Can technological development in terms of social media be productive for leadership?

The effects of social media usage in a professional context, specifically the effects on social media usage in relation to leadership have been studied in order to determine weather or not usage can be productive for leadership in general. The study concludes that there are several benefits as well as drawbacks to leadership in using social media, but has yet to conclude weather productive or not. This study gives an overview of a relatively unexplored subject. Leadership in terms of leader, communication and group dynamics have been defined and explained in accordance with existing literature. A brief review of computer and Internet history attempts to explain the formation and evolution of social media. Risks in terms of risks related to leadership and risks related to IT-security are taken into consideration and have been briefly explained. This together with some examples of social media usage in companies today forms a background on which the problem is built. The problem states that a large portion of today's workforce are using social media, with or without leader's consent and/or knowledge. How is a leader suppose to relate to that fact and is it even necessary to relate to social media at all as a leader? The above problem has been the basis for a number of interview questions which have been asked to five professional leaders in five different organizations. The answers in the interviews and the literature background have been the resource of the conclusions and the analysis in this study and are intended as a source to further research