Social Media: A Tool for Open Innovation in Small and Medium Enterprises

Open innovation emphasizes that organizations possess only part of the merit required and for innovation need knowledge from outside the organization. Social media is the most important tool for accessing this knowledge. Thematic literature on the relationship between social media and open innovation has increased in recent years, but no attention has been paid to it within the country so much so that one can hardly find a Persian article on the subject. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the role of the social media as a tool for open innovation in small and medium enterprises. This study is a review in terms of its objectives, qualitative in terms of its type and desk research (secondary studies of the metasynthesis method) and based on the study of online information resources in terms of data collection. While reviewing the use of social media in open innovation, the paper presents a framework for open innovation and examines the challenges in their application. It concludes by noting that a progressive move in convergence of social media and open innovation will help the company to become a pioneer in its field of activity.