• - 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.

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 social media could be witnessed during the Mumbai terrorist attacks as microblogs informed new escape routes but also when Dove uses an online video to redefine beauty for women globally…. Web 2.0 is providing the environment for interrelation of business and civil society business models.

We are just starting to realize how social media is changing business models when Facebook is placed at the center of any business communication activity. 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 in transforming business models towards sustainable business.

The Power of Social Media for Social Good course approach Social Media from a triple perspective:

• First, we deconstruct the influence of social media on society and reflect on its principles of behavior and responsibilities.
• 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 the creation of new sustainable business models and 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 of big multinationals such Yahoo!, Facebook, eBay, Wall Mart but also in cases of small entrepreneurial companies such Method. These cases are the focus of current research for the professors of this course.

The course offers a critical perspective on social media and its potential for business transformation. As a future manager you will be faced to new societal demands and its challenges to current business models. In this course you will learn how to understand stakeholder expectations though social media, how to leverage its market and strategic positioning signals as well as how to confront with its ethical dilemmas. You will also be exposed, through case studies, to the understanding of new tools and methods to ensure success in the social media. We will analyze phenomena such crowd sourcing, users generated content, viral campaigning, etc. not only from an innovation and marketing perspective but from a business model and its strategic CSR implications.

The course is 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.

The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways to Use Social Media to Drive Social Change, By Jennifer Aaker & Andy Smith with Carlye Adler.2010.

Communication Power, Manuel Castells, 2009. Oxford Universtiy Press.

Supplemental texts will be included throughout the course. As this topic is a highly emergent one, other readings will be posted on the internal shared space, listed on the day that they will be discussed in class.