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5.5 Consumer-to-Consumer Electronic Commerce 157

experiences so others can learn. Doctors have their own pro- SECTION 5.4 REVIEW QUESTIONS
fessional social networks and other caregivers have similar
networks. Medical portals, such as WebMD, disseminate 1. Define e-health.
information about many topics, inviting the public to com- 2. Describe EMR. Why is it important?
ment. Many health care providers have a presence on 3. Describe social media and commerce in e-health.
Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks. Large num- 4. Describe the major e-health applications in brief.
bers of bloggers provide their opinions on legal, medical,
political, financial, and other related topics. One can find a lot
of advice on what to eat, how to exercise, and what prescrip- 5.5 CONSUMER-TO-CONSUMER
tion medicine pills are good for you. Of course, there is ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
extensive advertising all over the social media outlets. For a
discussion, see Forbes (2014). Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) EC, which is sometimes
called person-to-person (P2P) e-commerce, refers to elec-
tronic transactions conducted between and among individu-
Medical Devices and Patients Surveillance als. These transactions can also include intermediaries, such
as eBay (ebay.com) or social network sites that organize,
Large numbers of EC medical devices are used in the health manage, and facilitate the C2C transactions. C2C activities
industry. Some of the most well-known ones are robots that may include transactions resulting from classified ads, music
help in surgeries, sensors that monitor vital signs of patients and file sharing, career and job matching (e.g., at linkedin.
and the location of handicapped patients. Considerable use com and careerone.com.au), money lending lendingclub.
of telecommunication is evidenced in medical facilities (see com, and personal matchmaking services (e.g., match.com).
closing case in this chapter). Known as telematics, telemedi- C2C EC has given online shopping and trading a new
cine information technologies are used to diagnose and treat dimension. Although this sort of trading is prevalent in the
diseases from the distance (e.g., in rural areas that has no off-line world (newspaper classified ads, garage sales, etc.),
doctors). A futuristic area is that of the Internet of Things it was not expected to succeed online because of problems
(see Chapter 6), where many medical devices and sensors regarding trust due to the anonymity of the traders, espe-
will be combined for new medical treatments. (See healthi- cially those who are in different locations. This problem was
tanalytics.com/news.) A related area is patient monitoring solved by using a third-party payment provider (e.g., paypal.
(e.g., see Behr 2016). com) and escrow or insurance services provided by eBay and
others. One advantage of C2C EC is that it reduces the
administrative and commission costs for both buyers and
Medical Research sellers. It also gives many individuals and small business
owners a low-cost way to sell their goods and services.
Computer-assisted telecommunication provides access to Social networks have become a popular place for C2C
medical knowledge and help in collaboration among research- activities such as selling products and services via classified
ers. Such collaboration may expedite new discoveries and ads at craigslist.org or facebook.com and other social net-
save the lives of many patients. For an example of transmis- works. People are sharing or selling music, bartering, selling
sion of brain signals, see enterpriseinnovation.net/article/ virtual properties, and providing personal services.
ntu-develops-smart-chip-wireless-transmissions-brain-
signals- 1166441949.
E-Commerce: C2C Applications

Administrative Purposes Many websites facilitate C2C activities between individuals.
We cover several representative applications next.
Health care providers can save a lot of money by using
e-commerce models such as e-procurement, group purchas- C2C Auctions
ing of supplies, advertising in social networks, recruitment
with the help of LinkedIn and Facebook, and much more. A very successful example of a C2C application is participa-
For an example of medical schedules, see Zocdoc.com. tion in auctions. In dozens of countries, selling and buying on
Another example is the use of predictive analysis to predict auction sites is growing rapidly. Most auctions are managed by
which employees might get sick (Silverman 2016). Health intermediaries (the most well-known intermediary is eBay).
care facilities can use B2B to make supply chain-related Consumers can visit auctions at general sites such as ebay.com
decision on medical supplies, saving a considerable amount or auctionanything.com, or they can use specialized sites. In
of money (see Insitesoft 2015). addition, many individuals conduct their own auctions with the