Customer misuse of social media and consequences on firm strategies

This paper identifies the economic as well as the technological aspects of the relatively new online application which is known as social media. The focus in this paper lies in the investigation of social media and their misuse from the end-consumers towards their own benefits and on the impact of such practices on the marketing strategies of companies. The experiences so far, based on literature, is that the social media lead to an empowerment of the end-consumers who sometimes misuse their increasing power to damage a company. The consequences are profound and extensive, affecting not only the reputation of an organisation but also its business survival. On the one hand, the academic perspective requires that attention towards social media must be paid specially within the marketing strategies, whereas from the practical point of view firms do not understand the importance and undervalue the impact and consequences of social media.