Juggling ICT’s social media’s roles (the role of ICT professionals in an organization’s social media strategy)

Article Type: Abstracts From: Strategic Direction, Volume 29, Issue 7

Fitzgerald M.MInformation Age, 2012, Start page: 22, No. of pages: 4

Considers what part ICT professionals should play in their organization’s social media strategy. Records that ICT in general appears ambivalent about social media since, in a 2009 survey of over 1,400 chief information officers(CIOs), conducted by Robert Half Technology, revealed that over 50 percent of the respondents claimed that their companies banned social media use by employees, while another 19 percent said their organizations limited social media use to business purposes only. Reviews the ways in which selected companies are exploiting the benefits of social media noting that, when it comes to managing the strategy behind social media, the marketing function is still the dominant force, handling that responsibility at 48 percent of companies, and with ICT not involved at all. Concludes that, when social media moves out of marketing’s control, ICT is in a much better position from a business perspective to look at it in broader terms. Illustrates the points made in the article with particular reference to a brief case study involving the intranet application at Coca-Cola Amatil.Article type: ViewpointISSN: 1324-5945Reference: 41AE387

Keywords: Communications technology, Information systems,Managerial strategy, Organizations, Social media, Social networks