The following is a short book preview about the potential strengths and pitfalls of social media contributed by the Ohio State University Leadership Center.
The Effective Change Manager’s Handbook: Essential Guidance to the Change Management Body of Knowledge
APMG (author); Richard Smith, David King, Ranjit Sidhu and Dan Skelsey (editors), Philadelphia: Kogan Page Publishers (2015)
“Strengths allow for:
- Quick feedback and response to questions
- Increased levels of interaction and encouragement
- Connectivity across diverse groups in different geographic locations
- Access to senior management
- Mass communication to spread updates about progress quickly and in an informal way
- Rich communication through use of multiple formats such as images and video
- People to generate content by adding their own stories and examples
- Building a sense of community and belonging during the uncertainties of change
Pitfalls include:
- Increased risk of leaks of confidential information to the wider public, where platforms are used, ie they are not restricted access
- Negative comments about the organization, if not managed well, can lead to reputational damage
- Additional resource is required to help build and sustain social media interaction
- Lack of strategic purpose and focus in directing how it should be used, so it fails to achieve tangible results
- Data protection issues on personal data that is collected and used on social media
- Legal gray areas around personal privacy for comments posted on personal accounts, but which can be seen by the wider public (p. 241).”
The Effective Change Manager’s Handbook is available from the OSU Leadership Center.
Learn how the Ohio State University Leadership Center is inspiring others to take a leadership role that empowers the world at the OSU Leadership Center website.
