Page 259 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

244 8 Social Enterprise and Other Social Commerce Topics

• P&G of Western Europe conducts annual virtual recruit- Entertainment and Social Networks
ing conferences using INXPO platform. The event is
successful and it is used as a model for other European A large number of social networks are fully or partially dedi-
companies. The state of Michigan periodically conducts cated to entertainment. Well-known examples in 2016 are
virtual career fairs where job seekers and recruiters meet Vimeo, Netflix, and MySpace. MySpace has a licensing agree-
online. The latest one was held in November 2015. For ment with Sony BMG and other large media companies that
details, see michiganvirtualcareerfair.com. gives its members free access to streaming videos, music, and
other entertainment. The following are representative exam-
Training Employees ples of the use of Web 2.0 applications for entertainment.

Several companies use enterprise social networking, for train- Mixi
ing purposes. Black and Decker is using user- generated videos
posted on YouTube to help users of its products. These videos In Japan, Mixi, Inc. (mixi.com) is a highly visited social net-
help reduce training time. working service even though users must be invited to join.
Mixi’s goal is to allow users to build friendships with other
users who share common interests. The site has about 27
SECTION 8.4 REVIEW QUESTIONS million members and over 1 million small communities of
friends and interests. Mixi is going global, while Facebook is
1. List the benefits of social networking to job seekers. overtaking it in Japan.
2. List the benefits to corporate recruiters.
3. What special services are provided by social networks Last.fm
such as LinkedIn?
4. Describe virtual job fairs. Last.fm (last.fm) is not just an Internet radio station. It is
considered an online music catalog with free music stream-
ing, videos, lyrics, etc. It also recommends music to its
8.5 SOCIAL ENTERTAINMENT listeners. Musical profiles are constructed when users listen
to a personal music collection with a Last.fm plug-in or
The rich media capabilities of Web 2.0 technologies; the when they listen to the Last.fm Internet radio service. As of
ability to engage millions of people who congregate in 2016, regular membership is free; premium membership is
social networks and who are interested in online entertain- $3 per month. The site, which operates in 12 major languages
ment; the availability of innovative social media tools; and (as of 2013), won the Digital Music Award for Best Music
the creative and collaborative nature of Web 2.0 all facilitate Community Site in 2006.
social entertainment (e.g., Gangnam Style was YouTube’s
most watched video in 2012 and 2013). Web 2.0 tools also Pandora
are aiding in the proliferation of on-demand entertainment.
The most well known entertainment application is stream- Similar to Last.fm, Pandora (pandora.com) is a site for
ing music (e.g., iTunes; apple.com/itunes). Also popular music lovers. It mostly acts as a personal radio. The site is
are Spotify, Pandora, and Google’s All Access (play.google. based on user-centered music recommendations. Pandora
com/about/music). The trend today is to stream music on- can create a personalized “radio station” based on a user’s
demand usually for free, which gives listeners the ability to search for a particular artist, song, or genre.
enjoy whatever they want, whenever they want. Jurgensen
(2014) provides a comprehensive coverage of digital music Web Series and Streaming Movies
today and tomorrow, including information about providers
and about players. Finally, Facebook and Twitter entered Web series are similar to episodic series on TV (e.g., soap
this area. This section describes some of the entertainment- operas). The number of Web series is increasing, and some
centered social networks, as well as other issues related to are already available on DVD. Examples include Hemlock
entertainment in social commerce. Note that a major issue Grove, House of Cards, and Johnny Dynamo. For more about
with such social networks is copyright violations, a topic Web series and other examples, see webserieschannel.com/
we discuss in detail in Online Chapter 12. web-series-101.