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The concept ‘Web 2.0’ was first introduced in 2004 to the O’Reilly Media Web 2.0, leading the evolution of social media (Graham, 2005; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Social media platforms utilize a Web 2.0 format, which provides the users with a dynamic setting for personal interaction wherever they can interact with similarly minded people, as opposed to a Web 1.0 format wherever the user may be a passive recipient (Bennett & Glasgow, 2009; Chandran, 2016; Schroeder, 2014).
Social media may be considered as a style of electronic or on-line communication where a shared content will be manipulated or created by the users themselves (Donelle & Booth, 2012; Hamm et al., 2013). Examples of common social media channels/platforms include blogs, social networking sites (Facebook), microblogs (Twitter), wikis or collaborative information projects (Wikipedia), and content communities (YouTube) (Risiling et al., 2017).
Through further understanding of who may be engaged in the use of social media, a lot of thought can be given to what types of activities are most typical on these platforms. To understand the enormity of the volume of information flow that typifies each day in the digital realm, the numbers are reported in 60 increments. The statistical reports have explained these “every minute of every day” usage examples: Twitter users produced around 347,000 tweets; Facebook users liked around 4.1 million posts; YouTube users uploaded 400 hrs of new videos; Instagram users post around 1.7 million images and like around 2.4 million posts; Dropbox users uploaded around 830,000 new files. This reflects that their sharp focus on information being exchanged through the social media sites (Novillo-Ortiz & Hernández-Pérez, 2017).
Governments and international institutions consider social media as an important tool to communicate with others and also use it for a better response in international crises (Comlekc & Guney, 2016). In business, social media applications create new opportunities for organizations to collaborate in new ways with their business partner, customers, and suppliers and to improve their internal operations (Culnan et al., 2010). For organizations, the social media provide opportunities to actively engage with consumers & employees and build relationships (Abeza et. al., 2013; Williams & Chinn, 2010). Social media allows organizations to share content, facilitate interaction and build community with customers (Achen, 2016; Smith, 2013). Employees also communicate through social media sites and contribute to the organization’s reputation and image. The role of internal communication expands in the direction of getting feedback from within the organization (Ng & Wang, 2013). Internally, social media can also contribute to the community development, improvement of communication processes, promotion of values and organizational culture, facilitation of information flow, and stimulation of creativity (Ng & Wang, 2013).