Social media in construction : an exploratory case study

Social media are considered as powerful tools to influence people as well as businesses in a short time span. Therefore, systematic use of social media in a business environment can bring greater benefits in no time. However, there are opposing views and criticisms around social media implementation within businesses. Nevertheless, many businesses are now active in social media platforms as means of marketing, recruiting people, improving brand image and so on. Yet, there are issues in implementing social media in a business environment as it involves devising proper guidelines and protocols for its usage and effective communication to the employees of the organisation. This becomes more complicated in the case of construction industry as it is fragmented and the industry is distinctly different compared to other industries. Therefore, this paper presents an exploratory study of a construction organisation in term of its social media implementation and use. It mainly focuses on the types of social media platforms used for personal, business and career development purposes; usage policy of the organisation; level of integration with business goals; significance of social media on various branches of business and barriers in implementation.