Followers, likes, and page clicks - Oh my! A new frontier for social media in Western Europe

摘要

Because of Business Horizons' participation in the International Network of Business and Management Journals (INBAM), we had the great fortune to guest edit a special issue based on papers presented at the 3rd INBAM annual conference in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2013. The theme for the Business Horizons track was Business and Social Media. Despite the wide range of possible themes that a topic of social media suggests, we arrived at a collection of articles that captures a common thread and introduces our readers to social media research utilizing data gathered from a number of different areas of the world. In most cases, the articles describe the motivations for firms to engage in social media and highlight some of the difficulties in not only measuring success, but also in developing relationships. We were struck by collaborative efforts between academics and professionals who are embracing the potential that social media has for business insight and performance.