The Internet contains numerous Web sites that provide you with information and advice about social media tools, as well as the future of social media tools, such as blogging and Twitter. You decide to investigate articles about the future of one or two social media tools in business so you can make up your own mind about the potential benefits or drawbacks of each. Is the social media tool something worth investing a company’s time, energy, and fiscal resources in, or is it just another fad—here today and gone tomorrow?

To complete this case study, you will search for and then summarize two recent articles—one related to the current use of a social media tool of your choice in business and one related to the future of that same social media tool in business.

1. Open the file Research_12.docx located in the Project.12 folder included with your Data Files, and then save the document as Social Media in Business in the same folder.

2. Identify a social media tool that you want to learn more about, both its current use in business and its future prospects. Refer to Figure 12-3 for some social media tools. You are not limited to the social tools discussed in this project.

3. Open your Web browser, and then go to the search engine of your choice (for example, www.google.com or www.msn.com).

4. Search forWeb sites that contain articles about the use of the social media tool in business that you selected. Use keywords and keyword phrases associated with the social media tool of your choice, such as blogging in business and the future of blogging in business. Your goal is to find one recent article (e.g., written within the last year) related to the current use of the social media tool in business that you selected and one recent article related to the future use of that same social media tool in business. AvoidWeb sites designed to sell you use of the social media tool you selected. You are looking for articles that provide information and opinions about the current and future use of the social media tool in business that you selected. You can also search newsWeb sites such as www.internet.com and www.cnn.com to find recent articles. Go to the sites and enter the appropriate search terms.

5. Select articles that are as recent as possible (preferably in the current year). Some articles may be in the form of blog postings. You are free to use a blog posting if you feel the content is useful.

6. Complete the table provided with information about each of the two articles you have chosen. If you cannot find information such as the author’s name or the date the article was written, indicate Not Available in the appropriate table cell. Note that the Date Accessed is the date that you found and read the article.

7. If you copy text from a Web site (for example, the name of the article), format the text with the Normal style. All the text in the tables should use the Normal style, except the row headings.

8. Make the summary of each article between 100 and 150 words. Include the principal topics of the article and indicate the opinions expressed. Also, indicate your opinion about the usefulness and relevance of the article.

9. Type your name where indicated at the bottom of the document, save the document, print a copy, and then close the document.