Integration of Social Media Records Into Enterprise Content Management at the South African Broadcasting Corporation in the Limpopo Provincial Office in South Africa
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INTEGRATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA RECORDS INTO ENTERPRISE CONTENT MANAGEMENT AT THE SOUTH AFRICAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION IN THE LIMPOPO PROVINCIAL OFFICE IN SOUTH AFRICA by Moshohli Frans Masekoameng Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the subject Information Science at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: Prof. M Ngoepe ABSTRACT The integration of social media records into enterprise content management systems is crucial to organisations as it enables them to have access to these records if they are required for evidential purposes. However, despite social media content being considered as official records in state-owned enterprises, they are often left unmanaged. The purpose of this study was to investigate the integration of social media content into the enterprise content management system at the South African Broadcast Corporation Limpopo provincial office in South Africa. The study utilised quantitative data collected through questionnaires distributed to SABC employees and employees at three radio stations in the Limpopo provincial office (Munghanalonene FM, Thobela FM and Phalaphala FM). The key results suggest that there were no policies or guidelines on the management of digital records that emanated from social media. It was discovered that the SABC’s Limpopo provincial office opened official accounts with various social media platforms such as SNSs, online content communities and podcasts to use for official matters; yet content generated through these platforms is neither managed nor preserved. It has been established that the responsibility of managing social media content is unconsciously assigned to the creators of the content as no official records management responsibilities were assigned. It is recommended that digital records emanating from the use of social media by the staff of the SABC Limpopo provincial office need to be treated and managed as official records, like all other paper-based records. In this regard, a policy for integration of social media content into enterprise content management is desirable. A further study on the development of a framework to integrate social media content into organisational records management is recommended. Key words: social media content, social media platform, enterprise content management, digital records, records, records management, online content communities, South African Broadcasting Authority. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to thank God Almighty for the grace, strength and perseverance to complete this study. Secondly, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Mpho Ngoepe, for his patience and consistent guidance, tolerance, support and motivation throughout this study. I do not want to forget the following contributors for the great work they have done for me to complete this study: Mr James Arguma, Acting CEO of the SABC, for the approval of the request to conduct the study in such an important state-owned enterprise which is a National Key Point. - Ms Molaba Elisa, in charge of the Learning and Development Department for coordinating the approval of my study. - The General Manager of the SABC Limpopo provincial office for writing the permission letter to conduct the study at the SABC Limpopo provincial office and, importantly, the employees of the SABC in Limpopo in various sections for agreeing to participate in the study. - The library of the University of South Africa for the provision of unlimited information resources and sources to assist me in the completion of this study, and for sponsoring me to conduct this study. - Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has directly and indirectly motivated me to work tirelessly to complete this study. ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to all my predecessors and all who are in the records management fraternity, my late mother Rebecca Mathepe (Pheladi), my wife and my children who have always motivated me to complete this piece of work. iii Student number: 36976113 DECLARATION I declare that Integration of social media content into enterprise content management at the South African Broadcasting Corporation in the Limpopo provincial office in South Africa is my own work and that all sources I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. Signature:…………………… Date: 26 March 2018 (Mr MF Masekoameng) iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..............................................................................................ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................. iii DECLARATION .......................................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ........................................................ xiii LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................................ xiv CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ......................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background to the study .................................................................................. 1 1.2.1 Contextual setting ........................................................................................ 5 1.2.2 Conceptual setting ....................................................................................... 8 1.3 Problem statement ........................................................................................... 9 1.4 The purpose and objectives of the study ....................................................... 11 1.5 Justification for the study ............................................................................... 12 1.6 The significance of the study ......................................................................... 13 1.7 Definitions of terms ........................................................................................ 14 1.7.1 Records ..................................................................................................... 15 1.7.2 Social media .............................................................................................. 15 1.7.3 Social media content ................................................................................ 16 1.7.4 Enterprise content management (ECM) .................................................... 16 1.8 Research methodology .................................................................................. 17 1.9 Ethical considerations .................................................................................... 18 v 1.10 Scope and delimitations of the study ............................................................. 19 1.11 Organisation of the dissertation ..................................................................... 20 1.12 Summary ....................................................................................................... 23 CHAPTER TWO ....................................................................................................... 24 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................ 24 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 24 2.2 Types of social media platforms .................................................................... 24 2.2.1 Collaborative projects ............................................................................... 25 2.2.2 Blogs ......................................................................................................... 25 2.2.3 Content communities ................................................................................ 26 2.2.4 Social networking sites ............................................................................. 26 2.3 Purposes of using social media ..................................................................... 26 2.4 Digital records emanating from social media as official records .................... 31 2.5 Policy for the integration of social media content ........................................... 34 2.6 Preservation of social media content as official records ................................ 36 2.7 ECM and application challenges.................................................................... 40 2.7.1 Authenticity of social media records ......................................................... 42 2.7.2 Risks associated with managing electronic digital records ........................ 42 2.7.2.1 Deletion of social media content ................................................ 43 2.7.2.2 Retrieval of social media records ............................................... 43 2.7.2.3 Storage space for social media