Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Intellectual ...

Aurilla Aurelie Bechina and Eli Hustad
address <strong>the</strong> concerns <strong>of</strong> potential customers expressed during <strong>the</strong> interviews such as risks, security,
privacy and trust.
Quality <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> available information
The big complain expressed by <strong>the</strong> respondents is not anymore about <strong>the</strong> lack <strong>of</strong> information but
ra<strong>the</strong>r about <strong>the</strong> abundance <strong>of</strong> it. There was a general consensus amongst <strong>the</strong> participants to agree
that because <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fierce competition between vendors, <strong>the</strong>y can find in <strong>the</strong> market similar product
with a description product quite confusing and claiming that <strong>the</strong> product is <strong>the</strong> best. Facing <strong>the</strong>
tremendous amount <strong>of</strong> knowledge, most <strong>of</strong> customers are looking for <strong>the</strong> information that will help
<strong>the</strong>m to make <strong>the</strong>ir purchasing decision and <strong>the</strong>y want reliable information. Therefore, being able to
assess <strong>the</strong> quality <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> information is crucial for <strong>the</strong> customers. This is quite <strong>of</strong>ten done by
considering <strong>the</strong> reliability <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sources generating <strong>the</strong> contents.
Hence, <strong>the</strong>re is a need to provide some kind <strong>of</strong> mechanism control <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> information generated by
users that goes in contradiction with <strong>the</strong> concept <strong>of</strong> free expression.
User’s background
Some respondents admitted that sometimes, <strong>the</strong>y might have a naïve approach in just following <strong>the</strong>
comments or advices expressed by some members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> community or on <strong>the</strong> website <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
vendors. The lack <strong>of</strong> knowledge or self-confidence could push <strong>the</strong> users to trust <strong>the</strong> comments and
<strong>the</strong>refore <strong>the</strong> personality is a factor to consider.
Personality: Within <strong>the</strong> context <strong>of</strong> different collective Intelligence forms, <strong>the</strong>re is a potential lack <strong>of</strong>
personnel control. The consumer opinion can be influenced by too many different sources. Therefore,
some human aspects such as personality <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> consumer should be considered. For example, selfconfidence
lack and <strong>the</strong> need to rely too much on <strong>the</strong> collective knowledge could imply that <strong>the</strong> user
might take a wrong purchasing decision. Huitt has identified several aspects <strong>of</strong> personality important
for decision making and problem solving. They include for instance extravert, Introvert, intuitive,
feeling, sensing and so forth (Huitt, 1992).
The participants were asked to wish degrees <strong>the</strong>y are contributing to enrich <strong>the</strong> vendors website <strong>of</strong>
social s<strong>of</strong>tware with contents. Motivation was essential for most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> respondents.
Motivations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> consumers can take various and diverse. Some people said that <strong>the</strong>y like to use
<strong>the</strong> social tools in order to share good deals with o<strong>the</strong>rs consumers. Therefore, when <strong>the</strong>y see
immediate benefits or usefulness <strong>the</strong>y will likely use <strong>the</strong> collective knowledge before making a
purchase. Contributions to <strong>the</strong> content can be ei<strong>the</strong>r because <strong>the</strong>y feel belonging to a community or
because <strong>the</strong>y are unhappy with a product thus want to warm o<strong>the</strong>rs. Time is a needed requirement for
both collecting enough information or for content contribution. Rewards can boost contribution to
content generation. Some websites <strong>of</strong>fer some money if <strong>the</strong>ir customers comment about a product
<strong>the</strong>y bought.
Law and regulations
With <strong>the</strong> growing recognition that solely technologies have not fully delivered <strong>the</strong>ir promises to
improve customer relationships, vendors started to investigate new ways to retain <strong>the</strong>ir customers or
invite new ones to visit <strong>the</strong>ir website (Rigby & Bilodeau, 2007). Hence, several websites provide a
discussion Forum allowing people to share knowledge. In consequence, <strong>the</strong>re is an important issue
related to <strong>the</strong> liability. Thus, <strong>the</strong> question <strong>of</strong> responsibilities is worth to be raised. What if <strong>the</strong> collected
information would lead to a purchasing decision that revels to be disastrous for <strong>the</strong> consumer? For
example, The French independent public authority tasked with investor protection is considering some
regulation within <strong>the</strong> forum <strong>of</strong> investors. It claims that investment advices were given by people with a
dishonest agenda.
5. Conclusion
During <strong>the</strong> past few years, <strong>the</strong>re has been a growing interest in social s<strong>of</strong>tware under <strong>the</strong> name <strong>of</strong>
Web2.0 for both <strong>the</strong> business world and <strong>the</strong> academic communities. Web2.0 represents <strong>the</strong> revolution
that is happening since more and more users are transforming from passive consumers status to
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