Social Networking Engagement and Crisis Communication Considerations

This chapter covers crisis communication, focusing on the crucial activities before, during, and after a crisis occurs. An environmental scan identifies risks an organization may encounter. Prioritizing these risks informs the creation of crisis communications plans for each risk. These plans include a strategy to guide all organizational communications efforts. Timeline, budget, products, digital resources, and formative measurement all must be considered. Practice is essential. These actions can prepare an organization and its people to manage high-pressure, high-speed activities in real time. Once the crisis is controlled, it is time to evaluate the plan and institute adjustments as required.

Using Social Media Tools in Marketing

Within the new economic and social environment, development of new technologies combined with Internet progress has had a profound impact on consumer lifestyles and, by extension, marketing concepts and practices. Understanding changes in marketing brought by a fast-acting development of digital social networks and Web 2.0 technology has become essential. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the impact of Web 2.0 on marketing and how marketers can use evolving technologies. Our contribution aligns changes in marketing techniques with Internet development and the changes introduced by the transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. The chapter ends with a proposal of about potential implications for managers.

CHOICES

Social media is increasing becoming a prominent tool in today's nonprofit sector. By 2010, the largest 200 nonprofit organizations in the United States used social media as a tool to meet their goals (Barnes, n.d.). According to those surveyed the top reason for using social media is for increasing awareness of the organization's mission (90%). In studying the American Red Cross' use of social media, Briones, et al. (2011) found that the use of social media built relationships with the public. This chapter explores the success of a mid-sized nonprofit organization, CHOICES: Memphis Center for Reproductive Health, as it develops a strategic social media plan to increase awareness and support for the organization. Through this case study, we will address how this organization has used social media to advance its mission and the process used to develop performance metrics along the way.

Framing and Mis-Framing in Micro-Blogging Sites in China

Micro-blogging is a popular, continuously developing form of communication that allows users to update their current life status in short posts around the clock with targeted websites and platforms. A significant blogosphere has developed in China where the prevailing micro-blogging websites comprise Internet coverage of issues not covered by mainstream media. This research will examine heavily shared and discussed blog posts on a popular micro-blogging website in China during an anti-animal cruelty campaign. The comments section of the blog posts will also be analyzed to identify discrepancies between the frames set by the bloggers and the perceptions by their audiences.

Social Media

This chapter discusses the impact of social networking on participation in organizations across market sectors to include government, business and non-profit entities. The author relates the experiences of young adults working in various occupations on how smartphone use can influence social networking and interactions and whether that influence improves or hampers their learning and professional development. A review of literature and recent social media development trends are used to gather information in support of a conceptual model of media usage and social networked learning within organizations. Leaders and organizational members may want to refer to this 4 stage model when thinking about ways to improve their use of social media and informal learning opportunities found on the Internet and on smart devices.

Social Networking and Social Media Comparisons

Organizations, researchers and academicians now have a new source for social networking methodology through Social Networking and Individual Performance (SNIP). This book will provide a scored survey instrument that, combined with research findings, relevant discovery and discussion will bring social networking into focus. The body of work focuses on the end state of social networking activities rather than the social media platform. This is an important distinction. This book addresses how to set an end state and devise a strategic approach to emphasize expectation, value, and return (EVR) in social networking. This approach is important because there are not enough references that have a similar approach to help those engaged in social networking and social media activities. In fact, there are none that focus on the current approach. SNIP addresses that limitation.

Invest, Engage, and Win

Though the use of social media for political campaigning has been widely studied, its correlation with electoral success has not received much attention. The current study uses the 2013 Israeli elections to examine the impact of social media on campaigns as a process. Findings indicate that parties and candidates that invest in social media are more likely to achieve social media success, which in turn increases their chances of achieving electoral success. Some may dispute the level of influence of social media; however, study findings suggest that being active in the digital arena has become a significant element in achieving ballot box success.

Nonprofit Organizations and Social Media Use

The use of social media technologies such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn has enhanced and increased the communication and engagement strategies available to nonprofit organizations. This chapter focuses on and addresses the question of nonprofit use of social media by examining the main objectives for using social media, and whether social media has been effective in meeting these objectives. Existing research on nonprofit social media use tends to focus on finding out which social media tools nonprofit organizations are using and which one of these yields the most impact. To answer these questions, descriptive analysis is conducted on social media technologies and their usage to identify associations between effectiveness of social media in meeting objectives. These questions go beyond asking why nonprofit organizations use social media and analyzes how they meet their objectives using various social media tools.

Models of Participation in Social Networks

The most important technological trend of the last years has been the rise of social networking systems to social phenomena involving hundreds of millions of people, attracting users from several social groups. Social networking systems blur the distinction between the private and working spheres, and users use such systems both at home and in the workplace, both professionally and with recreational goals. Social networking systems can be equally used to organize a work meeting, a dinner with colleagues or a birthday party with friends. For example, the chat systems that are embedded in social networking platforms are often the most practical way to contact a colleague to ask an urgent question, especially in technologically oriented companies. Moreover, several traditional information systems have been modified in order to include social aspects. Currently, social networking platforms are mostly used without corporate blessing, maintaining their status as feral systems.

Understanding Social Communication

George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” That statement is the reason social communication is covered here with a historical view. This review of computer mediated communications (CMC) is important in understanding some of the key developments that created the social media environment we know today. A discussion of the portable nature of these communications is relevant as the foundation for a deep understanding of social communication. This is an important analysis in helping people understand the way we can use information technology to interact without the limitations of geographical distance and time.