Downsides of using Social Media

I hold immense love for social media - it keeps me updated and connected with people and trends. However, every bright idea has a dark side to it and so does Social Media. Chris Norton in his blog, defines some of the disadvantages that social media campaigns bring to an organisation. 

1. Time Consuming - The use of social media for organisational success can be as hard as it gets. Effective use of social media requires a minimum of 6-8 hours a week. I agree with Chris Norton when he talks about the gaps which can be left between two successive blogs or tweets by an organisation. Such gaps are perceived as the laid back general attitude of a company towards its clients.
2. Negative Comments - Receiving negative comments is absolutely normal for any firm, but the timely response to such comments is what makes it or breaks it for a firm.
3. Fraud - A through check on social media is also required as  a rival firm could pretend as some other business and cause damage to the reputation of a brand.
4. A lack of short term ROI - Returns on social media investments take a long time to show up and are tangible - they simply cannot be accurately measured.
5. Lack of interpersonal communication - Its always better to put a face to a name. It is difficult to develop a relationship with someone who is for the most part anonymous.

I completely agree with Chris, when he rightly says that Social Media isn't a gem which will change a bad company into a good company. An effective use of social media varies for different companies and can definitely not be measured yet !

http://chrisnorton.biz/social-media/the-seven-deadly-disadvantages-of-social-media/

Ena Negi (M14)