Opportunities and threats presented by social media in project management

Abstract

The application of new technologies is rapidly increasing, not only in private but also in professional spheres, including project management. However, the use of social media (SM) may be both beneficial and dangerous. Therefore, the goal of the article is to investigate in which areas it is possible to use social media in project management and what the opportunities and threats surrounding it are. In order to reach the goal of the article and obtain answers to the research questions, the methods of diagnostic survey and questionnaire technique were used. The research was carried out on a sample of 108 respondents involved in the project's implementation. To complement the obtained data, additional qualitative research using unstructured interviews was conducted. The presented research indicates that managers who work in an Agile or Hybrid way are more likely to use SM than managers who work in a traditional way. A significant dependency between the use of SM and the way the project team works was confirmed, but no age differences were found. Moreover, the results of the study show that social media usually supports project managers and team members in such areas as communication, cooperation, engagement, knowledge management, work productivity, promotion of the project and employee development. Threats concerning the use of social media in project management are noted in relation to the security of the project and loss of sensitive project data. Analysis of the study and interviews resulted in a broad set of principles of SM usage within projects. Future research could provide further confirmation of these findings by using larger samples.