ABSTRACT
The use of social networks to promote products, services, social interaction and information exchange has become an increasingly popular trend among both small and larger firms. While these networks are used frequently, however their success in promoting business growth or achieving other goals is not guaranteed solely by the use alone. This paper examines major influencing factors that play a part in a company’s decision of whether or not to enter a public online space. We explore potential benefits to those organization that do use social networking including access to an increased market size with demographic segmentations, rapid interaction with customers and an ability to utilize new recruiting technology. However, with these benefits comes potential security and business risks. Ultimately, the decision to adopt social networking technologies is at the sole discretion of an organization, but evidence suggests using social media by organizations is an effective and necessary method for interacting with customers to gain feedback on their product or service as well as disseminate knowledge to end users.
Keywords
Social Networking, Adoption factors, Marketing impact of social networks