Like - Follow - Share : Social Media Influences on People Management

 


Blessing to the social media platforms, anyone can connect with any people in a split second at their fingertips. Social Media impacted tremendously to the human habits as it is now shaping the human culture than it was decade ago. The way of communication with families, friends and colleagues have been changed. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media tools have presented a democratic platform where anyone can voice out their opinion and simultaneously hear others’ opinions. Traditional Medias such as Television, radio has one-way communication whereas Social Media works as instant two-way communication.

This digital platform becomes the leading communication tools among youngest to old, individual to corporate entities owing to its unique features, frequent upgrades, and user-friendliness. Every organization have commenced in using the social media tools to promote them to retain in the competitive market.     

Most of the time, the social media mainly exist in the marketing department of an organization. However it can be replicated in other function of an organization. Human Resource Management also can navigate its HR practices such as recruitments, engagement in learning and skill development, employee feedbacks through these social media channels which will enhance the HRM values.




Distribution of Facebook users worldwide as of January 2023, by age and gender




Why Social media is so popular ?

Facebook is the most popular social media tool in the global at present. People around the world uses plethora of social media tools, most of them are popular worldwide and some countries, continentals have its own popular social media channels. Following factors leads to the popularity.

1. Unique features and consistent upgrades (Letters, emoji options, picture contents, picture quality, etc.).

2. Worldwide access despite geographical location (An Englishman can log into Facebook during his vacation in Sri Lanka).

3. Democratic approach (Easy to join, free admission, can voice out what people feel).    

4. Instant two-way communication (plenty of users can connect and communicate each other at once).


Most popular social networks worldwide as of January 2023




HRM functions collaborate with Social Media.

HRM objective is to carry out consistent HRM practices with a transparent communication and real time, 360 degree feedback from its employees as it is more important for HR department to collect related insight of the employees to take the right decision at right time.

Also HR need to be visible in the organization as it was always played its role behind the screen and it is no more valid in modern open society, hence Social Media is the right tool to create the relationship with each employee irrespective of the location.   

While having the benefits from the social media, implementing the same in HR function is not an easy task. It is required to adapt digital media skills and competencies in HR as well. Also HR needs to fine tune the right tools for its social media platform as it is important to maintain mix of social media tools to grab the target audience.

Social media plays more than a supporting role of HRM and it has become part and parcel of the HRM functions more than ever as it reshapes the engagement with employees, communication, development of workforce and recruitments, due to;

> Simplicity in using social media tools.

> Greater benefits gain through the social media tools.

> Easy and readiness to update job offers as and when vacancies available.

> Speedy access to potential employee or candidates.

> Accessibility to employee or candidate profiles. 


HR functions that Social media can be used as effective tool.

1. Boost in recruitment process

Many organizations even multinational companies are now adopted to social media recruitments as it provides avenues to reach potential candidates with reduced time and financial cost in hiring process. By identifying the platform what the potential candidate is mostly active, HR can use the respective social media tool to reach the candidate what organization prefers.

Linkedin               - Marketer, Banker, or professional figure.

Reddit / GitHub - Software developers, IT engineers.

Twitter                  - Writers, Authors, Journalist.




Distribution of LinkedIn users worldwide as of January 2023, by age group 



By identifying the right platform where the target audience is mostly active, HR can establish strong appearance in those platforms. Posting related contents consistently and interact with followers, Hashtag usage or any other options in social media apps will attract new candidates and boost the recruitment process.


2. Enhancing company branding.

Promoting the organization culture in the social media platforms will enhance the company brand among the followers. Releasing a video clip about a “day life at work place” will boost the perception of the organization among followers, let the employees to create such clip and it will have a huge positive impact on company reputation and brand name. Maintain simple application processes, make sure candidate questions via application are responded quickly as it is improving candidate experience which is vital aspect of company branding.


3. Shaping and strengthening training and development.

Daily human activities are now tightly attached with social media, and this can take as an advantage in learning process in HRM with more attractive way. Also this media can use as polls and survey tools to understand the employee expectation on their learning and skill developments. Further, using Linkedin to introduce the lecturer may allow your employees to find about the lecture and that way they can know from whom they are going to learn, what qualification and experience lecturer has, this will motivate employee to follow the learning programs.   


4. Employee recognition.

Owing to the remote work trend, company management rarely meets employees face to face and this will lead to diminish the employee morale and the satisfaction in long-term perspective. Using social media to recognize or publish the employee achievement, events or games that digitally can participate, give employees an opportunity to display their other extra-curricular activities will effectively impact to reduce the employer employee relationship gap, and filling up the gap will enhance the motivation, team building and productivity of employees.


5. Communication with Employees.

Social media tools such as Twitter, are mostly use in corporate plat forms as it has been taken to discuss about proceedings, way forward, other conversations related to organization which can visible to the employees as well as to the public, and it will provide transparency. 

Apps like Whatsapp, messenger, viber, telegram are most common social media plat forms that companies use to communicate with employees. Easy to handle, shortness of messages, availability to upload or share any files, access from anywhere foster to collaborate with social media at present more than ever.  

 

6. Monitor Employees Activities.

Gathered information of an employee via formal application will not be a sufficient data for a HR personal to evaluate, screen or background check of an employee or candidate. Social Media is the best option to drilldown the character of the employee or candidate as it shows behaviors, habits, social standards, level of wisdom of an employee so that HR can easily judge the employee through his/her past and present social activities.

Misbehavior of an employee will be a reputational damage to the organization, hence observing and keep monitoring such characters will arrest negative impacts on organization through the benefits of social media plat forms.


Modern world reshaping towards digitalization and it is sighted that Social Media become the heart of the digital world. Mass media influences have been made the transformation of organizational behavior, responses and strategies in current digitalization context. HRM functions also been influenced by these social media networks as it is required timely action to be taken by HR in order to sustain in digital world. 





References.

Arun, T (2021) , ‘4 ways HR Professionals can use social media to their advantage’ (23 July). Zoho People. Available at https://www.zoho.com/people/hrknowledgehive/4-ways-HR-professionals-can-use-social-media-to-their-advantage.html (Accessed: 16.08.2023).

Awana, S., 2018. Social Media and Its Impact on Human Resource Management a Review. Journal of Management, 5(6). Available at https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=SOCIAL+MEDIA+AND+ITS+IMPACT+ON+HUMAN+RESOURCE+MANAGEMENT%3A+A+REVIEW&btnG= (Accessed: 16.08.2023).

Clip 1: Curative (2017).’
Benefits of social media’ (20 September) . Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxAXJa1v74o (Accessed:17 August 2023).

Fig 1: Available at https://www.istockphoto.com/search/2/image?phrase=all%20social%20media%20icons (Accessed: 16.08.2023).

Fig 2: Dixon J S, Statista (2023).’Number of global social network users 2017-2027’ (13 February). Available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/  (Accessed: 16.08.2023).

Fig 3: Dixon J S, Statista (2023). ‘Distribution of Facebook users worldwide as of January 2023, by age and gender’ (24 February). Available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/376128/facebook-global-user-age-distribution/ (Accessed: 16.08.2023).

Fig 4: Dixon J S, Statista (2023). ‘Most popular social networks worldwide as of January 2023, ranked by number of monthly active users’ (14 February). Available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/ (Accessed: 16.08.2023).

Fig 5: Available at  https://www.istockphoto.com/search/2/image?phrase=social%20medias%20and%20people%20connect&page=2 (Accessed: 16.08.2023).

Fig 6 : Dixon J S, Statista (2023).’ Distribution of LinkedIn users worldwide as of January 2023, by age group’ (22 February). Available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/273505/global-linkedin-age-group/  (Accessed: 16.08.2023).

SHRM India (2018) ‘The Importance of Social Media in HR’ (02 May). The SHRM South Asia blog. Available at https://blog.shrm.org/sasia/blog/the-importance-of-social-media-in-hr.(Accessed: 16.08.2023).


Comments

  1. RANGIKA RANASINGHEAugust 17, 2023 at 7:47 AM

    This is informative article, social media has really had a great impact on our lives, you have well analyzed its impact on Human resource, an aspect i have never thought about before

    ReplyDelete
  2. SugandiAugust 17, 2023 at 8:07 AM

    A true fact. Social media is a good tool to expand the face of a company.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Duminda Saman KumaraAugust 17, 2023 at 1:20 PM

    One of the biggest advantages of human resource managers using social media on the job is that it makes the recruiting process easier and more successful for the company. HR managers can post job openings on all the company’s social media sites, including links to the listings on the company website. This makes it easier for the company to get the notice out to the public when jobs become available and for candidates to apply for those open jobs

    ReplyDelete
  4. Shanitha Dinush ChandimaAugust 17, 2023 at 3:54 PM

    This article effectively highlights the profound impact of social media on Human Resource Management (HRM) practices. Social media's rapid communication capabilities have revolutionized how people connect, share opinions, and engage with content. The piece underscores how organizations can leverage social media platforms to enhance HR functions, such as recruitment, training, employee recognition, and communication.Good article Rinosh

    ReplyDelete
  5. Shanitha Dinush ChandimaAugust 17, 2023 at 3:55 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. B. Abeywardana (MBA/HND Supply chain)August 17, 2023 at 4:35 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. B. Abeywardana (MBA/HND Supply chain)August 17, 2023 at 4:38 PM

      There are ample benefits of social media, but also we need to keep in mind that its like double edged sword

      Delete
  7. Rajitha MadhusankaAugust 17, 2023 at 7:09 PM

    Yes, social media is changing HRM in big ways. It's altering how we find employees and connect with teams. But we need to be smart about using it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Charuka RupasingheAugust 19, 2023 at 2:00 PM

    Social media impacts HRM growth by expanding recruitment reach, enhancing employer branding, enabling real-time engagement with candidates, and providing insights into industry trends and employee sentiments.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Harsha AthapattuAugust 19, 2023 at 6:27 PM

    social media is widely employed in various HRM practices, notably talent search and acquisition, and such practices are predicted to grow as a useful tool for many firms in the approaching years.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ayodhya GalappaththiAugust 22, 2023 at 8:01 AM

    The digital landscape, influenced by social media, has transformed organizational operations, necessitating HR to be agile, adaptable, and tech-savvy, leveraging social media for strategic advantage and navigating challenges and risks.

    ReplyDelete

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