Facebook and Knowledge Management

Facebook and knowledge ManagementUntil the advent of Facebook, no armorer of an profits-based technology has ever been heralded on TIME Magazine as person of the year (Grossman 2010) until Mark Zuckerberg came up with an invention that ate the universe of discourse (Grossman 2009). The importance of Facebook as a technological programme has been unpar wholeeled exactly beca office it has transcended from universe a mere digital platform to compose a part of the complaisant actu aloneyity of good deal around the globe (Naughton 2010). In the Facebook Age, familiarity creation has constrain ubiquitous. People transmit and consume association every second as they sh be study, thoughts, opinions, and multimedia (Richardson 2010). This innovation started bug out as a college tradition before becoming a social networking site (Grossman 2007). Facebooks launch occurred in 2004 in a Harvard dorm get on and started out as a networking for undergraduate students (Fuglsang 200 8, p. 13). Students get introduced to one an separate(prenominal) using photographs into a physical facebook patterned after Hot or Not where students got to vote who looked hotter in compared photos (Schwartz 2003). From its origin as a networking tool, Zuckerberg positive it into a web-based service where members stomach post their pens containing training such as birth dates, employment, interests, favourite books, favourite music, and others (Schonfeld, 2008). Moreoer, the service enabled people to privately give notice (of) with each other by messages or by posting a message on someones wall (Richardson 2010). During his interviews, Zuckerberg underscores the motivation behind Facebook enhancing real connections (Grossman 2010). His possible action revolves around the fact that people communicate most naturally and in effect with those they know friends, family, and associates. All Facebook did was to provide development to a set of applications through which people wa nt to share information, photos or videos or events (Calrson 2010). Today, Facebook is a way of life for millions of people, which as of January 2011 total 600 million substance abusers (Carlson 2011). Due to its phenomenal upraise and usage, Facebook has become a signifi rottert product that has several implications for the practice of noesis prudence.How Facebook has revolutionised collaborationismism for association managementOne area where technology has become a crucial tool for knowledge management has been in collaboration. Among the first harmonic goals of knowledge management is to improve organizational performance by modify individuals to capture, share, and apply their collective knowledge to make optimal decisionsin real time (Smith and Farquhar 2000, p. 17). Knowledge management goes beyond technology facilitating information everywherelap and collaboration it bring outs and sustains communities of practice, copes with culture and behavior of people, and c reates trust and validated content (Payne 2007).The use of technology for collaboration has vastly changed from what it meant 10 years ago. The evolution could be divided into stagesDisks and file transfers via email. Before, collaboration referred to the process of transferring files one-by-one via email or ephemeral around floppy disks. This proved time-consuming for people and difficult to recoup information labelling was either incomplete, out-of-date, or the contextual information was vague. The effect was that people took too much time browsing in order to return data (Adler and Kwon 2002).Network drives. After file transfers came the more advanced collaboration tool by using network drives so that all folders dismiss now be entrancewayed by all through a topical anaesthetic network. Yet, this system of collaboration posed problems it was limited by memory and perplexity spans and personalised connections. People still relied on others to determine where data can be re trieved. A linear relationship existed between the time inevitable to manage data and the size or number of data being managed. Hence, managing data was still time-consuming and people found minimal incentives in dealing with data or information management.Web-based software bases. The advent of the Internet make collaboration easier especially when Web-based collaboration software was developed by companies. A case in point is Microsoft SharePoint which offered features that al junior-gradeed the smooth flow of information alerts, document libraries, forms, surveys, discussion boards, personal profiles, categorizations, and functions such as pulling information from data sources on the Web (Payne 2007). Despite expanding access to resources and organizing data at the aforementioned(prenominal) time protecting information, what lacked was a critical constituent of the collaboration process user participation.Social networking. Encouraging people to become vigorous participants in the knowledge management process is a challenge. With the popularity of social networking sites corresponding Facebook, knowledge management has now considered the use of the social media approach to shed collaboration (Shih 2009). Facebook offers not merely a platform where people metamorphose information it also enhances satisfaction and emotional gratification because the engagement becomes personal and hence, more fun. Effective collaboration requires two primary elements adoption (number of teams having access to the system) and engagement (number of people regularly using the system) (Alavi and Leidner 2001). Social media such as Facebook has revolutionised the way knowledge management among organisations has been defined.Current state of the art of Facebook a reviewFrom a simple networking technology, Facebook has progressed and evolved in terms of interface and interaction for users, dexterity for knowledge creation, as rise up as potential threats to knowledge cr eation (Gawer 2009).Interface and interaction for users. Many interface changes deem been make to address privacy issues and improve page management for Facebook users. Some of these changes were authoritative positively and negatively. On the one hand, the new privacy features limited knowledge share and exchange while on the other hand, it also raise trust during the knowledge exchange. Some of the following listed here are the study interface changes in FacebookMay 2006 Networks are expanded to workplaces as well as colleges and high schools.September 2006 moderns Feed and Mini-Feed are added, aggregating profile changes of friends. New privacy settings are made available. Additionally, registration is expanded so anyone can join.May 2007 Facebook launches their Applications platform.July 2007 Facebook removes the profile field that allows users to list their courses.March 2008 New privacy controls are added (Lampe, Ellison and Steinfeld 2008).October 2010 Facebook ch anged user interface to accommodate its Groups feature. The Edit Notifications release was changed to Edit Settings and users have the option to opt out (Constine 2010)February 2011- Providing one-click link for mingled administrative tasks, removal of tabs for page improvement, a new masthead be five images latest to be added (called Photostrip) (Ware 2011)Ubiquity in knowledge creation. What makes Facebook attract its rivals such as MySpace is its friendliness to third-party application developers. Facebook developed an application programming interface (API) which developers can now use and take advantage of in the context of social networking at Facebook. Developers can now utilize user social graphs and from at that place design applications which would enhance user interaction in a myriad of ways. Aside from user interaction, businesses stand to gain from API because announce and financial transaction functionalities can also be integrated. However, the key element to th e ubiquitous knowledge creation in Facebook is the countersign feed which has already been patented to Zuckerberg. Developers could now tap into the social graph of users and create applications of all types that would allow people to interact in new and elicit ways. formerly a user posts information, status, media, or installs an application, a message kicks off and appears in the news feeds of all the users friends (Treadaway and Smith 2009, p. 186). For November 2007, more than 7,000 applications were developed using the Facebook platform or roughly 100 every day (Rampell 2007). There were over 400,000 registered application developers (Ustinova 2008). Moreover, Facebook simplifies gathering and connecting information between images, videos, and text. Its structure allows individuals (nodes) to be connected to information from non-connected individuals for instance, a user can view messages through the news feed made by unconnected contacts to the users friends. Moreover, gr oups are able to create knowledge based on interest such as social or political groups or a group of experts exchanging knowledge. Another interesting feature that enhances knowledge creation is Notes which allows individuals to create content on topics or concepts (Kirkpatrick 2010). People may respond through the comment facility which refines and develops information further. Some of the numerous features which Facebook has that contri merelye to knowledge creation include care comment ratings threaded conversations feeds automatic updates when specific things of interest happen the ability to ask questions (survey) the ability to make requests and the ability to pass word along about things that are happening (Hearn 2008, Gawer 2009).Factors that help or hinder KM when using Facebook. While Facebooks API platform has made knowledge creation and knowledge sharing easier, it has also raised questions of privacy. Some of the popular apps that Facebook has have become spam or in so me cases, relayed identifying information without users consent (Acohido 2011). These are then transmitted to advertising companies and Internet tracking businesses (Steele and Fowler 2010). Privacy issues have affected nearly 10 million Facebook users this issue is forecast by some tech experts to plague Facebook for years to come (Malbon 2011).The impact of Facebook of KMSKnowledge work. Facebook has facilitated the process in which users share their knowledge with a group of other users or an organisation (Hearn 2008, p. 74). The sharing of knowledge can be inside a closed or open alliance. In the knowledge sharing process, users possess the knowledge they contri plainlye (Van Grogh 1998, p. 151). This means that the identity of the users is known and associated with the contributions. Ideally, users have full control over the content with respect to granting and withdrawing access rights for sharing, grouping, and indite contributions (Alavi and Leidner 2001) but loopholes in Facebook has led to substantive privacy control issues (Van plantation 2010).Collaboration communication. Mass collaboration using digital technologies like Facebook is transforming all aspects of the knowledge society even more rapidly than envisioned (Howlett 2010, p. 21). These users can give hints, make suggestions how to solve the problem, or give concrete solution directions (Choi and Lee 2003). Private communication between the users through the collaborative problem-solving platform is not possible, thus all feedback, hints, answers, and solutions provided are visible to all users of the community (Golder and Huberman 2006). There are however features which allow for private communication.Management. Facebook has had several implications for management. First, there is the perceived loss of productivity because of excessive engagement with social networking sites. An oblige featured in The Economist stated that an IT company lost over 1.4 billion pounds (USD 2.3 billion) yearly due to overuse of social networks during working hours. The same article cited how banning Facebook from the workplace would improve productivity (Yammering away at the office 2011). However, Facebook has also revolutionised the recruitment process because it has made information transparent. In fact, almost half (47%) of executives in the U.S. reported that they browsed through the Facebook pages of potential candidates and from that information, made decisions pertaining recruitment (Anonymous no more 2010).Trust issues. Perhaps the biggest issue with Facebook in relation to knowledge management is trust (Schwartz 2011a). Privacy experts have repeatedly indicated that Facebook sent user information to its advertising through cookies (Van Grove 2010). Essentially, Facebook is verbalise to have deanonymised the whole social networking process and only when the issue gained significant media mileage did Facebook act (Malbon 2010).The future of FacebookThe future of Facebook with respect to KMS seems bright but if it is unable to resolve privacy issues, it may find itself out of the kick in (Schwartz 2011b). Facebook may lead to fast and easy knowledge creation but the high participation of end users presents problems such as privacy issues and low productivity. The Facebook Platform allows the integration of different kinds of knowledge particularly the integration of applications and the everlasting creation of content (Gawer 2009, p. 134 Kirkpatrick 2010). Facebook, when properly managed, can provide knowledge management support for professional organisations as well as of non-professional organisations.