1. Visit http://yahoo.com and http://facebook.com as examples of online communities.
a) What is meant by an online community and how is it important for e-commerce?
a) What is meant by an online community and how is it important for e-commerce?
An online community is a virtual community that exists online whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership rituals (Amy Jo Kim, 2000) - (source- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_community). An online community can be an online information source available to public where anyone can post content, comment, flag as inappropriate or / and rate contents (like Wikipedia).
The online community can also be private where users can choose who can view and interact with their content (eg. http://facebook.com).
The online communities are a great tool for e-commerce applications to market themselves since online communities can provide lot of information about a user. For example, in facebook.com there is an application that suggests a user to send gift to a user he is added to on his / her birthday.
b) Is there a common thread and a local community sense in action?
The online community can also be private where users can choose who can view and interact with their content (eg. http://facebook.com).
The online communities are a great tool for e-commerce applications to market themselves since online communities can provide lot of information about a user. For example, in facebook.com there is an application that suggests a user to send gift to a user he is added to on his / her birthday.
b) Is there a common thread and a local community sense in action?
FaceBook is a social networking site that needs users to sign up and add other users before they can share content with. Mostly, the content are personal and are not open to public. This means content on FaceBook is usually not searchable on the search engines. FaceBook offers an open API through which applications and advertisements can be created that can be customised to be user specific. FaceBook offers users to create or join groups through which they can connect to people with similar interests.
On the other hand, yahoo started as a search engine and has slowly developed various tools including emails, chatting software (Yahoo messenger), news site, etc. Yahoo has created local community sites (portal) for various countries. Yahoo makes money by providing advertisements through it's various products.
2. Visit the famous online store front at http;//www.amazon.com
a) Why has it been a successful site? How does the purchase of a book work?
From a website's perspective, Amazon offers clear information on the products they sell. Amazon offers search functionality through which users can search for products and sort by various options (including bestselling, price, date, etc).
To purchase a book, one must find the book, choose quantity and click on "Add to Cart". Then he / she can click "Proceed to checkout" and either log in or create an account before the user can place order. (Various details like name, email and shipping address is collected on the process).
b) Are there any secure transactions not involving money?
Yes, secure transactions are involved in creating accounts, logins.
3. What happens with new models emerging such as price comparison sites?
Price comparison sites are getting common and is going to increase competition between e-commerce and physical stores. The stores need to react quickly and watch over the competitors with the price deals since, otherwise, they could quite easily lose customers to competitors who offer better prices.
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