Kairos (Mar 2023)
(Social) Media Literacy Competencies in the Workplace: Enhancing the Communication of Young Employees
Abstract
New media technology and social media impact all employees directly and indirectly, becoming a ubiquitous element of the workplace. Members of organizations feel the impact on an individual, group, organizational, and even societal level. Young people especially are heavily influenced by new digital media channels, including social media platforms, which later on impact their communication as they enter the workforce in large numbers. Moreover, their ability to work together, collaborate and coordinate among themselves relies on synchronous and asynchronous communication that happens over digital devices, mainly spurred by various contemporary working arrangements (remote work, hybrid work, coworking, working on mobile technology, and similar). This makes using social networks and other digital media platforms and tools imperative for successfully completing work-related tasks and objectives (Ligurgo, et al., 019). Therefore, enhancing (social) media competencies in the workplace is essential and shapes new ways of working and communicating on different organizational levels. This paper will attempt to answer what the social media literacy competencies needed by young employees to communicate better in a professional work environment are. Answering this question will be addressed from the perspective of a social media literacy (SML) model rather than from the technical aspect. As a data collection method, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with office workers, whereas the results of these interviews were analyzed with the employment of grounded theory. Investment and collaboration for a comprehensive social media literacy education are vital for organizations to start addressing the phenomenon in the workplace and educate the employees on how social media and communication via this platform can better the overall work climate, communication, and well-being.
