Social Media Response to MNsure Website and its Implications for Businesses

Abstract

As part of Web 2.0, social media has allowed for more complex, multifaceted communication (Bythe, Laur & Curran, 2014). The “user generated content” trend in the communication field has caused social media websites to become more popular than other non-participatory websites (Lim, 2016). Social media has many benefits, including increased civic engagement among users (Olssen, 2016) and the sheer volume in which responses are posted. However, many businesses in the United States have not yet realized the potential in utilizing social media to benefit their company. According to Hurley and Hea (2014), one of the major concerns related to social media is representation management, which means that businesses must realize that the way in which their brand is represented online will have an effect on customer opinion of the brand. By analyzing the specific case of the MNsure health insurance website, one is able to see the importance of social media responses and what can happen when companies disregard them.