Paper Example. Social Media and Leadership Practice

Social media has revitalized leadership practice. It has made its mark in the management and operations of virtually all organizations, in all sectors. Communication, both in-house and external, has been greatly improved by social presence. The versatility of online social platforms has played a considerable role in converging a firm's clients, stakeholders, employees management, and the general public (Kristen Lovejoy, Gregory D Saxton, 2012). However, leaders have gradually been robbed of the information-get-keeping role since social media are increasingly treated as an information source, including details about crises and risks (David Westerman, Patrick R Spence, Brandon Van Der Heide, 2014).

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Social media allows for social publishing where employees, leaders, and other members of society can express their thoughts for consideration in a larger audience (Jan H Kietzmann, Kristopher Hermkens, Ian P McCarthy, Bruno S Silvestre, 2011). It also gives entertainment by conversations online, fun clips, and pictures. Social media also upholds community set-ups where individuals with the same objectives, dreams, and beliefs, and those sharing a geographical area can congregate to share experiences. Under the commercial aspect of it, social media has been versatile, to the point of facilitating retail outlets online where users can shop for commodities and strike delivery arrangements simultaneously.

Social media is rewarding, especially in the leadership and organization of individuals. The same platforms, however, have plunged individuals into controversy and objectification. Most of the leaders and the public have had a problem distinguishing what goes and what is to be held back from the social media space. Leadership figures, in some instances, tell their personal stories, share private pictures to invoke emotion, and inspire action (Ferriera, 2010). The intent is not a bad one, but it ends up jeopardizing individual privacy. Social media has also limited the influence of leaders who drive opinions that persuade their colleagues (Brian E Weeks, Alberto Ardevol-Abreu, Homero Gil de Zuniga, 2017). The opinion leader capacity has been toned down since the majority have easy access to virtually every piece of information they need, therefore, are able to derive their logic.

References

Brian E Weeks, Alberto Ardevol-Abreu, Homero Gil de Zuniga. (2017). Online influence? Social media use opinion leadership and political persuasion. International Journal of Public Opinion Research.

David Westerman, Patrick R Spence, Brandon Van Der Heide. (2014). Social Media as an information source: Recency of updates and credibility of the information. Journal of Computer-mediated communication.

Ferriera, D. G. (2010). Exploring the Transactional and Transformational Leadership Characteristics of Social Networking Communications. The Refractive Thinker: Ethics, Leadership, and Globalization.

Jan H Kietzmann, Kristopher Hermkens, Ian P McCarthy, Bruno S Silvestre. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business Horizons.

Kristen Lovejoy, Gregory D Saxton. (2012). Information, community, and action: how a nonprofit organization uses social media. Journal of Computer-mediated communication.