The Influence of Social Media on Engendering Strategic Organisational Practices – The Case of Two Tanzanian Telecommunications Companies

The plethora of social media platforms such as Facebook, twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp has enhanced the information systems within organisations while at the same time being a conundrum to executives, who need to develop strategy around this technology. This paper explores the influence of different social media applications on engendering strategic organisational practices using a practice perspective. Through the practice lens and with the guidance of the interpretivist philosophy, this paper collects empirical evidence from two telecom organisations in Tanzania. The findings show that different types of social media applications play different roles in engendering different strategizing methods, such as formal and informal. Depending on the role the application plays. In practice, this will help organisational executives in the selection of social media applications, which is a crucial stage in the development of social media strategy.