Unstructured Data Management Model for Online Businesses in the New Normal Era

This research aims to study unstructured data management for online businesses and to develop an unstructured data management model for online businesses in the new normal era. This mixed-methods study surveyed unstructured data management practices among 400 social media users from platforms such as Facebook, Line, and Instagram, as well as five social media system administrators. The findings revealed that most social media users preferred storing images on devices used for viewing, searching, and purchasing products. Video and text data were primarily stored on devices such as external hard disks, thumb drives, and memory cards, whereas URLs were commonly stored on devices used for browsing and purchasing, similar to images. Regarding sharing practices, images were predominantly shared privately, similar to text data. In contrast, videos were frequently shared across platforms—for instance, from Facebook to Line. Based on these results, an effective unstructured data management model for online businesses in the new normal era was developed by categorizing storage and sharing practices aligned with observed user behaviors.