Employees\u27 Intention to Continue Using Organizational Microblogs: A Uses & Gratification Perspective

There is a growing stream of research into organizational microblogging in recent years. Whilst the extant literature has mainly focused on technology-related factors to examine initial microblogging use, few studies have investigated user needs and gratifications and even less on the post initial adoption stage. Hence, the purpose of this research is to explore the factors that affect employees\u27 intention to continue using organizational microblogs, specifically Yammer, by employing the uses and gratifications model. The results of the survey of 111 participants using PLS-SEM methodology suggest that cognitive gratification, affective gratification, personal integrative gratification, social integrative gratification and entertainment gratification positively affect employees\u27 intention to continue using organizational microblogs. This research therefore extends our understanding of what drives employees to continue using organizational microblogs and offers suggestions for designers/managers of organizational microblogs, especially with various ways to increase employees\u27 ongoing use of their organizations\u27 microblogging platform

The use of Twitter for innovation in business markets

Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of Twitter in business as a medium for knowledge sharing and to crowdsource information to support innovation and enhance business relationships in the context of business-to-business (B2B) marketing. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a combination of methodologies for gathering data in 52 face-to-face interviews across five countries and the downloaded posts from each of the interviewees' Twitter accounts. The tweets were analysed using structural topic modelling (STM), and then compared to the interview data. This method enabled triangulation between stated use of Twitter and respondent's actual tweets. Findings The research confirmed that individuals used Twitter as a source of information, ideas, promotion and innovation within their industry. Twitter facilitates building relevant business relationships through the exchange of new, expert and high-quality information within like-minded communities in real time, between companies and with their suppliers, customers and also their peers. Research limitations/implications - As this study covered five countries, further comparative research on the use of Twitter in the B2B context is called for. Further investigation of the formalisation of social media strategies and return on investment for social media marketing efforts is also warranted. Practical implications - This research highlights the business relationship building capacity of Twitter as it enables customer and peer conversations that eventually support the development of product and service innovations. Twitter has the capacity for marketers to informand engage customers and peers in their networks on wider topics thereby building the brand of the individual users and their companies simultaneously. Originality/value This study focuses on interactions at the individual level illustrating that Twitter is used for both customer and peer interactions that can lead to the sourcing of ideas, knowledge and ultimately innovation. The study is novel in its methodological approach of combining structured interviews and text mining that found the topics of the interviewees' tweets aligned with their interview responses.Peer reviewe

Exploring Social Media Marketing In Business: Influence on Product Adoption Perspective

The importance of social media in Business cannot be over emphasized. Social media ensures effective communication between organizations and clients (customers), provides direct and timely contact with a large number of people. As there are many people with varying needs, so are many products with similar offerings competing for the varying needs of the people. This study investigates the influence of social media (Facebook, Youtube and Twitter) marketing on product adoption. 241 staff and customers of Shoprite shopping Mall, Enugu Nigeria who showed interest to participate constituted the respondents. Questionnaire was the study instrument used to elicit response from the sample of 241 respondents that took part in the study. The reliability of the study was established using Cronbach Alpha Statistical tool which yielded 0.886 considered adequate for the study. A 5 point likert structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the affected respondents. The data collected were analyzed and the study hypotheses tested with the use of linear regression. Findings revealed that Facebook, Youtube and Twitter positively and significantly influence product adoption. It was concluded that effective use of appropriate social media platform(s) influence customers’ purchase intention. That proper utilization of social media not only creates product awareness but result to product adoption amongst competing brands. It was recommended that awareness of the existence of a number of social media platforms be widely created and used based on the peculiarities of market segment(s) of the business organization. Keywords: Social Media, Marketing, Effective Communication, Business, Influence, Customer, Product Adoption. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-21-14 Publication date:July 31st 202

The use of Twitter for innovation in business markets

Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of Twitter in business as a medium for knowledge sharing and to crowdsource information to support innovation and enhance business relationships in the context of business-to-business (B2B) marketing. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a combination of methodologies for gathering data in 52 face-to-face interviews across five countries and the downloaded posts from each of the interviewees\u27 Twitter accounts. The tweets were analysed using structural topic modelling (STM), and then compared to the interview data. This method enabled triangulation between stated use of Twitter and respondent\u27s actual tweets. Findings The research confirmed that individuals used Twitter as a source of information, ideas, promotion and innovation within their industry. Twitter facilitates building relevant business relationships through the exchange of new, expert and high-quality information within like-minded communities in real time, between companies and with their suppliers, customers and also their peers. Research limitations/implications As this study covered five countries, further comparative research on the use of Twitter in the B2B context is called for. Further investigation of the formalisation of social media strategies and return on investment for social media marketing efforts is also warranted. Practical implications This research highlights the business relationship building capacity of Twitter as it enables customer and peer conversations that eventually support the development of product and service innovations. Twitter has the capacity for marketers to inform and engage customers and peers in their networks on wider topics thereby building the brand of the individual users and their companies simultaneously. Originality/value This study focuses on interactions at the individual level illustrating that Twitter is used for both customer and peer interactions that can lead to the sourcing of ideas, knowledge and ultimately innovation. The study is novel in its methodological approach of combining structured interviews and text mining that found the topics of the interviewees\u27 tweets aligned with their interview responses

Diachronic profile of startup companies through social media

Peixoto, A. R., Almeida, A. D., António, N., Batista, F., & Ribeiro, R. (2023). Diachronic profile of startup companies through social media. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 13(1), 1-18. [52]. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-023-01055-2 --- Funding: Open access funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on). This work was partially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT) namely by ISTAR Projects: UIDB/04466/2020 and UIDP/04466/2020; UIDB/04152/2020 (MagIC/NOVA IMS); and UIDB/50021/2020 (INESC-ID).Social media platforms have become powerful tools for startups, helping them find customers and raise funding. In this study, we applied a social media intelligence-based methodology to analyze startups’ content and to understand how their communication strategies may differ during their scaling process. To understand if a startup’s social media content reflects its current business maturation position, we first defined an adequate life cycle model for startups based on funding rounds and product maturity. Using Twitter as the source of information and selecting a sample of known Portuguese IT startups at different phases of their life cycle, we analyzed their Twitter data. After preprocessing the data, using latent Dirichlet allocation, topic modeling techniques enabled the categorization of the data according to the topics arising in the published contents of the startups, making it possible to discover that contents can be grouped into five specific topics: “Fintech and ML,” “IT,” “Business Operations,” “Product/Service R&D,” and “Bank and Funding.” By comparing those profiles against the startup’s life cycle, we were able to understand how contents change over time. This provided a diachronic profile for each company, showing that while certain topics remain prevalent in the startup’s scaling, others depend on a particular phase of the startup’s cycle. Our analysis revealed that startups’ social media content differs along their life cycle, highlighting the importance of understanding how startups use social media at different stages of their development.publishersversioninpres

An exploration of the use of marketing public relations at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa

Text in English with abstracts in English and AfrikaansCultural tourism is one of the growth areas of the tourism industry globally. Cultural tourism refers to visits motivated by cultural offerings. Cultural offerings include museums, castles, cultural landscapes and historical sites. The Apartheid Museum is a non-profit organisation, which relies on generosity of government, private organisations and sales of gate tickets. It thus relies on building and sustaining a long-term mutual relationship with its visitors to earn their loyalty and support. Marketing public relations is a concept, which has been explored in commercial contexts by numerous studies. However, there is still limited literature on the adoption and the use of marketing public relations in the context of a non-profit organisation such as a museum. The aim of this study was to explore the use of marketing public relations at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa. In order to explore the use of marketing public relations at the museum, a survey involving 384 visitors and in-depth interviews with six marketing staff members were conducted. The data from the questionnaire were analysed using the SPSS software. The data collected from the in-depth interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The study revealed that the museum does not deploy marketing public relations tools in an integrated manner. Its significance resides in that it provides marketing public relation guidelines to organisations like the Apartheid Museum for purposes of building long term and meaningful relations with their customer stakeholders.Kulturele toerisme neem wêreldwyd snel toe. Kuturele toerisme verwys na “besoeke gemotiveer deur kulturele aanbiedings”. Dit sluit besoeke aan museums, kastele, kulturele landskappe en historiese terreine in. Die Apartheid-museum is ’n organisasie sonder winsbejag wat op die vrygewendheid van die regering en private instansies asook kaartjieverkope by die toegangshek staatmaak. Dit reken dus op die aanknoop en instandhouding van langtermynverhoudings met sy besoekers om hulle lojaliteit en ondersteuning te verseker. Openbare betrekkinge-bemarking is ’n konsep wat in kommersiële konteks deur verskeie studies ondersoek is. Daar is egter nog min literatuur oor die aanvaarding en gebruikmaking hiervan in die konteks van ’n organisasie sonder winsbejag soos ’n museum beskikbaar. Die doel van hierdie studie was om die gebruike van openbare betrekkinge-bemarking by die Apartheidsmuseum in Johannesburg, Suid-Afrika te ondersoek. Om hierdie doel te bereik is ’n vraelys deur 384 besoekers voltooi en indiepte onderhoude met ses skakelbeamptes op die personeel gevoer. Die data van die vraelys is met behulp van SPSS-sagteware deur die gebruik van tematiese analise geëvalueer. Hierdie studie het getoon dat die museum nie op ’n geïntegreerde manier die bemarkingsgeleenthede vir openbare betrekkinge benut nie. Die belangrikheid van hierdie studie is geleë in die feit dat dit riglyne aan organisasies soos die Apartheidsmuseum voorsien met die doel om langtermyn- en betekenisvolle verhoudings met hulle kliëntedeelhebbers op te bou.Communication ScienceM.A. (Communication

ULOGA DRUŠTVENIH MREŽA U INFORMALNOM UČENJU : Diplomski rad

Budući da zahtijeva motivaciju i entuzijazam, a odvija se neplanirano i spontano, informalno učenje može se navesti kao najučinkovitiji oblik učenja. Takvo učenje rezultat je dnevnih aktivnosti koje se mogu odvijati bilo gdje, u kući, na radnom mjestu, u vjerskoj instituciji, pa čak i u obrazovnoj instituciji. Danas je najvažniji izvor informacija, bez ograničenja vremena i mjesta, definitivno internet. S pojavom društvenih mreža javlja se potreba za virtualnim druženjem i stvaranjem poznanstvana, osim toga i potreba za učenjem. Danas postoji velika lista društvenih mreža, no kao najznačajnije navode se Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin i Pinterest. Predmet ovog istraživanja bio uloga društvenih mreža u cjeloživotnom učenju s naglaskom na informalno, na uzorku lokalnih korisnika interneta i društvenih mreža. Ispitivanje je provedeno putem anketnog upitnika s uzorkom od 312 ispitanika. U ovom diplomskom radu potvrđen je pozitivan utjecaj društvenih mreža na informalno učenje. Veće korištenje različitih društvenih mreža, značajno utječu na informalno učenje.Since it requires motivation and enthusiasm, and is done unplanned and spontaneous, informal learning can be mentioned as the most effective form of learning. Such learning is the result of daily activities that can take place anywhere, in the home, in the workplace, in the religious institution, and even in the educational institution. Today, the most important source of information, without time and place constraints, is definitely the Internet. With the emergence of social networks, there is a need for virtual socializing and creating awareness, as well as the need for learning. Today there is a large list of social networks, but the most important ones are Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin and Pinterest. The subject of this research was the role of social networks in lifelong learning with an emphasis on informal, on a sample of local Internet users and social networks. The survey was conducted through a questionnaire survey with a sample of 312 respondents. This graduate work has confirmed the positive influence of social networks on informal learning. Increased use of social networks significantly affects the level of informal learning

ULOGA DRUŠTVENIH MREŽA U INFORMALNOM UČENJU : Diplomski rad

Budući da zahtijeva motivaciju i entuzijazam, a odvija se neplanirano i spontano, informalno učenje može se navesti kao najučinkovitiji oblik učenja. Takvo učenje rezultat je dnevnih aktivnosti koje se mogu odvijati bilo gdje, u kući, na radnom mjestu, u vjerskoj instituciji, pa čak i u obrazovnoj instituciji. Danas je najvažniji izvor informacija, bez ograničenja vremena i mjesta, definitivno internet. S pojavom društvenih mreža javlja se potreba za virtualnim druženjem i stvaranjem poznanstvana, osim toga i potreba za učenjem. Danas postoji velika lista društvenih mreža, no kao najznačajnije navode se Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin i Pinterest. Predmet ovog istraživanja bio uloga društvenih mreža u cjeloživotnom učenju s naglaskom na informalno, na uzorku lokalnih korisnika interneta i društvenih mreža. Ispitivanje je provedeno putem anketnog upitnika s uzorkom od 312 ispitanika. U ovom diplomskom radu potvrđen je pozitivan utjecaj društvenih mreža na informalno učenje. Veće korištenje različitih društvenih mreža, značajno utječu na informalno učenje.Since it requires motivation and enthusiasm, and is done unplanned and spontaneous, informal learning can be mentioned as the most effective form of learning. Such learning is the result of daily activities that can take place anywhere, in the home, in the workplace, in the religious institution, and even in the educational institution. Today, the most important source of information, without time and place constraints, is definitely the Internet. With the emergence of social networks, there is a need for virtual socializing and creating awareness, as well as the need for learning. Today there is a large list of social networks, but the most important ones are Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin and Pinterest. The subject of this research was the role of social networks in lifelong learning with an emphasis on informal, on a sample of local Internet users and social networks. The survey was conducted through a questionnaire survey with a sample of 312 respondents. This graduate work has confirmed the positive influence of social networks on informal learning. Increased use of social networks significantly affects the level of informal learning

Vastuullisuutta vakuuttelevaa viestintää : Ympäristövastuun legitimointi elintarvikeyhtiöiden Twitter-videoilla

Yritysvastuun korostamisesta on tullut nykypäivänä merkittävä tapa rakentaa mainetta. Kuluttajien vaatimukset etenkin elintarvikkeita tuottavien yritysten ympäristövastuullisuudesta ovat kasvaneet muun muassa eettisten ja ekologisten syiden vuoksi. Ympäristön kannalta vastuullinen yritys huomioi toimintansa vaikutukset ympäristöön ja pyrkii toimimaan kestävän kehityksen mukaisesti, ja kuluttajien ympäristötietoisuuden ja -huolien kasvaessa luontoon kohdistuvasta vastuullisuudesta on tullut yritysten kriittinen kilpailutekijä. Vastuullisuusviestintä on laajentunut perinteisestä raportoinnista jatkuvaksi kommunikoinniksi, ja sosiaalisen median kanavat ovat tuoneet sen toteuttamiseen uusia mahdollisuuksia esimerkiksi videon muodossa. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää, miten elintarvikeyhtiöt perustelevat ympäristöön liittyvää vastuullisuuttaan Twitterissä julkaistuilla videoilla. Tavoitetta lähestytään diskursiivisen legitimaation keinoin etsimällä videoilta ympäristövastuulle tyypillisiä diskursseja ja tarkastelemalla näiden diskurssien kautta toteutuvaa legitimaatiota Van Leeuwenin sekä Hahnin ja Lülfsin legitimaatiostrategioiden pohjalta. Tutkimusaineistona on kolmen suomalaisen elintarvikeyhtiön, Pauligin, Fazerin ja Atrian, Twitterissä vuoden 2019 aikana julkaistut videot, joista yhteensä 27 käsittelee ympäristöön kohdistuvaa vastuullisuutta. Videoaineistoa tarkastellaan myös audiovisuaalisten legitimointistrategioiden sekä multimodaalisen tarinankerronnan kautta. Tutkimus osoittaa, että ympäristövastuuta koskevilla videoilla elintarvikeyhtiöt nostavat esiin eniten tuotevastuuta ja päästöihin sekä hiilijalanjälkeä koskevia toimenpiteitä. Yritykset vakuuttavat ympäristöön liittyvää vastuullisuuttaan osoittamalla toimintansa yhteiskunnallisia ja positiivisia seurauksia. Videon multimodaalisuden vuoksi vastuullisuutta legitimoidaan monipuolisesti eri ympäristödiskursseja ja -strategioita yhdistäen. Video vahvistaa legitimaatiota visuaalisten elementtiensä ja tarinankerrontamahdollisuuksiensa vuoksi, ja näillä voidaan luoda mielikuvaa vastuullisuudesta ilman varsinaista näyttöä toiminnasta. Tutkimustulokset ovat samansuuntaisia aiemman vastuullisuusviestinnän ja visuaalisen legitimaatiotutkimuksen kanssa. Videomuotoista vastuullisuusviestintää ei ole vielä paljoakaan tutkittu, mutta tutkimus antaa yleiskuvaa siitä, mitä suomalaiset elintarvikeyhtiöt kokevat videoilla tarpeelliseksi legitimoida ympäristötietoisille kuluttajille. Video on melko tuore markkinointiviestinnän keino ja sitä on tutkittu melko vähän. Tämä tutkimustapaus valottaa osaltaan myös sitä, millaisia legitimointimahdollisuuksia multimodaaliset videot ympäristövastuun ja ruuantuotannon osalta tarjoavat