USING ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES FOR DOING BUSINESS
- A MARKETING RESEARCH

Mircea Fuciu, Romanian-German University of Sibiu, Romania
Luigi Dumitrescu, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania

ABSTRACT: The developments of the information and communication technologies of the last
decades (especially the Internet and the online social networks - OSN) have created a new
environment for the development of new business opportunities or for the expansion of the older
ones. Through these new changes, new challenges have arisen, faster communication, the need to
be out there 24/7, a greater care of what you offer to the market. Our paper presents a small part of
a marketing research (qualitative and quantitative) which aims to understand how the online social
networking sites can be used by the companies for developing their businesses. We are presenting a
short introduction a literature review in the field of OSN its evolution and its types followed by the
research methodology and the research results. At the end of the paper we are presenting several
conclusion of the research and how can the OSN be used for doing business.

Keywords: online social networks; marketing research, consumers, managers, business

JEL Codes: M30, M31, M39