Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1.8, , language: English, abstract: In the contemporary world, there is no business without communication. To most entrepreneurs in the 21st century, social media use in business is seemingly the "next big thing". The emergence of an online technology that allows reaching of big crowds without necessarily meeting them has presented a temporary yet essential fad that ought to be appropriately made use of while it is still in the spotlight. To this group of entrepreneurs, reaching out the virtual market has presented itself as a stepping-stone to, not only establish their brands, but also to make it earn acceptance in the market. Others have even gone further to establish online shops where customers can easily order and wait for their products to be delivered without having to necessarily visit the product stores. Unfortunately, however, there exists a population to which social media marketing is a buzzword without any practical advantage and steep. They envision it to be a complicated learning curve that further makes their business life unexpectedly complex. With regards to the different approaches to social media, this paper will look at both the negative and the positive aspects of using social media as a tool for running business operations.