Invited Speaker
Dr. Moria Levy

Dr. Moria Levy

Information Science, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Speech Title: Stairways to heaven: implementing social media in organizations

Abstract: This paper is aimed at both researchers and organizations. For researchers, it provides a means for better analyzing the phenomenon of social media implementation in organizations as a knowledge management enabler. For organizations, it suggests a step-by-step architecture for practically implementing social media and benefiting from it in terms of knowledge management. The research is an empirical study. A hypothesis was set; empirical evidence was collected (from 34 organizations). The data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively, thereby forming the basis for the proposed architecture. The findings of the research show that implementing social media in organizations is more than a yes/no question. There are various levels of implementation in organizations: some implementing at all levels, while others implement only tools, functional components, or even only visibility. The research has practical implications; organizations can use the suggested four levels architecture as a guideline for implementing social media as part of their KM efforts. This paper is original and innovative. Previous studies describe the implementation of social media in terms of yes/no; this research explores the issue as a graded one, where organizations can and do implement social media step-by-step. The paper's value is twofold: It can serve as a foundational study for future research, which can base their analysis on the suggested architecture of four levels of implementation. It also serves as applied research that will help organizations searching for social media implementation KM enablers.