Social Media and the Modern Business Environment The modern society has witnessed a phenomenon of ongoing and rapid growth in enhanced communication and interaction between people, especially through the Internet. Actually, the Internet has become the means for collaboration and resulted in the emergence of the social media concept and networking. The Internet has been characterized by the emergence of numerous social media networks that are increasingly used as the means of communication and collaboration between people in the modern society. As a result of the impact of social media in today's society, the new paradigm is influencing the modern business environment. Given its impact on modern communications, social media has largely businesses as companies are increasingly using social media accounts for business. However, these social media accounts have generated privacy and security concerns, which results in the need to secure them.

The Growth of Social Media

In today's society, the Internet has become a major phenomenon given its influence in communications and collaboration through social media. The Internet has primarily created a virtual world, which has become crucial to ensuring stability of the modern society. Actually, without the existence of the virtual world created by the Internet, it would be relatively difficult to understand and ensure the society's stability. As a result of the emergence of the Internet, the modern society is currently in the information age (Svatosova, n.d.). The impact of the Internet in today's society is attributed to the fact that it provides the likelihood of autonomous decision-making as well as the ability of selection and targeting. Moreover, the Internet is not simply a passive channel but enhances the likelihood of mutual feedback and communication.

The modern society is currently experiencing a phenomenon for continual and rapid growth in the use of the Internet for collaboration and communication between people (Georgescu & Popescul, 2015, p.277). Consequently, the use of the Internet for communications and collaboration has contributed to the emergence of the social media concept. Social media can be described as practices, activities, and behaviors in communities that gather to share knowledge, information, and views through the use of conversational environments like the Internet. The social media concept is strongly linked to the use of the Internet, which represents a collection of technological platforms that promote interactions between users through developing and sharing information and various online materials. Actually, the Internet provides an infrastructure or technological basis that makes the possibility of social media concept.

There are several kinds of social media platforms that have evolved in the recent past including blogs and microblogs, socializing networks, collaborative projects, virtual communities, and virtual games. These platforms have evolved in the recent past as the number of users continues to increase annually. According to the findings of a recent study by Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project, approximately two-thirds of American adult Internet users used social networking sites by December 2012 (McIntyre, 2014, p.6). Based on these statistics, some scholars consider the rise of the Internet as a transformative factor in the history of mass communication since the Internet has changed the way people communicate and interact.

Social media can also be described as a means of computer-mediated communications that is characterized by social networking sites. These web-based sites provide services that enable people to develop a public profile within a bordered system, incorporate a list of other users they have something in common, and view and navigate connections by others within the bounded system. The evolution of social media can be explained on the premise that these new web-based socializing sites have replaced older or conventional media to a greater extent and at a rapid rate. For instance, people no longer rely on older or conventional media to obtain information but access information through social networks. Therefore, social media not only supplements but also seemingly replaces conventional media with regards to acting as a source of information to the public.

Social Media in Business Today

Social media, particularly through social networking sites, has changed the contemporary business landscape given its impact on communication and collaboration between people in today's society. Companies are increasingly adopting social media or social networking sites for their business practices and operations. The impact of social media on the business landscape is evident in the fact that businesses are increasingly using these sites to share content or information with a large audience. This is primarily because social media focuses on content and promote conversations between groups and people with common interests.

In the modern global business environment, social media's role has enhanced significantly. The conventional view in the conventional business...

On the contrary, the modern business scenario has experienced and anticipated numerous changes that are brought by various factors. The biggest change in the modern business environment has been brought by globalization, which has forced companies to make considerable changes to organizational structure and long-term initiatives (Abuhashesh, 2014, p.202).
Apart from contributing to changes in organizational structure and long-term strategies, globalization created the need for enhanced communication. Globalization contributed to the need for companies or businesses to operate in an environment where they generate the ability to satisfy consumer needs in markets with diverse socio-cultural background rather than operating in a homogenous business environment. Businesses in the modern environment need an improved level of communication with consumers in the global market in order to gain competitive advantages and generate more revenues. This need has in turn made social networking sites important components of the modern business environment. These web-based communication mediums are important in the creation of the business entities on the global platform. In light of the current factors in the modern business environment, companies need an interactive and flawless communication channel to enable them contact customers from different parts of world. As a result, the integration of social media in today's business is increasingly important since it helps ensure businesses meet the demands of the current business environment with regards to communication with customers and effectively responds to emerging trends (Abuhashesh, 2014, p.202).

Impact of Social Media on Business Today

As evident in the previous discussion, the integration of social media is one of the most significant factors in the modern business environment. The significance of this factor is largely attributed to the effect of social media on business today. The increased use of social media or social networking sites by companies has not only changed the business landscape but also had significant effects on business practices and operations. Generally, contemporary business environment is rapidly changing with advancements in information technology. As a result of these advances such as the evolution of social media, conventional recognized best strategies and practices have become inadequate for today's market. The inadequacy of best practices and strategies in the current business environment is largely attributed to the impact of social media and technological developments on business today. Some of the major impacts of social media and social networking sites on business today include

Changes in the Nature of Global Consumer Market

As previously mentioned, the conventional business operations was highly stable in nature since most of the corporate organizations operated in homogenous environment. The current business environment and sector has experienced tremendous changes due to a variety of factors such as globalization. The emergence of globalization has forced business organizations to focus on the global or international market. Together with globalization, social media has contributed to changes in the nature of global consumer market.

Social media has changed the nature of the global consumer market by contributing to an environment where consumers express their ever-changing demands and generate new market trends. This has in turn created a business environment where companies have to ensure they build capacity to meet these demands and effectively respond to emerging trends in the market. A company obtains competitive advantage over its rivals through enhancing its ability to meet these demands and react to new trends effectively.

Social media has also transformed the nature of the global consumer market by enabling consumers to have enhanced overall sensitivity to the global business environment. Moreover, consumers in today's business environment have improved their awareness of consumption behavior as a result of increased use of social media. Through social media, consumers have gained access to several corporate entities that compete in the market to attract their attention and interests (Abuhashesh, 2014, p.203). Consequently, consumers have the capability to choose their preferred business entity that provides them with the highest level of customization and satisfaction. A company can enhance its market share in the global business environment through customizing relevant business products and services according to needs in the market.

The global consumer market has become hyper-competitive because the society is currently in the information age where it is characterized by increased use of social media in communication and business practices. The hyper-competitive nature of today's business environment has made customers to have a wider view of competitive offers and become more selective and demanding as compared to the past where business operated in a…