Cracking the Snapcode: Understanding the Organizational and Technological Influences of Strategic Social Media Adoption

ABSTRACT

The strategic communication literature mainly focuses on questions of how brands use social media. Scholars, however, have not thoroughly examined the reasons why organizations choose to adopt new social media platforms. And existing research uses a variety of theoretical perspectives. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine organizational adoption of new social media channels using the Information and Communication Technology approach within the context of strategic communication in order to advance theory building about social media adoption and to better understand the multiple influences on organizational adoption of these channels for strategic communication purposes. Snapchat was selected as the social media platform of interest because it is relatively new and experienced rapid adoption among users and organizations. Qualitative interviews with 23 social media managers and consultants found that social processes within organizations (i.e., norms, agendas, and culture) and Snapchat’s materiality (i.e., features, benefits, and constraints) influenced organizational decisions about adopting the platform. They also show that these social and technological influences are framed around strategic communication concepts. However, in terms of strategic communication, Snapchat adoption was purposeful, but it did not rise to the level of being a strategic decision.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.