INFORMATION SYSTEM.
1 | Office | Faculty | Department
Week 6
Social Computing
Fundamentals of Business Information Systems
2 | Office | Faculty | Department
Why are we doing this?
The concepts and activities in the this week are designed to help you successfully complete
Assessment Tasks 1, 2 and 3.
1. By completing the activities in this week, you should be able to:
2. Describe major web 2.0 applications.
3. Describe the benefits and risks of social commerce to companies.
4. Identify the methods used for shopping socially.
5. Discuss innovative ways to use social networking sites for advertising and market research.
6. Describe how social computing improves customer service.
7. Discuss different ways in which human resource managers make use of social computing.
8. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of crowdsourcing to organisations
3 | Office | Faculty | Department
9. Apply additional formatting and charting techniques in Excel
Essential Question
• How is social computing empowering individuals?
Source: www.promptcloud.com
What is Social Computing?
4 | Office | Faculty | Department
• Humans orient their behavior around other members of their community.
• As a result, people are sensitive to the behavior of those around them.
• Many of our decisions are influenced by our social context.
What is Social Computing?
5 | Office | Faculty | Department
Social computing is a type of IT that combines social behavior and
information systems, to create a digital social context that has value.
Therefore social computing concentrates on improving collaboration and interaction among people through user-generated content.
What is Social Computing?
6 | Office | Faculty | Department
• Social information is not anonymous.
• Linked to particular individuals who are in turn linked to their networks.
• Users rather than organisations, produce, control, use and manage content via interactive communication and collaboration.
• Employees and customers are empowered by their ability to use social computing to organize themselves.
What is Social Computing?
7 | Office | Faculty | Department
• Social computing can influence those in power to listen to the issues and concerns of ordinary people.
• Read example on page 252 of your textbook. 1. What are the forces behind social computing?
2. What are the types technology or applications help social computing?
8 | Office | Faculty | Department
What is the difference between Web 1.0 and Web
2.0?
Web 1.0 – First Generation of the Web (1990) • Ability to create websites
• Commercialisation of the Web
• Minimal user interaction with Web 1.0 sites
• Passive reception of information
9 | Office | Faculty | Department
What is the difference between Web 1.0 and Web
2.0?
Web 2.0 • A loose collection of information technologies, applications, and the websites that
use them
• Provides enriched user experience
• A new digital ecosystem that promotes creativity, connectivity, collaboration,
convergence, and community
10 | Office | Faculty | Department
Web 2.0 & Web 2.0 Applications
Web 1.0
• Web pages connected by hyperlinks
• User views static web pages
Web 2.0
• A loose collection of IT apps and websites that use them
• Users interact, collaborate,
create…
11 | Office | Faculty | Department
Web 2.0
Applications
Tagging – A keyword is used
to describe a piece of
information in multiple,
overlapping associations
rather than in rigid categories
RSS - Really Simple Syndication.
Subscribers receive customised
information when they want it,
Blogs (or weblogs) - Personal
websites, open to the public.
Microblogging - A form of blogging
using short messages, image, or
video Example: www.twitter.com
12 | Office | Faculty | Department
without having to surf thousands of
websites
Wiki - A website
made up entirely of
content posted by
users Promotes
collaboration
Example:
www.wikipedia.org
Social networking websites A
website that supports activities for
maintaining social networks – e.g.
Business-oriented social network
www.linkedin.com
Enterprise social networks
Corporate social networks to
facilitate employee communication
and interaction
– e.g. IBM’s Social Blue
Mashup
A website that takes content from
other websites and mixes them
Web 2.0 Applications
13 | Office | Faculty | Department
together to create a new kind of
content - list:
www.programmableweb.com
Social computing in business
• Social Commerce
• The delivery of electronic commerce activities and transactions through social computing
• Supports social interactions and user contributions
• What is electronic commerce?
14 | Office | Faculty | Department
Figure 8.5
15 | Office | Faculty | Department
Social computing in business Benefits to
customers
Better and faster
vendor responses
to complaints
Customers assist
other customers
Customers’
expectations can
be met more fully &
quickly
Customers can
easily search, link,
chat & buy
Benefits to businesses
Test new products and ideas
quickly & inexpensively
Learn a lot about customers and
their experiences
Identify problems quickly and
alleviate customer anger
Increases sales with positive
customer feedback
Better & cheap marketing
campaign and brand awareness
through usergenerated content
& viral marketing
Risks to businesses
Negative, unedited,
possibly invalid,
unethical reviews
Potential bias content
(2080 rule)
Information security
concerns
Invasion of privacy
Violation of intellectual and
copyright
Figure 8.5
16 | Office | Faculty | Department
Social shopping
A type of e-commerce using social networking tools to enhance the shopping experience
Ways of social shopping:
• Ratings, reviews, and recommendations to guide purchases, e.g.. www.epinions.com, www.shopsocially.com
• Group shopping - Major discounts offered for a short time. e.g.. www.groupon.com.au
• Shopping communities and clubs - Offer discounts for members for limited time without diminishing a brand’s image. e.g.. www.ruelala.com
• Social marketplaces and direct sales - Online intermediaries using social networks for buying and selling products and services. e.g.. www.craigslist.com.au
• Peer-to-peer shopping, e.g.. www.ebay.com
17 | Office | Faculty | Department
Social marketing
• Social advertising
• Influence consumers by peer pressure, friend recommendations, likes, etc.
• Social apps
• Branded online applications that support social interactions and user contributions - e.g.. Nike+ app,
• Viral marketing (word of mouth) - e.g. Twitter account @capitalwines
• Market research
• The open nature of social networking allows merchants to understand, identify, and target potential customers at zero or low cost
• Ways of social market research:
• Conversational marketing: use blogs, wikis, online forums, and social networking sites to collect feedback from customers
• Social intelligence: a process of monitoring, collecting, and analysing socially generated data to support strategic decisions
18 | Office | Faculty | Department
• How do companies use social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter for market research?
Social computing in human
resource management
Recruiting • Recruiters scan online social networks, blogs, etc. to find information about potential
employees
• Job seekers are more visible to recruiters if they are online and active
Training • Several companies use virtual worlds for training purposes
• Example: www.secondlife.com
• Cisco uses its virtual campus in Second Life for product training and executive briefings
• IBM runs management and customer interaction training sessions in Second Life
19 | Office | Faculty | Department
Social computing in business:
customer relationship management
• Social computing helps
businesses improve customer
service, maintain loyal relationships
and track business opportunities
• Companies are aware of the
effects of negative comments posted
by social network members
• Opportunity to involve customers
proactively to reduce problems
through improved customer service
20 | Office | Faculty | Department
Customer reports produced by Salesforce.com
Crowdsourcing
• Taking a job traditionally performed by an employee or a consultant and
outsourcing it to an undefined group of people in the form of an open call
• Assumption: A large number of enthusiasts can outperform a small group
of experienced professionals
• Let freelancers, volunteers, customers, and low-paid amateurs solve
problems, innovate, and get work done
• Examples: www.innocentive.com; www.istockphoto.com
• What are the benefits and risks of crowd sourcing?
21 | Office | Faculty | Department
Chapter Summary
This chapter focused on • The emergence and impact of Web 2.0 technology and websites
• The application and benefits of social computing in the areas of business, shopping,
marketing, CRM, and HRM as well as the associated risks
• The challenges and benefits to be derived from crowdsourcing to an organisation