Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media

Traditionally, consumers used the Internet to simply expend content: they read it, they watched it, and they used it to buy products and services. Increasingly, however, consumers are utilizing platforms—such as content sharing sites, blogs, social networking, and wikis—to create, modify, share, and discuss Internet content. This represents the social media phenomenon, which can now significantly impact a firm's reputation, sales, and even survival. Yet, many executives eschew or ignore this form of media because they don’t understand what it is, the various forms it can take, and how to engage with it and learn. In response, we present a framework that defines social media by using seven functional building blocks: identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups. As different social media activities are defined by the extent to which they focus on some or all of these blocks, we explain the implications that each block can have for how firms should engage with social media. To conclude, we present a number of recommendations regarding how firms should develop strategies for monitoring, understanding, and responding to different social media activities.     

Virtual interviews vs. LinkedIn profiles: Effects on human resource managers’ initial hiring decisions

This study examined how human resource (HR) managers' assessments of a job candidate's performance in the first virtual interview and his/her LinkedIn profile affect their hiring decisions. Using field data with 44 HR managers' assessments of 400 job candidates' virtual interview performance (Time 1) and their LinkedIn profiles (Time 2), regression analyses reveal that managers' hiring decisions in Time 1 (before checking LinkedIn) is positively affected by interpersonal competence and leadership potential but negatively affected by virtual presence. Virtual presence reduces interpersonal competence's but strengthens leadership potential's positive effects on hiring decisions in Time 1. Having a LinkedIn profile could change managers' decisions. Their hiring decisions in Time 2 become stronger for candidates with a higher overall rating on their LinkedIn profiles but weaker for those with more spelling/grammatical errors. Such findings add to the relevant literature and provide meaningful implications for HR managers and job candidates.     

Analyzing the Impact of Culture on Average Time Spent on Social Networking Sites

The study examines the influence of national culture on national averages of time spent (ATS) visiting the largest social networking sites (SNSs): Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The analysis uses cultural dimensions adopted from both the works of Hofstede and Schwartz, while controlling for country e-readiness and median population age. The findings suggest that culture's influence may be moderated by the media richness and type of network focus of each SNS. Overall, in rich-media SNSs, egalitarianism positively impacts ATS. Individualism and masculinity only impact ATS on friendship-oriented SNSs. Additionally, uncertainty avoidance and intellectual autonomy only impact ATS on professional-oriented SNSs.