[8] 2002 e-business-strategies-for-virtual-organizations

e-Business Strategies for Virtual Organizations
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special interest groups that are subsets of the Internet community
at large. This latter finding, and the public perceptions of
the value of such communication, is driving the development of
community groups on the Internet today.
Online communities are groups of businesses, customers, or
employees with common interests interacting via the Internet.
They take many forms, but generally fall into three classifications:
business-to-business, B2B, business-to-customer, B2C and
employee-to-employee, E2E. These will have different business
objectives and member compositions and may include some or
all of the four types of programmes identified below:
� member-generated content – profiles, home pages, product
ratings and reviews;
� member-to-member interaction – discussion forums, technical
forums, FAQs and Q&A forums;
� events – guest events, expert seminars, virtual meetings/trade
shows;
� outreach – newsletters, volunteer/leader programmes, polls/
surveys.
In almost every case, the more participation that occurs the
greater the value for both the community members and creators
and this frequently results in economic results for the community
creator.
In creating an online community, the first priority is to ask ‘Who
will use it?’ Some users are strictly on the hunt for facts. They
have no particular problem to present to a group and may not
take an active part in discussions. Others are interested problem
solvers who want to offer help based on their expertise or
findings. Some users are team players who find it enjoyable to
assume a leadership role and work toward building the
community. Others simply enjoy taking part in a discussion. A
successful community meets the needs of those it attracts.
Williams and Cothrel (2000) identify three kinds of activities
which appear critical to a community’s continued viability:
� member development;
� asset management; and
� community relations.
Keeping track of a community is very important: if discussion
threads lose their appeal, if visitors fall away, it is important to
recognize this early on and to take steps to remedy it. Nothing
is as so dispiriting as an empty chat room, or a discussion topic