Title:

Perception and use of social media platforms among businesses and consumers in Northern Ireland, with a focus on Facebook and LinkedIn
Table of Contents Abstract.................................................................................................................................................3 Results..........................................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgements...............................................................................................................................4 Introduction...........................................................................................................................................5 Review of the Literature.......................................................................................................................6 1.1 Introduction to Chapter 1.......................................................................................................6 1.2 Emergence of Social Media .................................................................................................6 1.3 Evolution of the media landscape. 1.3.1 1st Revolution - Printing Press Type 1.3.2 2nd Revolution - Electrical Telegraph and Telephone 1.3.3 3rd Revolution - Recorded Media other than Print - Tape, Vinyl Record, Photo & Movie 1.3.4 4th Revolution - Broadcasted Media - T.V & Radio 1.3.5 5th Revolution - The Internet World Wide Web 1.4 Marketing Models 1.4.1 Introduction 1.4.2 21st Century Marketing Model Networking/Social Media 1.5 The Impact and Value of Social Media Expression 1.5.1 The wisdom of the former audience 1.5.2 20th Century Consumer Vs 21st Century Human 1.6 Business & Social Media Integration 1.6.1 Introduction to Enterprise 2.0 1.6.2 Social Media Platforms used for Business 1.6.3 Benefits of Social Media 1.6.4 Criticism of Business & Social Media Integration 2.0 Methodology................................................................................................................................16 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Method of Data Collection 2.2.1 Qualitative and Quantitative Research 2.3 Data Collection 2.3.1 Online Questionnaire 2.4 Code of Conduct, Pilot Testing & Software used 2.4.1 Consumer Questionnaire 2.4.2 Data Collection - Business Questionnaire 2.5 Time 2.6 Compare and Contrast 2.7 Time Constraints 2.8 Limitations in Data Sampling Conclusion 3.0 Data Analysis & Discussion........................................................................................................22 3.1 Introduction 3.2. Online behaviour of Northern Ireland Consumers. 3.3 Northern Ireland's Facebook Consumer Behaviour 3.4 Business Perception of Social Media 3.5 Business Awareness of Social Media 3.6 Facebook Northern Ireland Business Profile
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3.7 LinkedIn Northern Ireland Business Profile 3.7.1 Understanding of the LinkedIn Platform 3.8 Utilization of LinkedIn Opportunities 3.8.1 Recruitment & Selection 3.8.2 Observing Competition 3.8.3 LinkedIn Answers 3.8.4 ROI of discussing expertise within LinkedIn. 3.8.5 Outsourcing 4.0 Recommendations & Conclusion.................................................................................................33 4.1.2 Recommendation 1 4.1.3 Recommendation 2 4.1.4 Recommendation 3 4.2 Conclusion and Further Implications of the Study Bibliography.......................................................................................................................................37 Appendices..........................................................................................................................................42 Table of Figures..................................................................................................................................50 Figure 1 - Influencing of Consumer Behavior Figure 2 - Reliability of Reviews Figure 3 - Sharing Online Reviews Figure 4 - Sharing Online Reviews Figure 5 - Sharing Facebook Links Figure 6 - Sharing Online Reviews Figure 7 - Purpose of Twitter for Business Figure 10 - Business Purpose of Facebook Figure 11 - Reasons for not having a Facebook Figure 12 - Perception of Linkedin Figure 13 - Linkedin Profile Figure 15 - Linkedin Answers Figure 16 - Linkedin New Business Figure 17 - Linkedin Networking Figure 18 - Linkedin Outsourcing

Abstract
Background This report is an investigation to create a better understanding of Social Media and highlight how it has been best used within Northern Ireland. The investigation will focus on the current perceptions and use of social media platforms by businesses in the the Northern Ireland Business Community.

Objectives of the research: Explanation of Social Media significance and benefits to business Create a general understanding of the behaviour of the Northern Ireland online consumer and Facebook User. Create a general understanding of the Northern Ireland Business Community's (NIBC) perception and understanding of Social Media, with a focus on Facebook & LinkedIn platforms.

Results
The data collected indicated that the Northern Ireland Business Environment (NIBE) do believe that social media will have a significant impact on future business models. However, there is a lack of understanding in the business benefits of social media integration into the business model. Random Comments, Facebooks conversation, NewsFeed were all highlighted for their ability to influence consumer buying behaviour. Data found that there was a competent awareness of LinkedIn, however there was a low utilization of its different platforms.

Conclusion and Recommendations While the research suggested a competent awareness of social media and its benefits, the author has made recommendations to increase NIBE utilization of social media platforms.

Keywords
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Social media, Social Media Platform, Social Media Marketing, Marketing Communications, Behaviour, Integration, Facebook and LinkedIn, ROI, Northern Ireland Business Community and Northern Ireland Consumer.

Acknowledgements
Firstly I would like to thank my family who always have given me the strength in everything I do.

To my friends and teammates, thank you for all your encouragement and support throughout this project.

I would like to thank my mentors for the help and guidance they provided me with while completing this strategic and throughout all my studies, Thank you.

I would like to thank the Northern Ireland LinkedIn and Facebook community for their questionnaire participation and discussion on Social Media

I would like to thank Ari Herzog, whose blogging enthusiasm provided a stranger from Ireland valuable pointers to the great researchers in the field of Social Media .

I would like to thank the speakers at TED.com who always spark creativity in my thoughts.

Introduction
Porter (2001) states that the internet tends to weaken industry profitability, without providing proprietary operational advantages, moreover, businesses should be see it as another interface of business. In hindsight, this description, by one of the leading voices of traditional marketing, highlights an unimpressive underestimation of the internets potential impact on business. Social Media provides businesses with online tools and platforms (e.g. Facebook and Linkedin etc...), which enables co-ordination of different groups with different capabilities to create dynamic business models. The potential benefits for business are beyond increases in sales and advertising. It needs to be understood that social media platforms (SMP) are revolutionary new components of the Marketing Mix (Porter, 1985) and Value Web (Lauden & Lauden, 2009), as it mirrors 'push marketing strategies' with 'pulling social technologies'. The research will aim to counter negative doubts on the business benefits of social media by traditionalist marketers, while attempting to gain a better understanding of Northern Ireland businesses and consumers perceptions and use of social media platforms.

Review of the Literature

1.1 Introduction to Chapter 1
Chapter 1 provided a brief background for the study of Social Media and its current use by consumers and understanding by businesses within Northern Ireland. This chapter will review the literature surrounding Social Media. The literature will be split in to 2 sections:

Section 1: Emergence of Social Medias Significance Traditional marketings underestimation of the Internet impact on business. th Social Media is the 5 evolution of media. th st Marketing Models: 20 Century Vs 21 Century The Impact and Value of Social Media Expression th st Consumer Expression: 20 Century Consumer Vs 21 Century Human

Section 2: Business & Social Media Integration Introduction to Enterprise 2.0 Social Media Platforms used for Business Benefits of Social Media Criticism of Business & Social Media Integration

1.2 Emergence of Social Media

The Internet is the world's largest library. It's just that all the books are on the floor.
(Paulos cited by McAfee, 2009).

Research exhibits Appendix 1, which illustrates the scope of internets growth when Porter (2001) made his presumptions about the Internet being just an interface. Companies like Amazon and eBay survived the crash of the .com, while Wikipedia was about to defy all marketing forecasts in becoming the largest open source encyclopedia (Appendix 2). McAfee (2009) highlights there is a need to understand how a technology is created, to truly understand how it can be and will be consumed. Traditional marketers lack of technological expertise may be the reason why many failed to foresee 2001 as being the year Social Media evolved. In 2001, online tools were used by the masses to enable search, organisation and distribution of data across the internet. Search engines and email services had become 'technologically-boring' (Shirky, 2009) and permeated society to the point it would be difficult to imagine life without them. E-mail is an inflection technology; it has completely changed the nature of how businesses communicate and the culture that surrounds it. It has opened new doors for innovative technologies and new business models, and there are still tremendous opportunities for emerging technologies to further the electronic messaging platform.
(Raffel, R., cited by Charney et al, 2001)

Since 2001, social online platforms have emerged and have increasingly proliferate around the world. Blogs, Facebook Pages, Twitter followers, LinkedIn Profiles, Flickr streams and Digg rankings, have transformed online media consumption to a more 'Social' experience. Social Media Platforms (SMP) and tools enable consumers gather around, express, discuss and share views on content (Appendix 3). Porter's (2001) underestimation exemplifies marketing strategies misunderstanding of Social Media capabilities today. Boyd (2009) observes that current marketing strategies continue to fail, in attempts to 'push' Social Media platforms into traditional broadcasting channels. This is the equivalent of perceiving the main benefit of email was the ability to spam consumer inboxes with advertising in 1998.
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1.3 Evolution of the media landscape.

The Internet (Web) has transformed business landscape to the extent that Friedman (2005) describes the world as being flat for any business to push their product, service or message to any consumer connected to the world wide web (Appendix 4, 5 & 6). Shirky (2009) describes this the '5th revolution of media', as it has democratized information distribution and provides platforms that enabled mass human collaboration. Shirky (2009) identifies four periods in the past 500 years were media has changed enough to qualify as 'revolutionary': 1.3.1 1st Revolution - Printing Press Type
The Printing Press combined oil based inks with precise and rapid metal movable type, to produce 3,600 pages per workday, compared to forty pages by hand-printing (Wiki citing Wolf, 1974). The printing press introduced the first era of mass communication that permanently altered the structure of society to the degree that Kreis (2004) quotes Carlyle (1883):

He who first shortened the labor of copyists by device of movable types was disbanding hired armies, and cashiering most kings and senates, and creating a whole new democratic world: he had invented the art of printing.
(Carlyle, 1833)

1.3.2 2nd Revolution - Electrical Telegraph and Telephone

Communication Capability: one:one

The electromagnetic telegraph was the first long distance device for human-to-human transmission of coded text messages. The Telephone was the first device that allowed real time voice conversations from different geographical points across the globe. The scope of the telephone's impact was emphasized by Aronson (1971): it facilitated the efficient organisation and operation of large-scale, integrated mass production manufacturing enterprises... No previous mode of communica-

tion was able to combine the latter's speed with its simplicity and economy of operation' (Aronson, 1971, p. 155) 1.3.3 3rd Revolution - Recorded Media other than Print - Tape, Vinyl Record, Photo & Movie Recorded media provided the ability to encode information onto a physical object. Emphasis of its social impact is be expressed by Kealy (1979) who credited it to 'democratization' of music, by making it available to consumers irrelevant of skill, time, place, and social standing . 1.3.4 4th Revolution - Broadcasted Media - T.V & Radio The last media revolution came in the past 100 years as society gained the ability to harness the electromagnetic spectrum to enable sound and images sent through the air (Shirky, 2009). The medium of TV & Radio was to the printing press, what the telephone had been to the letter, it allowed immediacy and it enabled listeners to experience events as they happened (Lewis, 1992). 1.3.5 5th Revolution - The Internet World Wide Web Shirky (2009) points out a curious asymmetry in first four revolutions; the media capable of creating conversation (e.g. Telephone), is incapable of communicating to groups, while the media that is capable in communicating to groups is incapable of creating conversation (e.g. TV). Shirky (2009) further explains that the internet has enabled the Many:Many communication patterns and for the first time media is now capable of supporting these kinds of conversations. According to Liu & Shrum (2002) emergence of new media (Internet), brought new models of interactivity: user-to-user and userto-message. Shirky (2009) describes the Intenet as being the mode of carriage for all media' because all media is becoming digitised and migrates to the internet (e.g. Telephone Skype, TV Hulu). As every form of media is right next door to every other form this creates synergy and innovation resulting in them emergence of Social Media platforms have appeared. These have enabled groups to share, create and highlight content within their social networks (Appendix 7).
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It's as if, when you bought a book, they threw in the printing press for free. It's like you had a phone that could turn into a radio if you pressed the right buttons.
(Shirky, 2009)

Social Media Platform growth into the mainstream, highlights Facebook's ambition to become part of the internet's core infrastructure akin search engine Google Kirkpatrick. Shirky (2009) describes this transformation of the Internet as a shift from being less just a source of information and more increasingly a site of co-ordination.

1.4 Marketing Models

1.4.1 Introduction The fundamental structure of media distribution has transformed through the emergence of social media platforms and tools'. This has triggered the need for traditional 20th Century marketing models to expand and collaborate with the capabilities of the 21st Century communication. Boyd (2009) describes this as shift from 'Broadcast' strategies to 'Networking' strategies by encompassing and understand social media tools and the culture surrounding them.

1.4.2 20th Century Marketing Model Broadcasting Media The Broadcasting Media landscape was simple in conception to the degree that professionals provided content, services and products for amateurs. The 'Broadcasting' businesses strategy was often based on bundling information into a single message and sent out to all edges of the network (Shirky, 2009). Godin (2009) describes this as a massive spamming 'push' of mostly average ideas, in an attempt to hypnotise consumers into buying a service or product. Everyone tuned in via the same devices, at the same time, to hear the same message
(Boyd, 2009)

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This methodology was socially accepted due to the limited communication channels and high costs only enabled a small proportion of businesses to use them. These traditional communication channels had low degrees of accuracy even in the later attempts of target marketing (Shachar & Anand ,1995). Godin (2009) sarcastically described broadcasting marketing model: Television. Advertising. Push push. Take a good idea and push it on the world. I have a better mousetrap. And if I can just get enough money to tell enough people, I'll sell enough. And you can build an entire industry on that. If necessary you can put babies in your ads. If necessary you can use babies to sell other stuff. And if babies don't work, you can use doctors.

1.4.2 21st Century Marketing Model Networking/Social Media In an era where media is global, social and ubiquitous (Shirky (2009), Social Media has not only allowed consumers to connect with each-other but also exposed some of the most niche silos of interest across the globe. This 'niche-fication' (Boyd 2009) of the global market creates valuable opportunities for all businesses (Godin, 2009). Content is no longer about destination, it is about connection.
(Shirky, 2009)

Peters (1998) and Normann and Ramirez 's(1994) prediction that the internet would transform the 'former audience's' (Gilmore, 2004) capabilities from being restrictively consuming to having the ability to co-produce are now apparent. As a result of this, consumer power has multiplied ten-fold, as Shirky (2009) describes the current consumer generation as having the largest expressive capability in human history.

1.5 The Impact and Value of Social Media Expression

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1.5.1 The wisdom of the former audience Consumer ability to express and create content can be exemplified through the growth of public social platforms such as Wikipedia and Youtube. However, the value of social media-enabled expression extends beyond the mainstream and into civic niches, as seen with www.paitentslikeme.com (Appendix 8) and www.Ushahidi.com (Appendix 9). Shirky (2010) explains how the strategy behind these social platforms appreciate the concept that groups know mostly everything about a common interest, but no individual knows everything about the interest. Social media platforms take the tacit information available from the group/public, aggregate it, map it in a publicly consumable form. McAfee (2009) suggests through experience, that the 20th Century corporate reaction to the strategy of co-ordinating public groups to assemble pools of data, as 'pure madness'. He advocated that corporate management would base their evaluational of a group's integrity by the rule of thumb, 'the IQ of a group is half the average of its weakest members'. Business leaders' underestimation derives from an era where the common denominator between the majority of informal groups being their geographical location. Social Media tools eradicated the limitations of geographical location and enabled groups to virtually assemble around a common 'interest'. Wikipedia is a champion example of a social media tool that provides groups with a platform to gather around common interests. Data on Wikipedia is downloaded thousands of times, edited, and new information is added by unpaid and widely unknown collaborators (Leadbeater 2009). Despite success, open source platforms akin Wikipedia are often criticized for inaccuracy (Seigenthaler, 2005), which tends to illuminate minority of content. However, research has proved Wikipedia to be significantly accurate: We analyzed the evolution of content in English Wikipedia articles and showed that nonfeatured articles tend to have highquality content 74% of their lifetime and this is 86% for featured articles.
(Javanmardi et al, 2010)

Provision of social platforms with clear rules, has proven a successful method of harnessing the 'Wisdom of Crowds' (cited by Surowiecki 2005, Clay, 2009, McAfee 2009 and Kittur & Kraut, 2008) by yielding masses of quantitive data in aggregated manner that can be accepted as both accurate an of quality. Research has shown the 20th century business'

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underestimation of a group's intelligent quotient (IQ) but what groups use Social Media has also illuminated a misinterpretation of the 20th century consumer's motives.

1.5.2 20th Century Consumer Vs 21st Century Human It was assumed by business that consumers were intrinsically motivated, rational and self maximizing, in order to survive in the competitive markets of the 20th century (Slater, 1997).

The media landscape in the 20th century was very good at helping people consume... what we're seeing is that people weren't couch potatoes because we liked to be, we were couch potatoes because that was the only opportunity given to us.
(Shirky, 2010)

Social Media platforms have enabled a shift in human behaviour in that there were always people who wanted to share their message and but there was no pulpit to stand on (Boyd, 2009). The growth of social media platforms akin Linux Operating Systems (Proffitt, 2008), OpenStreetMaps (Berners Lee, 2009) and Amazon book reviews, prove that consumers have intrinsic motivations that are non-financial. These platforms can incur positive as well as negative effects on a business, pending the culture that surrounds the social platform of expression. This is made possible by Social Media's collaboration with the 'Wisdom of Crowds' which illuminates a relatively untouched resource, which Shirky (2009) describes as the 'Cognitive Surplus'. The 'Cognitive Surplus' is estimated and described by Shirky (2009) as the 1 trillion hours of the 'former audiences' free time. Research exhibits a small percentage of this figure can create to radical open source projects and small valuable data-pools, which is something that would not be possible without Social Media Tools.

1.5.3 Conclusion

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Section 1 of the literature review has highlighted the significance of Social Media's ability to unlock consumer expression and collaboration. Section 2 will exhibit the use, benefits and criticisms of Social Media integration into business.

1.6 Business & Social Media Integration

1.6.1 Introduction to Enterprise 2.0 Singh (2009) cites Drucker in stating the purpose of business is to create a customer. However, the emergence of Social Media Platforms have led Singh (2009) to state the purpose of business is to create a customer, who creates customers. This was not possible in Druckers era because of the absence of the Internet and SMP in the business media landscape. McAffee (2009) credits SMPs ability to enable business to bridge gaps between structured communication (traditional media landscape) and unstructured communication (social media landscape). The following literature provide a general scope current trends of social media's integration into real world business models and issues surrounding it. 1.6.2 Social Media Platforms used for Business Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs; were the top four social media tools used by business, while others paled in comparison (Stelzner, 2010). Facebook tends to be the the initial SMP of choice, that businesses begin their social media campaigns, followed by Twitter & LinkedIn. SME owners were found to use LinkedIn more than employees within corporations, while trends see increasing business to business (B2B) planing via LinkedIn (Stelzner, 2010). For those beginning social media integration, the average weekly commitment was one hour per week of engagement. However, as social media grows within the business the time commitment median jumps to 10hours per week (Stelzner, 2010). 1.6.3 Benefits of Social Media Stelzner (2010) highlights that SME's are reaping benefits from starting social media marketing campaigns. Building an online social relationships with consumers takes time, focus and continual engagement (Vaynerchuk, 2008). However there is ROI, as 73.8% of established online campaigns, who spend 11+ hours per week engaging with their community, find social media has lead to new business (Stelzner, 2010). Social Media transforms the channels of potential exposure to consumers ( Qualman, 2009) and even minimal efforts of social media engagement have proved to increase exposure (Stelzner, 2010). McAfee
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(2009) highlights social medias ability to strengthen weak professional ties through such SMPs as LinkedIn. Stelzner (2010) confirms that 53.1% of professionals who invested a few months in social media, report gains of new partnerships and qualified leads. Vaynerchuck (2008) is justified by Stelzner (2010) in his explanation that 'sweat equity' (time & effort) is the only main cost during social media marketing campaigns. Vaynerchuck (2008) also believes it is a more effective way of spending resources than many traditional advertising method, citing 'Billboards' as a prime example of inflated spending. 1.6.4 Criticism of Business & Social Media Integration The number one criticism of Business & Social Media Integration efforts is the inability to sufficiently quantify opportunity cost with return on Investment (Stelzner, 2010, Vaynerhuk, 2008). As Social Media is a relatively new transformation there are few concrete benchmarks or procedures management recognise to equal certain success. Marketer's find it difficult to convince management about the ROI, as there is a lack of key metrics to measure benefits, such as customer satisfaction and brand loyalty (Stelzner, 2010). Many marketers recognise business & social media integration efforts as taking an enormous amount of time. Many cite absence of expertise as a key difficulty when planning campaigns. Social Media platforms expose businesses to public criticism, which can result in a negative impact for brand image.

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2.0 Methodology
2.1 Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to discuss the empirical research that was used to gather the raw data needed to analyse, discuss and answer aims stated in the research objectives.

2.2 Method of Data Collection

2.2.1 Qualitative and Quantitative Research Qualitative research will be used to gain an understanding of underlying motivations behind the business use of Social Media. Lawson et al (2002) states that qualitative research involves the recording of information that expresses, usually in words, information about feelings, values and attitudes (Pg 48). Qualitative research focuses on the experiences and practices of individuals (Flick, 2007) in the business environment , which will provide a business insight that ideas can be generated for later quantitative research. The qualitative goal normally looks for patterns of interrelationship between the many categories (McCracken (1988, pg 16) to uncover prevalent trends in thought and opinion on Social Media. Quantitative methods enable the ability to quantify data and generalize results from a sample to the population of interest. Data collection can be through a number of techniques such as experiments, surveys and analysing existing statistics. These can be used to measure the various views and opinions in a chosen sample. Neuman (2000) states the goal of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and hypotheses that correlate to the natural phenomenon. Neumen (2000) describe the process of quantitative measurement as the connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships. Miles and Huberman (1994, pg 1) continue in stating qualitative data does provide a source of well grounded, rich descriptions and explanations of processes. There have been many claims as to social medias global significance and future impact on business by authors, entrepreneur and public speakers. However, there has been a lack of work to suggest whether these claims have begun to take effect within the Northern
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Ireland business environment. Therefore the author has believed that the best way of addressing this is to combine the social media tools that the internet has required to gather both qualitative and quantitative.

2.3 Data Collection

2.3.1 Online Questionnaire After researching various methods, the author decided that a questionnaire was the preference method for collecting primary data, as it is fast, efficient and a financially viable means of collating information. This is reiterated by Cohen et al (2007, p.317) who state, a questionnaire is a widely used and useful instrument for collecting information. The author will design two different questionnaires. One being from a business based (Appendix 10) and the other being consumer based (Appendix 11). However, the nature of the subject illuminated a more efficient and targeted technique of accessing target samples in the form of online questionnaires. Wright (2005) presents evidence that studies of online populations have led to an increase in the use of online surveys, presenting scholars with new challenges in terms of applying traditional survey research methods to the study of online behaviour and Internet use (Andrews, Nonnecke, & Preece, 2003; Bachmann & Elfrink, 1996; Stanton, 1998; Witmer, Colman, & Katzman, 1999; Yun & Trumbo, 2000). Social network website have masses of people whom regularly participate in discussions about almost every conceivable issue and interest (Horrigan, 2001; Wellman, 1997; Wellman & Haythornthwaite, 2002).

2.4 Code of Conduct, Pilot Testing & Software used

All findings from this research are unique to each sample and the normal procedural policies in terms of anonymity and confidentiality were employed throughout the entire process. The Business and Consumer questionnaires both had pilot tests that were conducted with two consumers and one professional, who in turn were part of the final sample population. Testing the questionnaire (Appendix 12) initially helps to increase the reliability and validity of the questionnaire, and hopes to eradicate areas of ambiguity. The pilot respondents checked the content, format and wording of the questions and suitable modifications were made accordingly. All questionnaires were collected, collated and aggregated through an online survey software called SurveyMonkey.
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2.4.1 Consumer Questionnaire The author has decided to use Facebook as a data collection platform due to its superior size, activity and more importantly its 'Live Status Update' widget (Appendix 13). This widget is central to the design of Facebook (Kirkpatrick, 2010) and with every 'Wall Post' invitation, the widget automatically increases the populations awareness of the authors research. Due to a lack of quantitive research available on Northern Ireland Facebook activity the author had to collate his own calculation of the population size he was sampling from. As the total UK population is 61,792,000 (OFNS, 2010) and 1,780,000 (OFNS, 2010) of those people residing living in Northern Ireland (NI), this equates to 2.9% of the overall UK population residing in NI. Collating this percentage of the UK population with the total number of Facebook members in the UK, 28,003,500 (Gonzalez, 2010), would equate to a total population of 784,098 NI Facebook members (Appendix 23). The sample size of the survey totaled 95 people, 34 females (35.8%) and 61 males (64.2%). The mode age of participation ranged between 15 25 years old, this aggregated 73.7% of the total sample size, notably followed by '25 -35' (18.9%) and '35 44' (3.2%) respectively. The questionnaire was derived from the previous literature review, included 22 closed ended questions and took an average of 5 6 minutes to complete during pilot testing, which produced quantitive data. Closed questions allow the respondents to answer the same question so that answers can be meaningfully compared. It produces answers that are much easier to analyze (McCracken, 1988). The author introduced each request with an honest and articulated invitation explaining: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Reasons for research Number of questions to be asked. Types of answers requested. Estimated completion time based on pilot tests. Apologies for lack of custom invitations due to the quantitive nature of research.

Notable Comments: Participation was better than expected with 100 participants and 66 invites.
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Honest and polite explanation of questionnaire led to participants forwarding question to their contacts (3rd party). Indirect use of Facebooks Newsfeed led to greater awareness of the research.

2.4.2 Data Collection - Business Questionnaire Research has shown more effective platforms, such as LinkedIn, Viadaeo or Xing , that can be used in order to target participants from the Northern Ireland Business community. The author has decided to use LinkedIn as the preferred sampling platform to gauge business participation, due to its higher adoption rate per capita in Northern Ireland in comparison with its rivals. The author utilized the online professional network LinkedIn, understanding the importance of a targeted audience (Garton, Haythornthwaite, & Wellman, 1999; Wellman, 1997), as well as time and opportunity cost of businesses participation within quantitive research. The author created a LinkedIn Profile explaining his current purpose of participation at LinkedIn (Appendix 14). This added clarity when requesting to join groups through an honest and articulated pitch to each group's Manager. The author requested to join 9 Linkedin groups formed by and for Northern Ireland Professionals and Business owners. One request was ignored (Queens Alumni Group) and eight were successful (Appendix 15). The 8 Northern Ireland based LinkedIn groups (Appendix 16, 17 & 18) had varying degrees of participation and accumulated to have a population potential of 3,045 professionals & business owners. The reason for an estimation in population is due to a number of professionals having affiliation with multiple groups. The sample size of the survey researched 38 professionals of varying degrees of experience amongst various industries in Northern Ireland. The questionnaire had an average completion time of 8 9 minutes during pilot tests, encompassing 21 close/scale-ended and 4 open-ended questions. Open questions allowed the respondents to express themselves in their own words and allow the author to identify complex motivational influences. Cohen at al (2000, P.255) identifies that the open ended question is a very attractive de19

vice for small scale research or for those sections of a questionnaire that invites an honest personal comment from the respondents. The research produced both quantitive and qualitative data, as well as engaging participants to further extend offers of their time to engage in future qualitative research (Appendix 22 - Most notably, Social Media Manager for the Belfast Telegraph, Barry Adams).

2.5 Time
Online surveys saved time by allowing the author to collect data while working on other tasks (Llieva, Baron, & Healey, 2002). After the initial invitation to participate by the author on LinkedIn discussion boards or Facebook Profile 'Walls', awareness grew and participation growth began to quicken and increase. SurveyMonkey allowed the author to collect data while engaging in blogs in order to collect more primary data and recommendations for areas of study (Appendix 20) (Andrews et al., 2003).

2.6 Compare and Contrast

The results will be gathered from both questionnaires to be compared and contrasted for differences and similarities. The finding will be discusses in the following chapter.

2.7 Time Constraints

Online questionnaire research had a maximum of 200 responses to be collated and aggregated within 4 weeks, due to the financial restraints of the author. Appendix 19 shows further evidence of demand to participate by a LinkedIn member after the research deadline passed.

2.8 Limitations in Data Sampling

There were issues raised during research regarding the authors dependency on social networks as vehicles to gauge participation. These issues illuminated implications of an in-accurate representation of NI consumers and professionals. Conclusion This chapter has identified the research that was carried out in order to achieve the research aims and objectives.

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3.0 Data Analysis & Discussion

3.1 Introduction
This a tive tion relemadata paremchapter presents descripexplanaof all the vant infortion and that became apent in the pirical research. The data was collected through a business and consumer based online questionnaire, where the results will be analyzed with the review of literature.

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3.2. Online behaviour of Northern Ireland Consumers.

In order to achieve the Aim 1 and create a general understanding of the Northern Ireland (NI) online consumer, the opening questions were designed to discover at what level NI consumers rank online methods of communicating product/service experiences as apposed to traditional methods. Chevalier & Mayzlin (2004) suggest marketing literature identifies "word of mouth" or, between-customer communication as a probable driver of consumer decision-making. The result enhance these claims as 'Word of Mouth' was ranked as having the most significant influence on purchasing decisions; ahead of Professional online reviews, online user reviews and sales person advice. Analysis of the data reports that the sample marginally ranked 'Professional online reviews' over 'Customer online experience/reviews' (Figure 1). These findings reiterate Boyd's (2009) claims: That there have been shifts in consumer attention from broadcast based to network based preferences. Review of the literature highlighted that consumers are increasingly using online platforms

to communicate their opinions on products and services (Boyd, 2009). These trends are echoed within the sample, as 74.4% (n = 64/86) of Northern Ireland consumers (NIC) believed 'random comments' were a reliable source of product research at some level (Figure 2).

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Another interesting fact is that 27% (n = 24/88) of that group, shared a random consumer review with a friend(s) and later discovered 56.5% (n = 13/23) of that communication was done via 'Word of Mouth' (Figure 3 v Figure 4). This research exhibits similarities to Shirky's (2009) claims on the transformation of the media landscape, and more importantly accentuates the ability of a 'Random Comment' to transform into 'Word of Mouth' communication between friends.

3.3 Northern Ireland's Facebook Consumer Behaviour

In order to achieve the Aim 2 and create a general understanding of the Northern Ireland Facebook User (NIFU) the answers to the questionnaire were analyzed. The questions were designed to discover how often NIFU share and receive information about products/service as well as consumer experiences. Analysis of participants found that general online behaviour and Facebook behaviour had similar behaviour patterns. Research found that 35.7% (n = 31/92) of participants shared a link to a product/service, with a friend on Facebook, while 52% (n = 49/94) of participants had received a link to a product/service from a friend. This data highlights the ability of Social Media to accelerate virtual communication between consumers in a more personal and user friendly process (Figure 5 V Figure 6).

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Kirkpatrick (2009) states that Facebook's 'News Feed' is central to its structure, with the goal of being the centerpiece of user activity. Research found 33.7% (n = 31/92) of participants have voiced their opinions on product/service and consumer experience via the 'News Feed'. The reach and impact of each comment is difficult to quantify but it can be assumed to have a significant impact on NIFUs perceptions on product/services. To give an estimation of its scope, the user suggests Shirkys (2010) metaphorical calculation of potential impact, in that, the impact is the squared total of the sum of all the members connections. In combining this data with the assumption that social media has become daily routine for

many (Ivanauskas, 2009), as well as Kirkpatrick's (2009) insight into the future technological capabilities of Facebook, suggests that public 'Facebook' communication (e.g. Wall Posts, Status Update), could be described as 'Virtual Word of Mouth' .

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3.4 Business Perception of Social Media

In order to achieve the Aim 3 and create a general understanding of the Northern Ireland Business Community's (NIBC) perception of social media the answers to the questionnaire were analyzed. Research found that 73% (n = 28/38) of businesses, agreed at some level, that social media will change the way they do business in the next 10 years. This compliments current literature, which highlighted the significance of the current and future shift from 'broadcast media' to 'Network/Social', the media landscape is now experiencing (Boyd, 2009, Shirky 2010).

Research found that only 13% (n = 5/38) of the NIBC agreed that 'mass online following was essential for a successful social media marketing campaign'. This conflicts with the author's assumptions based on the literature by Boyd (2009), who highlighted a lack of understanding and continuous attempts by current businesses to saturate social media channels with mass marketing broadcasting techniques.

26

Findings found a split in opinion which is related to literature claims that being on every platform does not necessarily equate to additional value (Vaynerchuk, 2008). Research found that 47.4% (n= 18/38) of business participants agreed, at varying levels, that they needed to be on as many social media sites as possible. This indicates a lack of clarity and planning by this segment of the NIBC, as literature has further highlighted the drawbacks of being on too many social media platforms. (Vaynerchuk, 2008)

3.5 Business Awareness of Social Media

The literature emphasis the importance that business be aware of what online consumers and communities are saying about them within social media community's (e.g. Twitter). Vaynerchuk (2008) furthers in highlighting the capabilities of qualitative research tools such as search.twitter.com. Analysis of data exhibits that 50% (n = 19/38) of the NIBE sample had a Twitter account for business use. Further research found 84.2% (n = 16/19) of that group used Twitter as a public relations channel, while only 5.3% (n = 1/19) of that group used serach.twitter.com as tool to monitor the conversation surrounding the company (Figure 7). Comparison of the results with the literature (Vaynerchuk, 2008) highlights low utilization of Social Media awareness tools by the NIBC.

3.6 Facebook Northern Ireland Business Profile

The literature and research focuses on phenomenal growth of Facebook and also highlights a demand for an established procedure and understanding for business utilization. Analysis highlighted a similar pattern of behaviour to the literature as 45.9% (n = 13/38) of the NIBC sample had a Facebook page (Figure 9) and the main business purpose of their page was to engage with online community and promote sales (Figure 10).
27

Fursis (n = segdid Facestated unthe Facebusipoint' 11).

ther analyfound, 50% 5/10) of that ment who not have a book page 'they did not derstand benefits of book from a ness stand(Figure

The social media thing is a bit of a quagmire for me at the moment as it is for a lot of businesses I'm sure... While technically, I fully understand the mechanics of twitter etc. I'm still struggling to see how the amount of work needed that will bring a significant enough return.
(Melia, 2010)

Literature has expressed the importance to businesses of engaging frequently with their community (Vaynerchuk, 2009). Research exhibits 82.3% of the NIBC who have a Facebook profile for business, claim to update/add content on their page '1-7 times per week' or more. Further research into NIBC Facebook 'Fan' engagement exhibits 52.9% (n = 9/17) of participants claim to engage with a 'Fan' after every profile question and 35.3% (n = 6/17) claim to engage with a 'Fan' after every profile comment. This indicates a positive correlation between the behaviour patterns of the NIBC and the the 'best practice' highlighted by the literature.

3.7 LinkedIn Northern Ireland Business Profile

In order to achieve the Aim 4 and create a general understanding of the Northern Ireland Business Community's (NIBC) utilization of the professional networking platform LinkedIn, the answers to the questionnaire were analyzed.
28

3.7.1 Understanding of the LinkedIn Platform Professional networking platforms such as LinkedIn claims to provide members with a network most conwill an in of their trusted tacts that give them advantage their career (Linkedin, 2010). Reenwere and ment ple had a LinkedIn Profile (Figure 13). Findings exhibited 86.1% (n=36) of participants perceive the main advantage of LinkedIn to be 'Professionals ability to network online, while 11.1% (n=4) more acutely understand the capability to '...gain advice from other professionals' (Figure 12). search found the tire sample aware of LinkedIn a 75% segof the sam-

29

This indicates a competent understanding by the NIBE of LinkedIn's purpose. The research highlights suggests an a standing in the ties by the NIBC a pattern that primitive understrength of weak (McAfee, 2010).

3.8 Utilization Opportuni3.8.1 Recruittion

of LinkedIn ties
ment & Selec-

LinkedIn enables members to post and distribute job listings to find the best talent for their company (LinkedIn, 2010). Research found that 47.2% of the NIBE sample have used LinkedIn as a tool to recruit staff or potential staff, while only 2.8% didn't know this was a possibility. This research exhibits a competent use of this feature by the NIBE.

30

3.8.2 Observing Competition NIBC research has highlighted that 75.8% of the sample (n = 25/33) have used LinkedIn to monitor their competition. This highlights and emphasizes literature complaints of social/networking media's privacy issues for business. 3.8.3 LinkedIn Answers LinkedIn highlights its ability to provide members with access to new insights from discussions with likeminded professionals (LinkedIn, 2010). Research exhibits 55.6% of the NIBC sample had used 'LinkedIn Answers' to acquire knowledge in solving a business problem. Research has shown that 55.6% of the NIBC sample had used 'LinkedIn Answers' to help them acquire knowledge to solve a business problem, while 33.3% had not and a further 11.1% did not know this was possible (Figure 15).

This indicates the authors opinion that a small NIBC segment being unaware of LinkedIn Answers, but an overall under utilization of the pool of knowledge available to NIBC, especially considering the advantages exhibited in the literature (e.g. cost savings by avoiding consultation fees).

31

3.8.4 ROI of discussing expertise within LinkedIn. Research has found that 66.7% of the NIBC had answered a LinkedIn question within their area of expertise, while over 30% had not, consequently 2.8% never knew this was a possibility and two participants conceded the question. Literature cites evidence of Vaynerchuk's (2008) description of Sweat Equity as the key catalyst in boosting business reputation, i.e.the process of becoming involved in the conversation. LinkedIn (2010) claims involvement in the conversation can lead to attainment of inside connections that can help land jobs and close deals. Research exhibits these potential opportunities to be true as 80% (n=20) (Figure 17) of the sample extended their professional network and 34.6% (n=9) (Figure 16) acquired new business as a result of providing a LinkedIn answer.

3.8.5 Outsourcing LinkedIn (2010) claims to provide a platform that enables the user to be found for business opportunities and find potential partners'. Liturgy has found examples of this in practice, as research has exhibited 39.4% of the sample (n = 13/33) have used LinkedIn to find vendors for outsourcing services (Figure 18).

32

4.0 Recommendations & Conclusion

4.1 General Conclusion and Recommendations The transformation of the marketing landscape, the power of consumer expression and the need for Northern Ireland companys to become more aware of social conversation surrounding their company. The literature reviewed the traditional media environment and described a transformation from a broadcast environment to a Social/Networking environment. As a result of this shift, consumer communication and expression has transformed to rival that of professional opinion. Online communication has a significant impact on the Northern Ireland consumers buying behaviour, furthermore it is essential to highlight the impact potential of Random Comment to morph into real life Word of Mouth between consumers The research recommends that the Northern Ireland Business Environment should appreciate the potential impact of all online expression. Facebook has a dominating ability to connect consumers and accelerate their ability to share opinions on product/service experience through its effective social media tools. An emphasis was placed on the Newsfeed, as it has the the highest potential impact among all social media widgets, due to its frequency of use and central position within the Facebook design. 4.1.2 Recommendation 1 The Northern Ireland Business Environment (NIBE) are lacking awareness of the online conversation, which could potentially be referring to their company in a positive or negative manner. Northern Ireland Business Environment (NIBE) can extend their online awareness beyond their own online platforms (Websites, Facebook Pages, Twitter Feeds etc...) through the addition of Social Media Monitoring Software (SMM) into their IT infrastructures (e.g. Ra33

dian6 or Scout Labs). SMM software tracks consumers who engage via social media platforms and collates data found via social bookmarks, comments, engagement, influence, friends, followers, downloads, favorites, views, votes and links. SMM software aggregates this data and presents it in a manner that gains insightful knowledge and thoughts regarding online consumer behaviour. Research further addresses that non-utilization of free online social tools, such as search.twitter.com, are at the detriment of the companys competitive advantage, due to the simplicity of their use and availability to competitors both locally and globally.

4.1.3 Recommendation 2 A competent proportion of the NIBC have integrated Facebook into their business model at some level for those that have not, this if often due to their lack of understanding of the business benefits. The majority of NIBC understood the potential business impact of Social Media and a significant number had integrated Facebook into their business model. A meaningful number of those who had not integrated Facebook into their business model justified their decision by stating a lack in understanding of business benefits rather that measurement of ROI. It is recommended that even minimum participation on Facebook can have business benefits, especially for SMEs. Campaigns are most effective when a customer base is passionate about about a companys product/service and research exhibits a Northern Ireland based company, Chain Reaction Cycles, as champion example of best practice that others should follow (Appendix 24 & 25). The author recommends that the strategic planning behind any Business Facebook should always start with building relationships with customers and not to increasing sales. This will plant the seeds of a culture with similar characteristics to the Facebook campaigns this study has exemplified and in the long term generate new channels of sales. plains: Good use of social media requires a solid understanding of your target market, and a keen awareness of a companys desired public image. You dont want a newspaper like the Belfast Telegraph to go all ganstah-speak on Facebook, just as you dont want Jay-Z to start talking in Oxford English
34

Belfast Telegraph manager for social media presence ex-

(Adams, 2010).

4.1.4 Recommendation 3

A competent presence and awareness of the advantages of LinkedIn but a glaring low utilisation of its range of capabilities There is a competent NIBE presence within the LinkedIn community and an adept awareness of it advantages to businesses. There are mundane and various levels of NIBE activity within LinkedIn, ranging from monitoring the competition, scouting for potential employee or outsourcing partners as well as problem solving and answering queries. There is also low utilization of LinkedIn platforms such as participation in answering LinkedIn questions, which have the potential to generate a ROI from extending professional networks and goodwill. Research recommends that NIBC engage more often in LinkedIn discussion as it has the potential to increase the size of their profession network and generate links with potential business and outsourcing partners. Increased participation could also have an added value to a a companys value chain, by reducing costs incurred by consultation fee and aid research and selection in finding top employees. In light of all these benefits, research recommends NIBE protect their top employees from being head hunted by companies who use LinkedIn as a scouting tool.

4.2 Conclusion and Further Implications of the Study

Northern Ireland Businesses are enthusiastic about adapting to changes in the media landscape and eager to understand how social media can be integrated into their marketing models. This is an essential characteristic for economic success as the business landscape will continue to transform, evolve and present new challenges for NIBE marketing models. The research achieved its main goals by creating a greater understanding of the Northern Ireland online consumer, while providing business perceptions and use of social media platforms. However, there is an sizable gap in academic research for studies in the field of

35

social media in Ireland, which could discover other behaviour of consumers and businesses in Northern Ireland. The main limitation of the research is considered to be the participation issues within the design of the questionnaire. The majority of questions were optional in order to increase participation but this resulted in a fluctuation in the number of participants that answered each question, which could have reduced the credibility of the overall research. Furthermore, a limitation of the research is considered to be the research setting itself, that is, Facebook and LinkedIn participation. As all consumer participants were gathered via Facebook, this may give a biased opinion of the online consumer and similarly with business profiling via LinkedIn participant. Finally, it was noticed that a heavy majority of participants were aged between 15 24 years old, which illuminated a disproportionate profile of the Northern Ireland consumer. These limitations highlighted the opportunity for the researcher to improve their primary research skills with an emphasis on planning and methodology. Using more suitable questionnaire techniques and collecting data from numerous online platforms beyond LinkedIn and Facebook would increase the credibility of primary data. The implications of this research should mostly concern marketing professionals in Northern Ireland as the data gathered provides interesting insights into perceptions, understanding of Social Media, by both business and consumers in Northern Ireland. Regardless, it gives the opportunity for academic researchers to verify the presented research and local businesses to gain a better understanding of Social Media.

36

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Appendices
Appendix 1 - Timeline of Internet Growth

Source - http://www.migueltodaro.com/img_2/internet_timeline.jpg

Appendix 2 Wiki Forecasts

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Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/EnglishWikipediaArticleCountGraph_linear.pn g

Appendix 3 Social Media Source - http://media.economist.com/images/20080322/D1208WB1.jpg

Appendix 4 UK Internet Access

Source: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/iahi0810.pdf

Appendix 5 UK Internet Access Demographic Breakdown

Source: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/iahi0810.pdf

Appendix 6 Social Media Tools within Networking Media

Source - http://files.brandflakesforbreakfast.com/uploaded_images/mattmcd-social-media-diagram764149.jpg

Appendix 8 Civic Niche - www.patientslikeme.com

PatientsLikeMe is a social networking health site that enables its members to share treatment and symptom information in order to track and to learn from real-world outcomes. PatientsLikeMe currently has communities for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease, fibromyalgia, HIV, chronic fatigue syndrome, and mood disorders, as well as the rare conditions progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple system atrophy, and Devic's disease (neuromyelitis optica). Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PatientsLikeMe
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Appendix 9 Civic Niche - www.ushahidi.com Ushahidi uses the concept of crowdsourcing for social activism and public accountability, serving as an initial model for what has been coined as 'activist mapping' - the combination of social activism, citizen journalism and geospatial information. Ushahidi provides a mechanism for local observers to submit reports using their mobile phones or the internet, while simultaneously creating a temporal and geospatial archive of events.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushahidi

Appendix 13 Facebook News Feed Source: http://www.facebook.com/ Appendix 14 LinkedIn Profile Source: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=84115884

Appendix 15 LinkedIn Group Membership

Source: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=84115884

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Appendix 16 LinkedIn Group Review

1. All About Business Ireland - 392 Members Manger of the group was a social media marketer, who contacted the author through InMail and pro-

Notable Comments: vided some insightful qualitative feedback. 2. Belfast Business People 190 Members

Notable Comments: Manager of the group was very eager to aid research. After an initial low participation activity, Rush (2010) sent out a 2nd request to group members which seen an increase in questionnaire completion.

3.

BizSpark Start-ups and Network Partners, Ireland/Northern Ireland - 198 members.

Notable Comments: Manager of the group was eager to aid research but recently had launched a discussion (inc. questionnaire) on 'Cloud Software and Services sector in Ireland'. The administrator did not want to spam members with online questionnaire requests. The proposed rescheduled date was beyond the research period and therefore could not take place during this research. 4. Ireland Business Consultancy Network - 279 Members

Notable Comments: Manager of the group encouraged discussion within the group. 5. Northern Ireland Business - 348 Members

Notable Comments: Manager of the group encouraged discussion within the group. Several group members made InMail contact with author wishing to discuss their views on Social Media and Business. 6. Northwest Connects - 110 Members

Notable Comments - Manager of the group encouraged discussion within the group. 7. UK & Eire Business Network Group - 396 Members

Notable Comments Manager of the group encouraged discussion within the group. Several group members made InMail contact with author wishing to discuss their views on Social Media and Business. 8. University of Ulster Alumni Group 45

1,132 Members Notable Comments Manager of the group encouraged discussion within the group. Several group members made InMail contact with author, wishing to further discuss their views on Social Media and Business.

Appendix 17 LinkedIn - Example of Invitation to group participation in research

Source: http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=28437922&gid=2792811&commentID=22510485&trk=view_disc

Appendix 18 LinkedIn - Example of enthusiasm and generosity by Belfast Business People Group Manager - Justin Rush

Appendix 19 LinedIn - Example of demand to participate beyond research closing date Appendix 20 - Example of Primary Research through 3rd Party Blogs

Appendix 21 - Example of Blogger Feedback

Source: http://ariwriter.com/who-are-the-best-social-media-researchers/ Appendix 22 - Example of extended offers of qualitative research from the Social Media Manager for the Belfast Telegraph - Barry Adams.

Appendix 23 - Facebook - Northern Ireland Consumer Profile

46

As there are no government surveys aggregating Northern Ireland's online participation, this study attempts to profile the countries Facebook population and demographics. This will be attempted through aggregating Gonzalez (2010) UK statistics (Appendix?) with Northern Ireland 2.8%* of UK total population.

UK Total Facebook Population Online Population % Percentage of Global Facebook Audience Gender Male Female Age <=13 14-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ UK% 48.2% 51.8% UK% 1.1% 12.0% 25.4% 26.7% 17.7% 10.0% 4.7% 2.3% 28,003,500 64.9% 5.43%

Northern Ireland* 784,098 0.15%

UK Total 13,093,120 14,069,780 UK Total 319,300 3,359,960 7,104,100 7,466,160 4,965,140 2,810,540 1,323,300 655,020

Northern Ireland* 366,607 393,954 Northern Ireland* 8,940 94,079 198,915 209,052 139,024 78,695 37,052 18,341

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Appendix 24 - Chain Reaction Cycles - NIBE Champion in Social Media Facebook Platform - High levels of community following, engagement and contribution with Chain Reaction communication.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/#!/ChainReactionCycles?v=info&ref=ts/

48

Appendix 25 - Chain Reaction Cycles - NIBE Champion in Social Media Facebook Platform - High levels of eyeballs (i.e following) and consistent tweeting patterns engage strong attention to the channel.

Source: http://twitter.com/chain__reaction

49

Table of Figures
Figure 1 - Influencing of Consumer Behavior

Figure 2 bility of views

- ReliaRe-

50

Figure 3 - Sharing Online Reviews

Figure 4 - Sharing Online Reviews

51

Figure 5 - Sharing Facebook Links

52

Figure SharOnRe-

6ing line

views

53

Figure 7 - Purpose of Twitter for Business Figure BusiFacePages 9ness book

54

Fig-

ure 10 - Business Purpose of Facebook Figure Reafor havFace11 sons not ing a book

55

Fig12

ure -

Perception of Linkedin

Figure 13 - Linkedin Profile

56

Figure 15 - Linkedin Answers

57

Figure

16 -

Linkedin New Business

58

Figure

17 -

Linkedin Networking

59

Figure 18 - Linkedin Outsourcing

60