1. Introduction
Digital media platforms have revolutionized how people communicate with each other by excluding socioeconomic, politics, civil disobedience, and connectivity barriers. Furthermore, digital media have brought about rapid changes in the workplace by providing new opportunities [
1,
2,
3,
4]. In the last decade, digital platforms have allowed organizations to communicate globally, provide customer service, gain exposure and new customers, market products, network, recruit employees, and increase revenues [
5]. Digital media increase access to information and human interactivity [
6,
7].
Social technologies, as a part of digital media, give new opportunities for business support, and have changed the way employees and business owners communicate. These technologies also provide customer service, support gaining exposure and creating awareness about products or companies, acquiring new customers, looking for a new market or brand products and businesses, networking and building relationships or recruitment process of employees. In recent years, researchers have begun to focus on social network service-related issues [
8,
9,
10,
11]. Facebook, LinkedIn, and other digital platforms have changed everyday life and, more recently, the business environment.
In Taiwan, nearly seven million people are regular social media users [
12]. Social media are now a cornerstone of everyday life [
13]. Digital media give unique features for connecting with others, which could be beneficial for learning opportunities [
14], and it can support the empowerment effects. Thus digital platforms support the empowerment of the user; however, it also brings the paradox alignment of freedom and control [
15].
The gender gap, female empowerment, and digital media have been widely studied [
16,
17,
18,
19,
20], yet there is little data on the role of social technologies to empower women and drive economic equality, to eliminate the gender gap of earnings.
Digital technologies have become more and more accessible as tangible tolls for women to overcome inequalities [
3,
4,
19]. The usage of social media in different studies underline the high correlation with gender gaps in many different areas of life among all nations [
2]. Thus it is essential to investigate the role of social network platforms in business to assess the opportunities for empowerment.
This study—part of an ongoing global study—investigated how social technologies are used in the workplace and whether benefits were experienced with the idea of empowerment for women worldwide. Survey results are revealed regarding the use of technology, the purposes for which social technologies are used, and whether women and men in Taiwan experienced benefits.
The paper aims to check the role of digital media in creating peoples’ empowerment and equality. Two research questions are addressed:
- (1)
Is there a difference in the results for women versus men?
- (2)
Can social technology platforms provide tools for empowerment?
In the first part of the study concern, the literature review related to the gender gap, empowerment, and digital media is presented. Next, the research results are described. In the end, the conclusions, limitations of the study, and future directions are addressed.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, J.H.N. and J.P.; methodology, M.M.-S.; validation and data collection, T.-R.L.; formal analysis, M.M.-S.; writing—original draft preparation, J.H.N., J.P., and M.M.-S.; writing—review and editing, J.H.N., J.P., M.M.-S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript
Funding
This research received no external funding.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all the responders who participated in this study.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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