and business applications of social media platforms can enhance business performance toward reaching strategic goals in the digital age. What are keeping various industries awake these days? Why are social media applications important to various industries? How do social media platforms apply for professional and business perspectives across various industries?
TopBackground
In recent years, social media has gained popularity and attracted a great deal of attention among researchers and practitioners (Gan & Wang, 2015). According to Bernabe-Moreno et al. (2015), social media started as a space where could interact with other users, share content, and express their personal views. Social media comes in various forms, such as social networking sites (Facebook), blogs, microblogs (Twitter), collaborative projects (Wikipedia), content communities (YouTube), virtual social worlds (Second Life), and virtual game worlds (World of Warcraft) (Olsen & Christensen, 2015). Social media has changed the way that people interact with each other and with companies (Hanna, Rohm, & Crittenden, 2011).
Social media is the major component of social applications in organizations (Atzmueller, 2012). As the Internet users experience the usefulness of social media, it encourages the immense adoption of the medium and enables the Internet users to gain the power over information selection, thus affecting their behavior and attitude (Durukan, Bozaci, & Hamsioglu, 2012). Internet users have many options concerning their intention to use social media, due to the availability of hundreds of social media sites with the different features and user groups (Zolkepli & Kamarulzaman, 2015). Social media space becomes a common place for communication, networking, and content sharing (Paniagua & Sapena, 2014).