Business Value of Facebook: A Multiple Case Study from a Developing Country

Abstract

Social media applications such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are used by firms to create business value. Small companies, generally referred as small to medium sized enterprises (SME) are predominantly interested in using these applications because of the low cost associated with their usage, low barriers to participation as low level of IT-skills required to use them. SMEs can use social media for a variety of tasks such as marketing, community building and customer relationship management. This study examines the use of Facebook among SMEs in a developing country and aims to extend the existing understanding of how SMEs create business value by using Facebook. A multiple case study approach is used as a research methodology involving five SMEs from Pakistan. In depth interviews were conducted with the key informants of these SMEs to find out why they are using Facebooks and what business value has been created from such usage. It is anticipated that the findings presented in this study will foster an understanding of the business value that can be derived from Facebook by SMEs, especially in the case of developing countries like Pakistan