Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media

2011/01/01 by Jan H. Kietzmann, Jan Kietzmann, Kristopher Hermkens +2 · 1 voice · 46 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Computer Science · Social Sciences · #Digital Marketing and Social Media #Innovation and Knowledge Management #Knowledge Management and Sharing #Open Source Software Innovations

paper · doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.005

openalex publication_date 2011/02/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

Traditionally, consumers used the Internet to simply expend content: they read it, they watched it, and they used it to buy products and services. Increasingly, however, consumers are utilizing platforms-such as content sharing sites, blogs, social networking, and wikis-to create, modify, share, and discuss Internet content. This represents the social media phenomenon, which can now significantly impact a firm's reputation, sales, and even survival. Yet, many executives eschew or ignore this form of media because they don't understand what it is, the various forms it can take, and how to engage with it and learn. In response, we present a framework that defines social media by using seven functional building blocks: identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups. As different social media activities are defined by the extent to which they focus on some or all of these blocks, we explain the implications that each block can have for how firms should engage with social media. To conclude, we present a number of recommendations regarding how firms should develop strategies for monitoring, understanding, and responding to different social media activities. © 2011 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.

Citations

• The Strength of Weak Ties
• Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media
• Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates

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Discussions

• My first 10K. Google Scholar is Strava for academics. We track citations instead of steps, and flex h-indices instead of pace. Both platforms are games that can be gamified. doi.org/10.1016/j.bu.. [bsky, 3 points, 0 comments]

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