Liangfei Qiu details strategic future of corporate social media in new book

Corporate social media is often viewed simply as a channel for communication, but its strategic potential runs far deeper. Liangfei Qiu, PricewaterhouseCoopers Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management and University Research Foundation Professor at the Warrington College of Business, presents a new way to understand how organizations can use social media data to get a competitive edge in his recently published book, AI-Empowered Corporate Social Media: Exploring Internal and External Strategy. Artificial intelligence is reshaping how value is created from corporate social media, he reveals, and readers can better understand why it matters.

Read on to learn about Qiu’s new book and how business leaders, researchers and students can get ahead.

Q: What are the key points of your book?

Qiu: The book advances three central ideas. First, corporate social media should be understood as a strategic system, not merely a communication tool, serving both external affairs (customer engagement, marketing, sales forecasting) and internal affairs (knowledge sharing, collaboration, and performance feedback). Second, the rise of artificial intelligence fundamentally reshapes how value is created from social media, shifting firms from intuition-based decisions to data-driven, algorithmic strategies. Third, the book integrates theory, empirical evidence, and AI methodologies to show how firms can systematically leverage social media data to gain a sustainable competitive advantage.

Q: Who can benefit from reading this book?

Qiu: This book is written for multiple audiences. Business leaders and managers can use it as a strategic guide for designing AI-enabled social media initiatives. Researchers and doctoral students will find a coherent framework and rich empirical examples that connect social media, AI, and organizational strategy. MBA and undergraduate students can use the book to understand how digital platforms reshape competition, collaboration, and decision-making in modern organizations.

Q: Why is this book useful for readers?

Qiu: The book is useful because it bridges the gap between abstract AI concepts and real organizational practice. Rather than treating AI as a black box, it explains how specific analytical approaches, such as machine learning and multimodal deep learning, can be applied to real corporate social media problems. Readers come away not only understanding why corporate social media matters, but also how to use it responsibly and effectively.

Q: With questions surrounding the potential for the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and corporate social media on the rise, how does your book offer clarity?

Qiu: The book offers clarity by providing a unifying framework that links AI capabilities to concrete managerial objectives. It shows how AI enhances social media’s ability to predict trends, reduce uncertainty, detect manipulation, and scale knowledge sharing inside organizations. By distinguishing clearly between internal and external applications, the book helps readers see where AI adds value, where risks arise, and how strategic alignment, not hype, determines outcomes.

Q: Which findings from your book excite you the most?

Qiu: I am particularly excited by findings showing how AI-driven analysis of social media data can predict product success and sales trends before they materialize in the market. Equally exciting are insights on the internal side: corporate social media can significantly improve knowledge sharing and feedback loops, but only when designed carefully. These findings challenge the common belief that social media benefits are automatic and instead show that design choices matter greatly.

Q: Tell us about your writing process.

Qiu: The writing process was iterative and reflective. Much of the content grew out of over a decade of research projects, classroom discussions, and collaborations with industry partners. I often began with a research insight, connected it to a historical or organizational analogy, and then translated it into broader lessons for readers. Writing the book was not just about summarizing results, but about telling a coherent story of how social influence, technology, and strategy intersect in the AI era.

Q: In the preface of your book, you mention that this book serves as a reflection of your academic journey. Tell us briefly about that journey, and what publishing this book means for you.

Qiu: My academic journey has been shaped by exceptional mentors, collaborators, and students across multiple institutions and countries. I was trained to see technology not as an isolated artifact, but as a force that reshapes organizations and society. Publishing this book represents a moment of synthesis: it brings together my research on social media, platforms, and artificial intelligence into a single, coherent narrative. Several chapters of the book are grounded in research articles developed in close collaboration with my colleagues at the Warrington College of Business, including Hsing Kenneth Cheng, Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay, Praveen Pathak, Jingchuan Pu, Shu He, Mahendrarajah Nimalendran, and many others, whose insights and intellectual generosity greatly shaped this work. Personally, the book is also an expression of gratitude to those who guided me along this journey and a way to contribute knowledge as a public good.

Q: How has your book impacted your work at the Warrington College of Business?

Qiu: The book has directly influenced my teaching and research at the Warrington College of Business. It provides a structured way to introduce students to AI-enabled digital strategy, and it has helped shape new course content on social media analytics and AI. Research-wise, it has clarified a long-term agenda focused on how organizations can responsibly and strategically deploy AI-driven social technologies in both internal and external contexts.