Recently authored discussion paper on the role of Social Media

For companies, social media signifies equally an opportunity and a threat. On the one hand, social media provides a personal platform for brands to contact customers and influence their views and opinions through timely and focused promotional activities, responsive customer service, or the establishment of interest communities. On the other hand, social media undeniably transfers power to individuals, who can destroy an old brand with angry blog posts, or quickly gather many people together. This has led to organisational failures, mistakes and successes that are now being promoted and displayed in unprecedented ways.

Social media has improved the level and speed of data sharing, expanded the coverage of information, and concretized the organisational capabilities of different individuals. It is a known fact that some emergencies start on social media, like the recent looting spree in South Africa, whilst others start offline and are brought to the social media platforms, only when they remain unresolved. There is no doubt that social media has become crucial in the organising and sharing of information. According to Gruber et al., (2015) researchers have studied how the influence of technology has changed some of the conventional media gatekeepers, creating a change that has been very noticeable with flattened access allowing individuals to distribute news and information in real time, (Gruber et al., 2015).

The rise of social media allows public relations leaders to better understand ideas and thinking in order to understand the world around them and the changing environment. For example, public relations experts who write or support blogs recognise that they have a higher status and intellectual power than people who do not blog. It is key to note that effective leadership in an organisation or profession does not necessarily require elite status in worlds of social media platforms, but those who are more influential in relation to others are more likely to witness the importance of social media for themselves personally (Sweetser & Kelleher, 2011).

For example, in an organisation that uses social media platforms such as Facebook to conduct business, e-leadership may help liberate followers and their interaction with people inside and outside the organisation. Both the virtual world and social media technologies have the ability to attract humans to meet the needs of relevance and self-expression. Organisational interactions are being influenced and impacted by various forms of social media, by allowing the development of social networks to happen faster and possibly multi-faceted, which goes beyond hierarchical and departmental boundaries (Avolio et al., 2014).

References

Avolio, B. J., Sosik, J. J., Kahai, S. S., & Baker, B. (2014). E-leadership: Re-examining transformations in leadership source and transmission. Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 105–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.003

Gruber, D. A., Smerek, R. E., Thomas-Hunt, M. C., & James, E. H. (2015). The real-time power of Twitter: Crisis management and leadership in an age of social media. Business Horizons, 58(2), 163–172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2014.10.006

Sweetser, K. D., & Kelleher, T. (2011). A survey of social media use, motivation and leadership among public relations practitioners. Public Relations Review, 37(4), 425–428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.08.010