Page 73 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

2.6 Virtual Communities and Social Networks 51

is limited to people who meet certain requirements (e.g., English language site geared toward the Hispanic commu-
work for a particular employer or work in a particular profes- nity. Additionally, previously popular communication and
sion). Private communities may be internal (e.g., only community services have begun implementing social net-
employees can be members) or external (for customers and working features. For example, the Chinese instant messag-
suppliers). ing service qq.com became one of the largest social
networking services in the world once it added profiles and
Classification Categories made friends visible to one another. Finally, Cyworld con-
Another option is to classify the members as traders, play- quered the Korean market by adding “buddies.”
ers, just friends, enthusiasts, or friends in need. A more
common classification recognizes six types of Internet com- Representative Capabilities and Services Provided
munities: (1) transaction, (2) purpose or interest, (3) rela- by Social Network Sites
tions or practices, (4) fantasy, (5) social networks, and (6)
virtual worlds. Social network sites provide many capabilities and services
The most popular type of virtual community today is the such as:
social network service, the subject of our next section.

• Users can construct a Web page where they present
Social Network Service Sites
their profile to the public.
• Users can create a circle of friends who are linked
A social network is a virtual community whose members
together.
interact, share, and exhibit social behaviors. They are hosted • The site provides discussion forums (by subgroup,
by social network sites (or services).
by topic).
• Photo, video, and document viewing and sharing
A Definition and Basic Information
(streaming videos, user-supplied videos) are
supported.
As you may recall, in Chapter 1 we defined a social network
• Wikis can be used to jointly create documents.
(or service) site as a Web-based company, such as Facebook, • Blogs can be used for discussion, dissemination of
that provides free Web space and tools for its community
information, and much more.
members to build profiles, interact, share, connect, and cre- • These sites offer community e-mail and instant
ate and publish content.
messaging (IM) capabilities.
A preliminary list of the characteristics and capabilities of
social network sites (SNAs) was provided in Section 1.3 of • Experts can be made available to answer member
queries.
Chapter 1. More capabilities are provided in this section. • Consumers can rate and comment on products and
SNAs are also known as social networks and they appear
services.
in a variety of forms; the most well-known, mostly social- • Online voting may be available to poll member
oriented network is Facebook. LinkedIn is a business-
opinions.
oriented network.
• The site may provide an e-newsletter.
• The site supports conference (group) chatting, com-
A Global Phenomenon
bined with document and image sharing.
• Message and bulletin board services are available
Although Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, and other for posting information to groups and individuals
social networks attract the majority of media attention in the
on the website.
United States, they also have many members in other coun- • The site provides storage for content, including
tries. Other country-based social network sites are proliferat-
photos, videos, and music.
ing and growing in popularity worldwide. For example, • Users can bookmark self-created content.
renren.com, weixin.qq.com, and us.weibo.com are large
• Users can find other networks, friends, or topics of
communities in China; mixi.jp has been widely adopted in interest.
Japan; and vk.com in Europe (primarily in Russia). Dutch
users have embraced hyvesgames.nl; and Nasza Klasa (nk.
pl) has captured Poland. Hi5.com, a social network (now
part of Tagged), has been popular in Latin America, the These capabilities can make social networks user-
USA, South America, and Europe. Migente.com is an friendly.