Perquisites of Social Media Applications in the South African Construction Industry

Different sectors of the economy have utilized the social media space and have benefited from its adoption and implementation. The recent COVID-19 pandemic that crippled the global economy also propelled the massive use of social media applications (SMAs) beyond its usual limit while forcing the birth of novel innovations in this regard. However, the construction industry (CI) still lags and continually grapples with the wave of adopting SMAs. This is largely due to the generally known nature of construction stakeholders’ and professionals’ resistance to change. Hence, this paper assesses the benefits of adopting and utilizing SMAs in the South African construction industry (SACI). The study employed the quantitative research approach using a structured questionnaire survey. The questionnaire survey was administered to registered construction professionals in the South African construction industry. Descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis were used to analyze the collected data. The findings from the study revealed 23 beneficial impacts of SMAs in the construction sector. Enhanced company marketing reach, brand awareness creation, prompt access to information, increased company visibility, and cost-effective means of advertisement as the top benefits. The study concluded that the opportunities for marketing, timely communication, awareness, information sharing, networking, and collaboration that social media applications offer have the potential to drastically reinvent the construction space. Governmental and non-governmental multi-stakeholder support and intervention are therefore recommended to ensure the numerous benefits accruable to the use of SMAs are fully maximized in the CI.