Determining the challenges of organizational social media adoption and use

Organizations often face challenges with the adoption and use of new information systems, and social media is no exception. In this exploratory case study, we aim to identify internal and external challenges related to the adoption and use of social media in a large case company. Our findings show that internal challenges include resources, ownership, authorization, attitudes and economic issues, whereas external challenges are associated with company reputation, legal issues and public/private network identity. We add to the knowledge created by previous studies by introducing the challenges related to ownership and authorization of social media services, which were found to be of high relevance in corporate social media adoption. In order to overcome these obstacles, we propose that organizations prepare strategies and guidelines for social media adoption and use.