SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN THE WORKPLACE Dean Clouden Professional Communication ENG 315 Assignment 3 The content The presentation will cover the aspects of use of social media in the workplace. The presentation will discus the following; The importance of the use of social media in the workplace. How social media is used for advertisement. The policies that regulate the use of social media in the workplace. Effective professional communication using the social media platforms. Market segmentation enables a company to nail down the needs and preferences of the market which the company serves by sub diving the market for instance according to the purchasing power of the consumers. McDonalds market segmentation have witnessed some setbacks in some of its market segments creating the need for a new strategy. 2 Introduction Social media is a term that is used to describe any website that enable social interactions. The rapid growth in technology has increased the use of social media by both organizations and individuals. Individuals make use of social media to interact with their friends and other people using the platform. Organizations on the other hand make professional use of social media in advertising their products. Social media is composed of the following sites; Whatsapp, Facebook, twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn among others. The use of social media by organizations increases the visibility of the company (Aguenza, 2012). Individuals use social media to interact and share both formal and informal information with friends, family, and strangers making the world a more comfort zone. Organizations have as well adopted social media to help improve essential processes and operations. This is due to high visibility, persistence, editability, and association 3 The importance of use of social media to companies Social media provides an effective way for companies to access the global market. Social media plays as a medium which connects the company to its customers. Companies makes use of multiple platforms in order to increase their market reach using the social media. The company acquires and also share information using different platforms (Keller, 2009). Social media creates an effective means of responding to customers’ complaints. Social media makes it easy for companies to study and learn their competitors. Social media has facilitated engagement with various audience especially when dealing with online complaints. this plays a role to the suffering or benefiting of companies due to the comments posted by the audience. Social media has enabled easy learning of the competitors. this provides an opportunity to understand the customers need and placing adequate efforts towards providing quality products and services. 4 Advertising using Social media Marketing of products is a critical activity to every organization. Marketing refers to creation of awareness to customers of the various products of the company. Social media crea.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN THE WORKPLACE
Dean Clouden
Professional Communication
ENG 315
Assignment 3
The content
The presentation will cover the aspects of use of social media in
the workplace.
The presentation will discus the following;
The importance of the use of social media in the workplace.
How social media is used for advertisement.
The policies that regulate the use of social media in the
workplace.
Effective professional communication using the social media
platforms.
Market segmentation enables a company to nail down the needs
and preferences of the market which the company serves by sub
diving the market for instance according to the purchasing
power of the consumers. McDonalds market segmentation have
witnessed some setbacks in some of its market segments
creating the need for a new strategy.
2
Introduction

2. Social media is a term that is used to describe any website that
enable social interactions.
The rapid growth in technology has increased the use of social
media by both organizations and individuals.
Individuals make use of social media to interact with their
friends and other people using the platform.
Organizations on the other hand make professional use of social
media in advertising their products.
Social media is composed of the following sites; Whatsapp,
Facebook, twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn among others.
The use of social media by organizations increases the visibility
of the company (Aguenza, 2012).
Individuals use social media to interact and share both formal
and informal information with friends, family, and strangers
making the world a more comfort zone. Organizations have as
well adopted social media to help improve essential processes
and operations. This is due to high visibility, persistence,
editability, and association
3
The importance of use of social media to companies
Social media provides an effective way for companies to access
the global market.
Social media plays as a medium which connects the company to
its customers.
Companies makes use of multiple platforms in order to increase
their market reach using the social media.

3. The company acquires and also share information using
different platforms (Keller, 2009).
Social media creates an effective means of responding to
customers’ complaints.
Social media makes it easy for companies to study and learn
their competitors.
Social media has facilitated engagement with various audience
especially when dealing with online complaints. this plays a
role to the suffering or benefiting of companies due to the
comments posted by the audience. Social media has enabled
easy learning of the competitors. this provides an opportunity to
understand the customers need and placing adequate efforts
towards providing quality products and services.
4
Advertising using Social media
Marketing of products is a critical activity to every
organization.
Marketing refers to creation of awareness to customers of the
various products of the company.
Social media creates a mean for the companies to share this
information to their customers.
One way companies use social media for advertisement is
through their company website where they post the information.
Companies also use platforms like Facebook to interact with
customers about the use of their products.
Companies also pays companies like Google to run their
advertisement alongside searches made by the users (Aguenza,
2012).
Companies also use brand influencers to push their products in
platforms like twitter.

4. Many people who are the potential customers possess personal
website where they fill out information about themselves, post
pictures of themselves, create their own blogs, and upload their
own videos. companies’ advertisers should understand the
importance of self-esteem, self-actualization and design when
satisfying personal needs using the information shared on social
media. social networking sites enable consumers personalize
their preferences and information, thus segmenting consumers
by marketers is essential.
5
Policies involved in the use of social media
Social media is an effective way for individuals and companies
to share information with their friends and customers.
However, the use of social media also comes along with certain
risks.
In order to mitigate the risks, the users of social media should
be responsible on the manner their use the different platforms.
The use of social media by companies should be guided by the
administrators in the company.
The users of social media are also required to observe ethical
issues like being respectful the other users.
Companies should prohibit the personal use of the company’s
accounts by the administrator of such accounts.
The will reduce the conflict of interests of the company and
those of the administrator using the account.

5. Ethical policies requires the works to possess high level of
honesty, respect and accuracy. this involves avoidance in the
use of statements, photographs, video or audio which could
reasonably could be viewed as malicious, obscene, threatening,
intimidating or even bullying to customers, members, associates
and suppliers.
6
Ways how companies use social media to advertise.
Paid advertisements- companies pays websites to run company’s
advertisements on their websites.
Paid per click- it is a means of advertisement where customers
are paid to view the company’s advertisements.
Use of Facebook pages- Companies create Facebook pages
where their post information about their products.
Use of brand influencers on platforms like titter to push a
company’s agenda.
All these social media platforms makes it easy for the company
to reach its customers.
It is also, cheaper for the comp[any to use social to advertise
their products compared to using the traditional means.
Social media has enabled easy learning of the competitors. this
provides an opportunity to understand the customers need and
placing adequate efforts towards providing quality products and
services.
7
Effective professional communication through social media
Workers can use social media professionally in the organization

6. to achieve the following;
To learn more about the other employees in the organization.
To communicate professionally with individuals who will help
them perform their tasks more effectively.
Interacting with co-workers with the aim of strengthening
personal relationship ties.
Social media can be used to interact with people who are
outside the organization to ask questions which are related to
work.
Can also be used to ask questions which are related to work
inside the organization.
Companies make effort to impose policies which will reduce the
personal use of social media in the organization. However,
workers are likely to continue using social media despite these
policies. The companies should therefore encourage the
professional use of social media in a manner that will benefit
the workers in how their perform their tasks.
8
The use of social media as a collaborative media in workplace
learning
The increased use of social media by companies have improved
learning in the workplace.
Different tools are used by companies to enhance learning
through social media.
The use of social media by companies have also improved the
management of skills and knowledge in the company.
The employees can use the companies to learn and therefore
reducing the costs incurred in learning activities.
Social media enable the company to reach a large number of
employees using the same platform which enhance learning.

7. Workers can also use social media to ask their superiors work
related questions in the organization.
This enhances the workers’ knowledge in relation to how they
perform their tasks in the company.
Social media tools has been used to enhance learning and
management of knowledge at work place. this is because social
media aid professionals in an organization to research and
acquire and implement strategies that is essential for
profitability of the company.
9
Privacy in use of social media at workplace
Employers use surveillance techniques to monitor information
shared by their employees.
They do this in order to protect the reputation of the
organization.
Posts by employees on their personal social media accounts may
ruin the reputation of the company.
Surveillance on the information posted by employees is
invasion of their privacy.
This creates a dilemma for the company because failure to
monitor the use by the employees may ruin the company’s
reputation.
Some companies also use social media information of a
candidate to judge them during employment.
Poor moral character on the use of social media can determine
whether a person gets employed or not.

8. Employers are using surveillance to monitor and govern
employee information, they are free to judge candidates on the
basis of all available information especially when hiring new
candidates, unless prohibited or restricted by law. information
include recklessness, bad reputation and poor moral character
which denies them privileged of employment.
10
Risks associated with the use of social media at workplace
Social media plays a vital role in the enhancement of
communication in the company.
However, the use carries with it some risks to both an
individual and the company.
Poor use of social media by an individual may make them lose
their employment.
For instance posting something that is contrary to what the
company holds make cost the person their job (Aguenza, 2012) .
Poor use of social media by the company administrator may ruin
the company’s reputation.
Employees also risk their privacy where the company monitors
information posted by their employees.
Social media has played a role towards the enrichment of the
communication profession and diverse stakeholders. alongside
the new possibilities also are challenges . there is likelihood of
oversupply of relevant information and invasion of the work
matters as well as the private domains based on the changing
work contents and structures of the company
11

9. Social media and textual harassment in the workplace
Sending offensive messages to the other people in the is known
as textual harassment.
The practice is not different in the organization which make use
of social media.
One employee may send another employee in the company an
offensive message (Keller, 2009).
The only way for companies to identify this is through
monitoring the information posted by employees.
The high level of harassment is caused by the connection
between professional and personal incidences in the workplace.
Companies may also be harassed by their customers by posting
insulting comments on posts of the company.
the incidence of social media harassment has been rapidly on
the rise using the social media technologies. this is due to the
effects of connectivity between professionals and high
incidences of intimacy. there is need for policies formulation
regarding boundaries of workplace romance using social media.
12
Conclusion
In modern world, social media plays a vital role in the success
of the company.
Companies use social media platforms to advertise their
products.
Social media creates a medium for the companies to connect
withy their customers.
They share information regarding their products like how they
are used.
Social media use in the company also brings some risks to the
company.

10. Some of these risks include ruining of the companies reputation.
The paper has also discussed incidence of social media
harassment has been rapidly on the rise using the social media
technologies. this is due to the effects of connectivity between
professionals and high incidences of intimacy. there is need for
policies formulation regarding boundaries of workplace
romance using social media.
13
References
Aguenza, B. B., Al-Kasem, A. H., & Som, A. M. (2012). Social
media and productivity in the workplace: Challenges and
constraints. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research in
Business, 2(2), 22-26.
Keller, K., & Kotler, P. (2009). Marketing management (13th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson
Mainiero, L. A., & Jones, K. J. (2013). Sexual harassment
versus workplace romance: Social media spillover and textual
harassment in the workplace. The Academy of Management
Perspectives, 27(3), 187-203.
Disruptive Technology
1. Read Unit Closing Case Two on page 305/306. Discuss the

11. following:
Which of the listed companies in the text or in the following
article:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/16/the-2017-cnbc-disruptor-50-
list-of-companies.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an
external site.
1. has the most disruptive technology that is capable of making
the greatest impact on 21st-century business? And why?
2. What types of information security issues should the
companies be aware of as they enter the 21st century?
3. What types of ethical dilemmas should the companies be
aware of as they enter the 21st century?
Sheet1Presentation by Tony StudentSlide NumberSlide
TitleSlide TextNarrativeComments1Social Media in the
WorkplaceTitle Slide2Introduction“Twitter is not a technology,
it’s a conversation – and it’s happening with or without you.” –
Charlene Li, author
Over 306 million active Twitter users send 500 million Tweets
daily *Hello, my name it Tony Student, I currently work as an
Information Security Manager at a financial services firm in the
Washington DC Metro area and am responsible for securing a
multi-trillion dollar financial platform. Part of my
responsibilities is to provide training and awareness on topics
that deal with Information Security including the use of Social
Media in the Workplace.
Social media is a powerful platform which helps connect
people. According to Charlene Li, author of Groundswell,
“Twitter is not a technology, it’s a conversation – and it’s
happening with or without you.”
Consider the fact that every minute of every day roughly 5,800

12. tweets are posted to the Twitterverse. This amounts to over 500
million tweets daily! That statistic definitely echoes the
sentiment of Charlene Li and is an important thing to consider
when it comes to business. Social media can become a positive
part of promoting a company's brand and allows a business to
provide supreme customer service.3AgendaSocial Media Primer
Five Leading Practices on Social Media
Best Buy Case Study
Closing Remarks
Questions and AnswersFor today's agenda we are going to cover
the following topics:
Social Media Primer - Which will provide insight into what
social media is and its purpose
Five Leading Practices on Social Media - Tips on the
appropriate use of Social Media
Best Buy Case Study - An example of how one big box retailer
sets the tone and expectation on social media for business use
Closing Remarks - Final thoughts one how transformative social
media can be for business
Questions and Answers - To be able to provide some time to
answer those burning questions that you didn't realize you had
until you saw this material.4Social Media PrimerAn online
medium for social collaboration *
It’s all about the content
Pictures
Videos
Music
Social Media can enable business
Platforms include LinkedIN, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
According to the English Oxford Living Dictionary, Social
Media are "Websites and applications that enable users to create

13. and share content or to participate in social networking."
In other words, social media in an online medium for social
collaboration. All said and done, it's all about the content that
people and companies produce and publish to the masses. The
platform is an enabler for businesses to create accessibility for
consumers to producers of a product or idea.
Examples of social media platforms that you may already be
familiar with include, LinkedIN, a professional social
networking site; Twitter, a microblogging site, and Facebook
which originally started out as a place for college folks to
collaborate and quickly turned into the defacto platform that
connects families and businesses as well.5Five Leading
Practices on Social MediaThis next section will discuss the five
leading practices on social media as it pertains to the
workplace.6Understand Company PolicyUnderstand what
interactions are valuable
Avoid interactions that violate company policy
Ensure messaging is mindful of company culture
Policy and culture is organic
Community standards and etiquetteUnderstand what the
company policy is regarding social media, especially if they
have a publicly facing social media presence. A well written
policy will provide detail in regards to what the company
perceives as valuable interactions and will have guidance on
how to appropriately interface with customers.
Social media is a publishing platform that the world can read,
be wary of behaviors which violate company policy. One
method of doing so is by being mindful of your company culture
since it can negatively affect the brand strength should an
interaction with the customer public can result in harm in the
company's public image.
Check the policy often since both policy and company culture

14. can change over time, for all you know, the community
standard, and etiquitte which serve as guiding principles have to
be agile enough to adjust with the tweaks that your company
may make.7Personal and Professional InteractionSocial Media
focuses on getting work done
Mix in your own personal brand
Humans want to connect with others
Keep interactions professional
Avoid uncomfortable topics
Social media in the context of a company is focused on getting
work done. Remember that it is supposed to be a business
enabler and not a time sink. At the end of the day the company
pays you to do your job and use of this as a tool should not
detract from the company mission. You may be thinking "Oh
wow, it sounds like this is more of a killjoy or it seems boring
seeing a flurry of text on the screen" Try injecting some
personality in the interactions that you have and make the
experience your own.
Humans naturally want to connect with others since we are
social beings. Just remember that behind that text is another
person, so be mindful of keeping your interactions professional.
Avoid topics that may prove to be awkward or uncomfortable to
others else a potential for miscommunication may occur.8Public
Versus Private CommunicationsUnderstand the boundary of
public vs private spaces
Select the correct medium
Engage the appropriate audience
Information classification is key
Understand the information you have
Never share private company secrets
Never post anything that belongs to someone else
Legal ramifications for wrongful disclosureIt is vitally
important to understand that some social interactions that occur
online have a specific target audience in which an interaction is
designed to be disclosed.

15. When using a social media platform to publish these ideas,
ensure that you pick the appropriate medium to deliver your
message. If it takes longer thjat 140 characters to express the
thought (as is the limitation set by Twitter) the alternative
would be to publish a Facebook post which enjoys longer form
publications of articles.
The message should be engaging to the right audience. If your
communication is specifically for people who collect vinyl
records, does it make sense to create an interaction on a thread
who's demographic is targeting people who enjoy reading
books?
Now that you are ready to creat that post, consider whether or
not that post should be published to the whole world. Most
companies have a set of confidential trade secrets that they
protect, after all that is the "secret sauce" to what makes them a
market competitor. It is important to understand the type of
information that you have and you should avoid sharing
company secrets. If it doesn't belong to you, then why would
you post it? Doing so may have definite negative legal
ramifications that could be detrimental to you or to others who
get this information.9The Washington Post TestProtect the
company brand
Would you publish it in the Washington Post?
Would the post embarrass the company?
Brand damage can cause company harm
Loss of consumer confidence
Loss of revenue
Loss of jobs
Think twice before posting, if in doubt, try using the
"Washington Post Test" to help you determine if the content is
appropriate.
The basic premise is to ask yourself if the content that you had

16. in mind to disclose to the public would be okay if you had
published it on the front page of The Washington Post. Reading
over that content, do you feel that the message could potentiall
embarass the company?
You are probably asking yourself, "Why should I care about it?"
Posting an inflammatory remark on your company's social
media presence could cause irreperable brand damage. Damage
to the brand could cause a significant loss of consumer
confidence in the product that you are selling, losing sales
means a loss in revenue, loss of that revenue means the
company can't meet their financial obligations which could
result in job cuts. If the post that you make is egregious enough,
it may lead to immediate termination and possibly civil
lawsuits.
Oh wow that is a lot of talk of doom and gloom, but fear not,
there is a way out of that mire, which brings us to the final
leading practice.10Remember the Golden RuleRemember the
Golden Rule! Repeat after me: "Treat others as you would like
to be treated" it is the ultimate maxim of altruism seen
throughout history and should be the guiding principle in all
your interactions on social media and in your personal life.
To achieve this end you will want to be self-aware about your
interactions with others as it is not all about you. When you are
leveraging social media for business, it is to help others with
issues that they may have with a company product.
Be an active listener and pay attention to what the customer has
to say. In some instances the person on the other side of the
conversation may just want to vent for the first few moments,
they do this to be heard. Acknowledge this and then find a
proactive method to manage the conversation.
Be clear in your communications, as a mis-communication can

17. exacerbate a situation and cause it to escalate. Rmember that
social media is a double edged sword, the interaction that your
customer has with you good or bad will be just as likely to be
posted out to the world to see. You definitely don't want to set
the precedence of being the company with crappy customer
service.
Finally, you should endeavor to be respectful always, after all
you want to make all interactions with your customer base be
positive ones. By providing this level of respect to a person,
you will help make them feel valued and at the same time be
able to take the coversation into a more constructive route to
actually fix the issue that they may legitimately have with the
company.11Best Buy Case StudyThis section will talk about
how Best Buy manages it's Social Media platform12Best Buy
Case StudyBest Buy relies heavily on social media
Best Buy’s Social Media Policy * is clear
Employees must disclose their affiliation
Employees must state that it is their opinion
Employees must not disclose company, legal, and client
information
Best Buy is a retailer of consumer electronics and home good
with both brick and mortar and online e-commerce site. Best
Buy also services what it sells, as part of this support structure,
you can interact with Best Buy through their social media
presence on Twitter using the handle @BestBuy.
BestBuy relies heavily on social media and to facilitate good
behavior on that platform they have created a clear social media
policy that applies to their employees. Some of the highlights
that come from their policy include:
Disclosing their affiliation to Best Buy - It is important that
when you are acting as an agent of the company that you let
your customers know that you are a representative, not doing so
is dishonest.

18. State that the opinion that they post when not acting on the
official BestBuy social media account are their own opinion.
The beauty of freedom of speech is that it is free, but it is
important to provide that buffer to your employer when you
have a divergent view of a certain topic.
Keep company secrets, secret. Employees are prohibited from
sharing information that they are not specifically authorized to
disclose as this can cause brand damage, which can translate
into monetary damages to the company.13Best Buy Case
StudyBest Buy’s Social Media Policy * is clear (continued)
Employees are expected to act ethically
Content with racial, ethnic, sexual, religious, and physical
disability slurs are not tolerated
Best Buy enables it’s employees to effectively use Social Media
for business
Act ethically, after all honesty is the best policy, it help build
consumer trust in the brand and shows the integrity of the
employees that Best Buy hires.
Slurs of any kind are not tolerated at any level by Best Buy;
those found in violation are subject to disciplinary action.
Best Buy's policy helps set the guidlines that all their
employees should follow as they are encouraging the positive
interaction with customers and do so by enabling the use of
social media as part of the normal business model.
If you would like to read the full policy, it is available at the url
provided in this presentation. 14Closing RemarksSocial Media
is business enabler
Have a clear Social Media Policy
Follow the five practices
Understand Company Policy
Personal and Professional Interactions

19. Public Versus Private Communications
The Washington Post Test
Remember the Golden Rule
We have covered a lot of material, so I wanted to leave you
with these final thoughts. As we have seen throughout this talk,
social media is a definite business enabler and can help set your
company apart from the rest in the field. To do so, a business
should have a clear social media policy which informs an
employee on what is acceptable when using social media
platforms on behalf of the company.
Finally we have covered over the five leading practices as it
pertains to social media.
Understand the Company Policy - Those are the rules your
company expects you to follow
Personal and Professional Interactions - Use social media as a
tool to get work done and be mindful of how you interact with
others
Public Versus Private Communications - Understand what is
okay to post to the public versus what you should keep secret to
protect your company
The Washington Post Test - When in doubt try applying this test
to see if it is appropriate to disclose certain information
Remember the Golden Rule - Repeat after me: "Treat others as
you would like to be treated"
Each of these practice areas will help you navigate the
sometimes complex waters of social media. If you are able to
master each of these areas, then the opportunities to building a
strong online brand for your company is limitless.15Questions
and AnswersNow is the time for asking those questions that you

20. may have been afraid to ask. If there are no further questions, I
would like to thank you very much for taking the time to listen
to me on the value of Social Media in the Workplace.
Create an outline (see below for guidelines) for your Week 8
presentation based on Week 6’s PowerPoint presentation (a
video preview is available under the Week 7 tab in Blackboard).
You may use the provided Presentation Outline Sample posted
in OneDrive or develop a different outline on your own. Save
your file as Your_Name_Presentation_Outline. Leave the
"Comments" column blank. After you have completed your
presentation outline, upload it to the "Completed Outlines"
folder on OneDrive.
Finally, submit your outline file to Blackboard to the Week 7
Professional Experience #4 link. That will prompt your
instructor to review your outline.
Outline Guidelines
Create an outline of your presentation in Word or Excel. Focus
on short bullet points and key things that you want to say (in
either your audio or video recording for Week 8). An example
is posted for you in the Week 7 OneDrive folder (link
provided). You may choose to use that outline format or create
your own for this Professional Experience.
This is a pass/fail assignment. All elements must be completed
(simulating the workplace where incomplete work is
unacceptable) for credit. You cannot receive partial credit.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this
assignment are:
Plan, create, and evaluate professional documents.
Write clearly, coherently, and persuasively using proper
grammar, mechanics, and formatting appropriate to the
situation.
Deliver professional information to various audiences using
appropriate tone, style, and format.
Learn communication fundamentals and execute various
professional tasks in a collaborative manner.

21. Analyze professional communication examples to assist in
revision.
Develop presentation skills for use in the professional
environment.