Social Media for Project Management

Book excerpt: The number of projects is increasing worldwide as traditional and repetitive tasks are carried out through automation. Projects being temporary and unique while being adopted globally across sectors presents a challenge for the effective management of environmental, economic, and social parameters. Projects are people centric and require the effective management of internal and external stakeholders. In the modern age, social media is seen as a tool that connects people across the world having significant implications on everyone’s daily life. Social media is used for different purposes and encompasses multiple affordances as these are often free and also bring together people from different walks of life who tend to use them differently. However, the role of social media in managing projects is still under explored. In this edited book, multiple authors working on the application of social media in projects come together to craft an agenda for the future. First, the use of social media for internal stakeholders, such as managers and engineers, are discussed. Following this, the use of social media for external stakeholders, such as communities and project affected persons are discussed. Finally, the guidelines for education using social media and research using social media is discussed. Thus, the book brings together multiple authors to discuss how social media can be used in project settings to facilitate interactions and strategic conversations across hierarchical levels and geographic boundaries for diverse goals. The book is a valuable resource for all project management academics, researchers and practitioners who are interested in learning about the application of social media in project settings.