Opportunities and Risks of Social Media Tools for the Economy

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2009 in the subject Economics - Macro-economics, general, grade: 1,0, The FOM University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, language: English, abstract: This assignment elaborates the opportunities and risks of social media tools for the economy. The first paragraphs will show what social media tools are and how they work. The second paragraph will provide an overview of the topic swarm intelligence. The conjunction of the social media tools with their ability to support the swarm intelligence effect will lead to the conclusion of this assignment: Social media tools can generate swarm intelligence effects which can greatly support the economy. As a disadvantage, social media tools support uncontrolled distribution of private information and intellectual property which might hold many dangers for the economy.