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2013/2014  KAN-CBL_PSMS  The Power of Social media for Social Good

English Title
The Power of Social media for Social Good

Course information
Language English
Exam ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Quarter
Course period Spring, Second Quarter
Changes in course schedule may occur
Wednesday 09.50-12.25, week 7,8
Wednesday 09.50-13.20, week 6,9-13
Time Table Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Min. participants 40
Study board
Study Board for BSc og MSc in Business, Language and Culture, MSc
Course coordinator
  • Elanor Colleoni - Department of Intercultural Communication and Management (ICM)
Secretary Birgitte Hertz - bhe.stu@cbs.dk
Main academic disciplines
  • Business Ethics, value based management and CSR
  • Communication
Last updated on 14-02-2013
Learning objectives
At the end of the course, the student must be able to:
  • - Identify key societal and environmental issues that will challenge business models of today as well as tomorrow. Understand how these issues challenge current business models and how they can be somehow addressed through social media.
  • - Define key question YOU will face as future managers in relation to new social and technological environments. Learn from current best practices.
  • - Systematize your thinking by applying the concepts, theories, methods, and models that will help you to better understand and manager the power of social media.
Course prerequisites
No special requirements. The course does not assume the student has any prior knowledge in corporate social responsibility or social media.
Examination
The Power of Social media for Social Good:
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual
Size of written product Max. 10 pages
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 7 days to prepare
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and second internal examiner
Exam period May/June
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure
The examination will consist of an individual written assignment to be completed in one week. The topic of the assignment will be formulated with the student half way through the course, and must be approved by the teacher.
The topic must relate to
-    New media in general
-    Corporate social responsibility in the blogosphere
-    Crowd sourcing for social media
Students will be required to write between eight and ten pages of double-spaced text in Times New Roman 12, their answers being based on the syllabus.  
Students will be expected to show that they are able to articulate a reflection about a topic of interest in an independent and meaningful manner.
The essays will be assessed by a class teacher independently and graded according to the 7-point scale.
Course content and structure
The Power of Social Media for Social Good means that the tools that galvanized rescue and rebuilding efforts in Haiti were the same that helped fuel Pepsi's project to crowdsource and fund ideas to "refresh" the world, creating value for society and value for the firm.  Social media and internet is transforming not only civil society forms of engagement but also business models. The power of civil society could be witnessed during the Mumbai terrorist attacks as microblogs informed new escape routes,  The power of social media business transformation is exemplify placing Facebook at the center of any new marketing campaign or at Dove, where an online video set out to redefine beauty for women globally…Social media has proved itself to be a powerful tool for branding & marketing, employee engagement, innovation, customer loyalty and fundraising, but we're just starting to see its potential and its dangers.

The Power of Social Media for Social Good course approach Social Media from a triple perspective:
-    First, we deconstruct the influence of media and social on society and reflect on its responsibilities in both providing information and being managed by companies.
-    Second, we reflect on the power of social media as a citizenship creation tool and its influence in policy and business.
-    Finally, we approach the power of social media from a business perspective and its relation to strategic corporate social responsibility.


Following the first weeks of introductions to the “politics and economics of social media” analyzing its principles and challenges we transition to work on cases and the power combination of the business and social strategies. We will work on cases such as Dell, Pepsy and eBay.

The course will be also structured around experiential learning based on one mini-case assignment applying our leanings on a Social Media for Social Good strategy ideation, formation, and development project. These mini-cases will be our chance to collectively learn from one another as there is no expertise in this new field yet.  
At the end of the course, the student must be able to:
•    Identify key societal and environmental issues that will challenge today and tomorrow business models. Understand how these issues challenge current business models and how they can be somehow addressed through social media.
•    Define key question YOU will face as future managers in relation to new social and technological environments. Learn from current best practices.
•    Systematize your thinking by applying the concepts, theories, methods, and models that will help you to better understand and manager the power of social media.
Teaching methods
The course is structured around lectures and experiential learning based on one mini-case assignment applying our leanings on a Social Media for Social Good strategy ideation, formation, and development project. These mini-cases will be our chance to collectively learn from one another as there is no expertise in this new field yet.
Expected literature
To be announced on Learn, but most likely:
From Old to New Media
Key concepts: Collaboration, Participation, Network
Readings:
Ito, T., 2008 “Introduction”, in (eds) K. Varnelis “Networked Publics”, Cambridge: MIT.
O'Really, T., 2007 “What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software”, Communications & Strategies, No. 1, pp. 17-37, First Quarter
Optional
Benkler, Y., 2006 “The Wealth of the Networks”, chapter 10,
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/wealth_of_networks/Download_PDFs_of_the_book
Allen, C., 2004 “Tracing the Evolution of Social Software”,
http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2004/10/tracing_the_evo.html

Context
Economic implications of the new media for companies
Key concepts: Ethical Economy, CSR
Readings
Arvidsson, A. and Petersen, N., forthcoming “Introduction”, in “The Ethical economy” (eds) Arvidsson, A. and Petersen, N., Columbia University Press, http://www.ethicaleconomy.com/info/book

The new role of the firm in the Ethical economy
Readings
Scherer, A. and Palazzo, G., 2011 “The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World - A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and Democracy”, Journal of Management Studies 48(4) pp.889-931.
Castells, M., 2007 “Communication, Power and Counter-power in the Network Society”, International Journal of Communication, 1 pp.238-266.

Social media and CSR: Potentials (1)
The power of the network
Key concepts: connectivity, many-to-many relationships and dialog
Readings
Milgram, S., 1967 “The small-world problem”, in Psychology today 1(1), pp.61-67.
Kent, M. and Taylor, M., 1998 “Building dialogic relationships through the worldwide web”, in Public Relations Review 24(3), pp. 321-334.
Capriotti, P. and Moreno, A., 2007 “Corporate citizenship and public opinions: The importance and interactivity of social responsibility issues on corporate websites”, in Public Relations Review, 33(1), pp.84-91.
CASE: The power of Social Connections: Ebay Green campaign (material will be provided in the session)
CASE: Social media for social goods (material will be provided during the session)

Social media and CSR: Potentials (2)
The power of trust and collaboration
Key concepts: “produsage”, user-generated content and trust
Readings
Dellarocas, C., 2003 “The Digitization of Word of Mouth: Promise and Challenges of Online Feedback Mechanisms”, Management Science 49 (10) pp.1407-1424.
Metzger, M. J., Flanagin, A. J. and Medders, R., 2010 “Social and heuristic approaches to credibility evaluation online”, in Journal of Communication 60(3), 413-439.
Bruns, A., 2007 “Produsage: Towards a Broader Framework for User-Led Content Creation”, in C&C’07, June 13–15, 2007, Washington, DC, USA, pp.99-105.
Von Hippel, E. 2001 “Innovation by User Communities: Learning from Open-Source Software”, in MIT Sloan Management Review 42(4), pp.82-86.
CASE: Community based innovation: Bobonos’ case (material will be provided in the session)

Social media for CSR: Risks
The power of the crowd
Key concept: Online activism
den Hond, F. and de Bakker, F., 2007 ”Ideologically Motivated Activism: How Activist Groups Influence Corporate Social Change Activities”, in Academy of Management Review 32, pp.901-924.
Gladwell, M., 2010 “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will not Be Twitted”, in The New Yorker, October,
 http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell
Klasseen, A., 2009 ”How to Weather a Twitterstorm”, in Advertising Edge, http://adage.com/article/digital/weather-a-twitterstorm/135991/
CASE:  Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2010 “From Conflict to Collaboration? Greenpeace´s Greenfreeze Campaign”, in Business Ethics, 3rd Edition, Oxford, pp. 486-489.
CASE: Greenpeace and the Palm Oil (material will be provided in the session)

Social media and CSR: Evolution
Business Models 2.0
Key concepts: Peer-to-Peer Production, Crowd-sourcing and Open source
Readings
Benkler, Y., 2006 “The economics of Social production”, in “The Wealth of the Networks”, chapter 4 http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/wealth_of_networks/Download_PDFs_of_the_book
O’Mahony, S. and Ferraro, F., 2007 “The emergence of governance in an open-source community”, in Academy of Management Journal 50 (5), pp.1079–1106.
Howe, J., 2006 “The rise of Crowd-sourcing”, in Wired Magazine Issue 14 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html
CASE Pepsi crowd-sourcing project (material will be provided in the session)
CASE Microloan online systems (material will be provided in the session)
Optional
Pisano, G.P. and Verganti, R., 2008 “Which Kind of Collaboration Is Right for You?”, in Harvard Business Review December 2008, pp.1-9.

Social media for CSR: Limitations
Social media as unrealized potential
Key concepts: Dialogical Failure and Corporate Constrains
Colleoni, E. and Szewczyk, M. 2011 “CSR communication strategies for organizational legitimacy in Social Media”, Paper presented at CSR and Communication Conference in Amsterdam, November
Castello, I. Etter, M. and Morsing, M., 2011 “Why CSR will never be twitted? Organizational constrains to new forms of stakeholder engagements”, RBB Conference. Copenhagen.
CASE: Eriksen, R,,and Morsing, M., 2011 “Online Company- Stakeholder Communication: Lessons from Vattenfall’s Social Media Campaign on Climate Change”, Paper presented at CSR communication conference Amsterdam, November
CASE: GlobalHealth and CSR in Twitter (material will be provided in the session)

Methods
The use of Netnography for Online investigations
Key concept: Digital Etnography
Readings
Kozitens, R., 2010 “Netnography: The Marketer´s Secret Weapon”, Working Paper March 2010 Netbase.
Pisanu, F. and Teli M., 2010 “Ethnography in a brave new world: exploring research in cyberspace”, Working Paper University of Milan.
CASE: Bilgram, V., Bartl, M. and Biel, S. 2011 “Getting Closer to the Consumer –How Nivea Co-Creates New Products”, Marketing Review S. Gallen 1, pp.34-40.
Last updated on 14-02-2013