Communication Barriers and the Role of Social Media Communication as defined by Robbins, DeCenzo and Coulter (2013) is the “transfer of understanding and meaning from one person to another” (pg 328). Barrier, as defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary is “a natural formation or structure that prevents or hinders movement or action”. Thus, communication barriers are obstacles that prevent information from being communicated effectively. In our current workforce, communication is single handedly one of the most important aspects that contributes to the success of a business and its day to day operation. Robbins, DeCenzo and Coulter (2103) emphasize the importance of clear and astute communication and determine that “ineffective communication skills can lead to a continuous stream of problems for a manager” (pg 328). A thorough understanding of the communication process (pg 328) and its different stages is critical in identifying, preventing or resolving some of the main barriers that arise while communicating.
Case Study- Twitter Crisis at Best Buy In an effort to keep up with the current technological advances, CEO of Best Buy Brian Dunn indulged in the world of social media and opened a “twitter” account where he used this a form of communication with his employees and customers as well (Robbins, DeCenzo and Coulter, 2013, pg 327). Shortly after this pursuit, Dunn’s account was hacked and relayed an inappropriate message to the world causing the company and its executive team to work on some major damage control to re-establish the reputation of Dunn and also come up with measures to come prevent this from happening again. In this particular situation, Brian Dunn’s account was hacked and it is clear that the hacker wanted to paint a negative picture of Dunn and his company thus inputting information that would leave a negative connotation to the receiver. The main communication barrier that occurred in this situation was filtering. Robbins, DeCenzo and Coulter (2103) define filtering as “the way that a sender manipulates information” (pg 331). In this case, the information was manipulated to look as if it came from the actual sender and then relayed information negatively, just as the hacker was attempting to. The account and the message sent across were manipulated on purpose to pose an ill status of Brian Dunn.
The Role of Social Media The recent advances in technology are quickly reshaping the way business is conducted as more organizations pursue social media as a major form of communication. Jennifer Naeger (2013) concludes that “Ninety-four percent of all businesses with a marketing department use social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ , to increase brand awareness and to communicate with over one billion users on these sites” (para 1). Social media is an operational tactic to reach to a mass amount of people without really having to do anything to get them together. Different forms of social media have their users already established and tapping into these masses is a great to reach many without any effort since the users utilize social media regardless. Jennifer Naeger (2013) says the obvious advantages of social media is that it can act as a portal of customer service and give an organization the additional opportunity to interact with its customers about its products, customer complaints and customer satisfactions. In addition to that, social media marketing campaigns are also much less expensive, and can reach a mass amount of people with only a single click. Organizations in this day and age must keep up with the current technology and social media is an effective and inexpensive to tap into a new form of marketing and brand awareness.

Disadvantages of Social Media Just like with any form of communication, while there are advantages to social media, there are also some down sides to using technology as form of communication. Robbins, DeCenzo and Coulter (2013) name two main challenges that communication through technology creates as legal and security issues as well as personal interaction. The use of technology poses a great security risk of information being tainted, accounts hacked or a misrepresentation of the organization can occur within minutes. Sensitive or embarrassing information can be easily released and it is important for organizations to ensure that the proper security measures are established in order to avoid such situations from happening. Since there is no face to face interaction, social media takes away the personal interaction between managers, employees, and customers, which sometimes can cause miscommunication of information while it also eliminates personal relationships. A blog on disadvantages of social media names one of the main drawbacks in this form of technology is that “ the wrong online brand strategy could put you at a viral social disadvantage and may even damage your reputation, i.e, when you make a mistake offline, a few will know but when you make a mistake in front of hundreds or thousands of you online audience, most of them will know” (Beirut, 2010). A great example this scenario is of course, the Twitter crisis at Best Buy.
Conclusion
Communication is a pivotal component in any organization to ensuring that information is relayed to the appropriate receivers. It is pertinent for leaders to understand the process of communication and the barriers that could potentially affect information, processes and the purpose of the message. With technology at our fingertips, social media is now a common trend that most organizations utilize as a mode of communication within their company and with the rest of the world. A proper understanding of the advantages of social media, like inexpensive modes of reaching mass numbers and tremendous brand awareness, and also the disadvantages as well, like security issues, lack of personal interaction and need for accuracy and attentiveness are all critical in determining the use or lack thereof of social media. Overall, communication is a key element for leaders to evaluate in relation to the development, upkeep, and continuous improvement of communication channels especially through technology.