Case Study Analysis: Social benefit or social disaster?

Read and respond to a case study to demonstrate your understanding of, and ability to apply, the most important concepts of the module, especially regarding the potential pitfalls of communication media.

Review a case study of Twitter in the 10th edition of the course textbook attached in the Module 5 folder.

In an integrated essay, analyze the case from the perspective of a business organization, providing support for your analysis by replying to each of the following:

1. Explain the advantages and drawbacks for organizations using social media to communicate with various employees, customers, or the global communities.
2. Describe how communication barriers surface when using social media versus using traditional media.
3. Outline specific steps managers should take to be sure they communicate effectively when using social media.
4. Explain rules or policies (if any) business organizations should implement for employees using social media after office hours. Be as specific as possible.
5. Discuss the communication barriers a manager might encounter when using social media to create an organizational internship program.
6. From your recent readings and experiences, suggest guidelines managers and organizations could follow.

Your well-written paper should meet the following requirements:

• Be 3-4 pages in length.
• Be formatted according to the CSU Global Writing Center (Links to an external site.)
• Cite a minimum of three scholarly sources, at least one of which is not provided in, or linked from, the course. The CSU Global Library is a great place to find scholarly sources.

Write clearly and logically, as you will be graded on content, analysis, and your adherence to the tenets of good academic writing—which should be succinct where possible while also exploring the topics appropriately. Remember that you can always improve your work by providing support from outside scholarly sources, which help both to bolster your own assertions and supplement your ideas.

Case Application #1  https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/api/v0/books/9780134239828/print?from…  1 of 4 7/6/2018, 10:38 AM  Social Benefit or Social Disaster?  Tweets. Twittering. Prior to 2006, the only definition we would have known  for these words would have involved birds and the sounds they make.  Now, practically everyone knows that Twitter is also an online service—  with 974 million registered users, 302 million monthly active users, 500  million tweets daily, and 1.6 billion daily search queries—used to trade  short messages of 140 characters or less via the Web, cell phones, and  other devices. According to its founders (Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and  Evan Williams), Twitter is many things: a messaging service, a customerservice  tool to reach customers, a real-time search tool, and  microblogging. And as the numbers show, it’s become quite popular!  The Good and the Bad of TWITTER  One place where Twitter has caught on is the sports world, especially in  college sports. For instance, Mike Riley, head football coach at the  University of Nebraska, uses Twitter to keep fans informed. He  understands the power of instant communication. Coach Hugh Freeze of  the University of Mississippi was an early adopter of social media to  communicate recruitment news. He’s discovered that tweeting is an easy  and fun way to communicate quick tidbits of information to fans, alumni  boosters,  56  https://jigsaw.vitalsource.com/api/v0/books/9780134239828/print?from…  2 of 4 7/6/2018, 10:38 AM  PRINTED BY: baguiar@nwacc.edu. Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this  book may be reproduced or transmitted without publisher’s prior permission. Violators will be  prosecuted.  and other interested people who subscribe to Twitter. And it’s a convenient  way for the football staff and football recruiting prospects to communicate  with each other. There are pretty strict rules the NCAA has about contact  allowed between potential recruits and coaches, but NCAA rules do allow  unlimited direct messaging. However, coaches still are cautious about  committing recruiting violations. So, using Twitter to announce their  destinations on the recruiting trail, coaches can indirectly share their  recruitment news without naming names.  However, many universities and college coaches are monitoring and, in  some cases, banning athletes’ use of social media. A potentially  precarious issue can arise if an athlete tweets some comment that could  put the university in a negative light, offend boosters, or possibly violate an  NCAA regulation. Here are a couple of tweeting slip-ups: A Western  Kentucky running back was suspended after he tweeted critical comments  about the team’s fans; the NCAA pulled 15 football scholarships after an  investigation based on a player’s tweet; and a Lehigh University wide  receiver was suspended for retweeting a racial slur. We even saw how  tweeting backfired at the London Olympics. The first “casualty”—a Greek  triple jumper—was banned from the Games over some racially charged  tweets. That seems to be good reason for the managers (i.e., coaches  and administrators) of these programs to attempt to control the information  flow. But is banning the answer? Some analysts say no. They argue that  those setting up rules and regulations don’t understand what social media  is all about and the value it provides as a marketing and recruiting tool,  and they argue that it’s necessary to understand First Amendment rights  (part of which includes freedom of speech). Rather than banning the use  of social media, many universities are hiring companies to monitor  athletes’ posts. This, however, requires athletes to give access to their  accounts, which some call an invasion of privacy. But as time goes on,  social media conversations are becoming more common and more  expected. By the time the Sochi Olympics rolled around, social media had  changed the way Olympics news and views were conveyed.