Social Network Banking

Abstract

Social media is widely recognized as a challenging new communication technology in both economic and social contexts. The present article explores how banks have exploited this technology in the range of consumer retail banking services offered by 100 leading global banks on the three major social networking sites (SNS): Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Viewing social network (SN) banking as a separate delivery channel and offering a working definition of SN banking, the article shows that banks have been more cautious than other businesses in using SNS. The available services are classified on nine main dimensions: marketing, financial education and advice, information support, customer support, sales representativeness, customer engagement, online recruitment, survey and polling, and other services. The scope of these SN banking services is for the most part non-cash-based. Conclusions, implications, and recommendations are discussed and future research priorities are identified.