The Hype and Reality of Social Media Use for Work Collaboration and Team Communication

Abstract

This article describes the growing adoption of enterprise social networking platforms by organizations in an attempt to foster better team communication and collaboration. To examine current views of these social networking tools, survey results from 227 business professionals are presented that address three areas: frequency of use of social networking for team communication compared to other communication channels, perceived effectiveness of social networking tools for team communication compared to other communication channels, and attitudes toward social networking for team communication. Generally, the results show that traditional communication channels are used more frequently and considered more effective for team communication. However, the results also indicate that Gen X and Gen Y business professionals are quite likely to consider that social networking tools will be the primary tools for team communication in the future. The article concludes with recommendations for how business communication scholars can advance, define, and set apart the field by focusing on business communication via enterprise social networking platforms.

Social Media Systems in the Workplace: Toward Understanding Employee Knowledge Creation via Microblogging within Shared Knowledge Domains

“…Extant literature shows that microblogging can be used to share stories [9], to communicate and reflect [10,11], and to support collaboration and knowledge transfer [12]. Furthermore, research suggests that Gen X and Gen Y professionals are highly likely to select SMS for team communication, compared to traditional communication channels [13].…”

The Role of Social Media on Jordanian Universities and Practice of Risk Management

“…With the proper implication of enterprise risk, management managers can effectively deal with associated risk or opportunity resulting from uncertainty, thus enhancing the value of the firm altogether (Steinberg, Everson, 2004). Enterprises nowadays are depending greatly on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn whom users are increasing in number in hundreds of millions (Cardon, Marshall, 2016). Multinational companies are using social media to aid their global organizations to work across geographical and cultural boundaries, platforms such as Yammer and Chatter to support this action (Kane, 2015).…”

Enterprise Social Networks: Status Quo of Current Research and Future Research Directions

“…In this context, the motivational factors that lead to using or opposing ESN could be studied [20]. Moreover, it seems promising to observe user behaviour in relation to the sexes or various age groups, since this allows us to evaluate differences in the attitude towards ESN among different user groups [21].…”

“…To this end, further case study research is necessary to describe the effects of ESN in a more holistic way [21]. In order to generate causal models of great practical relevance, the effects of ESN usage need to be described in empirical practice [3].…”