EditorialSpecial issue on social media networks in business
Introduction
In recent years, the rapid proliferation of Social Media Networks has drastically transformed the way in which we communicate, collaborate, create information and entertain ourselves. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google+ encompass hundreds of millions of users. Social Media Networks have also revolutionized the ways organizations relate to the marketplace, consumers, society as well as their employees, creating new opportunities for firms along the whole value chain [2], [4], [8], [9]. Thus, Social Media Networks are changing not only our private but also our business communication practices, while, at the same time, creating entirely new communities [5], [6], [7]. Particularly, the resulting availability of huge amounts of data allows the mining of valuable insghts for both research and practice. By revolutionizing communication and collaboration patterns, Social Media Networks promise previously unimagined opportunities, all at a speed (and reach) unheard of, but may in addition bring along several new challenges and risks [1], [3].
This special issue aims to contribute to the growing body of research investigating Social Media Networks in a business context and its most recent developments, addressing both theoretical and applied perspectives. With our call for papers we sought relevant and previously unpublished submissions in the context of Social Media Networks providing new insights on both transformational impact and challenges in on this topic for organizations.
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Papers of the special issue
We had 22 initial submissions for the special issue which we coordinated as a team. First, we evaluated the submissions’ for fit with the special issue's focus, theoretical and methodological aspects, and potential to make an interesting and novel contribution to our understanding of Social Media Networks in Business. Based on this assessment, 19 papers were selected for further peer review. Each paper was reviewed by at least two reviewers. After two rounds of revisions, the review process
Acknowledgments
The guest editors express sincere thanks to all the reviewers for their time and effort and for their willingness to work under tight deadlines. It has been a pleasure to put together an issue on such a timely topic. The guest editors offer special thanks to Dr. Harry Rudin who, as Editor-in-Chief of Computer Networks, helped shape and supported this special issue.
Julia Klier is an Associated Researcher at the Department of Management Information Systems at the University of Regensburg, Germany. In addition, she is a senior project leader with an international strategy consulting firm. Her main research interests include Social Media with a special focus on Online Social Networks, E-Government, and Electronic Customer Relationship Management. She received her doctor's degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Augsburg, Germany and
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Cited by (0)
Julia Klier is an Associated Researcher at the Department of Management Information Systems at the University of Regensburg, Germany. In addition, she is a senior project leader with an international strategy consulting firm. Her main research interests include Social Media with a special focus on Online Social Networks, E-Government, and Electronic Customer Relationship Management. She received her doctor's degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Augsburg, Germany and her M.Sc. with honors in Finance & Information Management from the University of Augsburg and the Technical University of Munich, Germany. She published her work at international conferences (e.g., International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS)) and scientific journals (e.g., Computer Networks, ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems, and Business & Information Systems Engineering). In 2014 she was recognized with the Schöller Fellow Award.
Mathias Klier holds the Péter Horváth Endowed Professorship for Business Administration with focus on Business Information Management at the Institute of Technology and Process Management at the University of Ulm, Germany. He received his doctorate in Management Information Systems and his diploma in Business Mathematics from the University of Augsburg, Germany. His main research interests include Data and Information Quality, Customer Relationship Management, and Social Media with a special focus on Online Social Networks. He has published several articles in books and journals (e.g., Computer Networks, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, and Decision Support Systems) and presented his research at international conferences such as the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) and the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS).
Alexander Richter is Associate Professor for “Workplace Studies” at the IT University of Copenhagen and head of the research unit “Digital Work Design” at the University of Zurich. Alex studies the increasingly differentiated practices of knowledge workers and designs sociotechnical solutions to support those. For instance, he currently leads the requirements analysis of a major European research project that aims to design worker-centric workplaces in the domain of manufacturing. Moreover, he is interested in the impact of social platforms on emergent structures such as informal networks and new forms of leadership or innovation as well as the development of methods to evaluate these developments. He has co-developed a framework that supported the selection, implementation and evaluation of social software at companies such as Allianz, Airbus, Deutsche Bahn, Bayer and Bosch. He is Chairman of the Special Interest Group "CSCW & Social Computing " in the German computer society and a member on the steering boards of Human Computer Interaction and Information Systems.
Rolf T. Wigand was until 2015 the Maulden-Entergy Chair and Distinguished Professor of Information Science and Business Information Systems at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is the past director of the Graduate Program in Information Management and founding director of the Center for Digital Commerce both at Syracuse University. His research interests lie at the intersection of ICT business issues, the role of newer information technologies and their impact on organizations and society, as well as their strategic alignment within business and industry. Recent National Science Foundation research grants (2007–2015) continued with standards development research in the mortgage, retail and automotive supply industries; the analysis of virtual organizations, networks in disaster settings as well as the analysis of online blogs and social media as instruments in collective action. His research has been supported by the NSF, the German National Science Foundation (DFG), the Volkswagen Foundation, the European Union, the International Social Science Council, Rome Laboratory, and other funding agencies. His research appears in such journals as MIS Quarterly, Journal of MIS, Sloan Management Review, Journal of Information Technology, Journal of Applied Psychology, Electronic Markets: The International Journal, and other publications. He is an editorial board and review board member of almost 30 journals, book series and yearbooks. Wigand authored seven books and over 422 articles, book chapters and proceedings contributions. His book, Information, Organization and Management: Expanding Markets and Corporate Boundaries (with A. Picot and R. Reichwald), Wiley & Sons, is listed among the “75 Best Management Books of All Time” in the Handelsblatt Management Bibliothek, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt and New York. Wigand won (with Nitin Agarwal and Merlyna Lim) in 2013 the Best Publication of 2012 Award at the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) in Milan, Italy. This award is chosen among the nominations for best article award from each of the 36 worldwide information systems publications each year by the Senior Scholars Consortium, ICIS. He taught on the faculty of Syracuse University, Arizona State University, Michigan State University, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City; the University of Munich, the University of Mannheim, the University of Bayreuth, the Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology, the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration and the University of Sydney. He now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.