Social Media and Work

[文档 标题]

Table of contents

Introduction 1

Explain 2

Implication 3

• Employers/Recruiters3
• Employees3

Prediction 4

Reflection5

Conclusion 6

Reference3

INTRODUCTION

In modern society, social media become an important role in people’s daily life, not only because people can use social media to communicate with other people or achieve information, but also they can use social media in finding jobs and in their daily working, social media can help managers manage employees. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, social media is defined as “forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages and other content (Mayfield, 2008). In common, when we mention social media, most people think about Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and so on, people use these software to share their daily life and share what they want to let their friends know, such as, pictures or videos. People also can through this software to communicate with their families and friends; moreover, they can achieve news from social media. However, social media now have entered in office works, more and more companies and organizations use social media to recruit and manage their workers. According to some evidences from some report, we found 74% adults use social networking sites (Pew Research Centre), McKinnon (2014) reported from a Canadian Digital, Social, and Mobile Statistics study that there were over 1.8 billion active social network users, representing 26 per cent of the world population. Facebook is considered the most commonly used social medium as of January 2015, with around 1.37 billion users worldwide (representing 38.6 per cent of the global online population), while Twitter has also been fast expanding with 284 million active users (Statista, 2015). LinkedIn, a social network catering to professionals, reported a global user base of 300 million in 2014, with 41 per cent of users having over 500 connections and 48 per cent of them reported spending over two hours per week on this network (Conner, 2014). The wide usage of social media is also supported by other studies and surveys. For example, Diercksen et al. (2013) found in their survey of 115 students that 87.5 per cent of them used social media more than eight hours a week, with the vast majority of them having Facebook open while completing work. Similarly, a large UK survey showed 55 per cent of employees who responded admitting to spending time on social networking sites while at work, to the magnitude of over one hour a day for 6 per cent of them (My Job Group, 2010, p. 14). In the employment setting, an SHRM survey published in 2013 found 77 per cent of its members regularly using social media for recruiting, with 94 per cent favouring LinkedIn, 54 per cent Facebook and 39 per cent Twitter (SHRM, 2013). A survey commissioned by Microsoft found 79 per cent of people responsible for hiring in the US had reviewed online information of prospective employees (Microsoft, 2013). This report is to explain how social media affect employer and employee, and then give some recommendations for employers and employees.