The Development of Virtual Communities - Essay Example

The development of Virtual Communities is influenced more by theories, business models and social factors rather than by technology. True or False? It is false that the development of virtual communities is influenced more by different theories, business models and social factors. One should believe that the role of technology is such that it drives decisions more than anything else within the fray of virtual communities. These virtual communities have made giant strides into the public and organizational domains and the reason for the same has been that the technology has made advancements within its ranks and hence the decisions that have come to the fore are due to a direct result of such technological inventions and developments. It is a fact that these technological regimes will keep on ruling the roost and continue to make changes which will in essence influence the different theories, business models and social factors and not the other way round. A lot of these changes and developments are dependent on the technological undertakings more than anything else and quite rightly so. [Renninger & Schumar, 2005] Internet has become a common name in households of today and imperatively its uses have increased drastically. It has become a major commercial as well as a consumer track for public leading them towards the electronic information resources available. A person would rather prefer to visit a web portal online than going to a nearby store to inquire about the merchandise products of his choice or interest. This invention is no more a plot for researchers to communicate and exchange information within their own selves, but also seeks access from the innumerous chunks of available data online or from the ever-accessible super computers placed at offshore sites. With the addition of newer innovations like Internet 2 and Abilene in the same field the competition to grasp the ‘cash cow’ state in business markets, technically speaking, has risen beyond any preset levels. Thus technology has a very direct and long lasting effect on the way data is being transferred amongst users worldwide, no matter whatever capacity this data has come about. Technology has had its say within the related contexts as Internet has made its mark over a period of time and the results are ostensible in front of one and all. The urge to move ahead is there and will continue to increase in the near future. In the past, the transactions and the business carried out with the Internet was just a new way for the commoner to access all the information he may so have wanted whilst sitting in his lounge room. But of late, this comfort has become a necessity without which the business seems to go nowhere except to the bottom levels. It has established itself into a quintessential way of interacting with different corporate structures and the people thus directly or indirectly involved with these enterprises and ventures, too. ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) and PBNs (Packet Backbone Networks) are such examples, which have become reality with the passage of time, thus providing an effective interacting mechanism with the business of technology and its facilitation. These technological facets have provided a tremendous amount of boom to the up and coming commercial activities as well as have helped the ISP (Internet Service Providers) business, not to forget the banks who are in total dependence with the belief of having as many ATMs at their offices (at different branches) as possible. Internet traffic is expanding at a very cutthroat speed and if measures to tackle its extension are not taken, then it would be very difficult to equip the companies of today with the new hype of the Next Generation Internet, let alone live up to the required standards of performing smooth transactions and so on in the already available networks. This is only possible if businesses have in focus their vision and mission objectives set in sight of the up and coming potential of the new technologies like Abilene and more like them and then actually putting their same system into the latter’s boots to reap benefits. The developments in the field of networking promise many benefits for the business enterprises and it would not be premature to state that only the companies who adapt themselves to the ever-changing technological needs stand some chance of competing with the ones who are in direct competition with them. The future of Internet 2 is here to stay, as long as it is replaced by one of its own kind, providing for more and better as well as efficient resources. The basic time frame for a particular technology to stay at a certain place is albeit three to five years but if proper means are allotted to the businesses to carry out their activities in close cooperation with the surge of Internet 2 and upcoming technologies, this new “Internet 2” or the Next Generation Internet (NGI) is bound to stay for more than just half a decade, unlike its predecessors, which are there for the taking. A virtual community is something with which people can interact with others, instantaneously. They are the apparent form of interaction within the World Wide Web circles and quite rightly so because they create an air of communication with all and sundry. These communities seem to notice about the customers’ attitudes through the interaction thus achieved. The people running the business are responsible for making the community look better and user-friendlier as their business is in direct proportion with the success of the respective web communities. [Levinson, 2001] Virtual communities, of late, have been represented as ones, which form the model of Internet commerce. Drawing up of critical arguments, narratives and emblematic strategies, which formed a basic unit of business texts, were also a part of virtual communities in the past. [Anderson, 1997] It was thought once that virtual communities – newsgroups, chat sessions were made for a way to seek business, numerous people from outlying and distant areas would catch the bandwagon and share their thoughts and ideas in order to interact with the business in one way or the other. Such an optimistic belief was shared among the circles of web prophets. The answer to this sanguine approach was one of a ‘yes’ and another of a ‘no’. Positive in the sense that people could post their own reviews, convey the finer points what the company does not know about the business and above all, get instant feedback from the market, the consumers, retailers and the like. It was a one-to-one relationship if seen from the constructive perspective. Negative points were summed up in the losses incurred on the company’s part whereby these message boards and the like didn’t help the business from any fiscal outlook. [Levinson, 2001] Many top companies like Microsoft, WebEx and the like have been facing barriers as concerns with the interaction between the employees who are spread in different locations. These companies were in the need to put up such a system, which could eliminate excessive and undue business travels and easily provide for interaction and more so straightforward communication between the people. Thus, collaboration software was devised and put forthwith and has been going on for a number of years ever since. The collaboration software like Usenet services and others accounted for targeted markets in the field of manufacturing, supply chain management and product development, not to forget sales and marketing. These types of software do not usually work in every kind of workplace and within every other system. Actually, its one thing fitting these into the old system and another to make people change the way they work in the business world of today and interact and communicate with everyone concerned. These services are providing the most benefits in the real time online dealings of the business and this is one factor, which takes lead over all others, at least in the business corporations [Tweney, 2002]. The first and foremost point, which has to be taken care of, is whether an virtual community is beneficial from the business standpoint or not. Every now and then, a major transformation is occurring in the world of business which entices the corporate heads to change their way of doing business, and in some instances to redo the business altogether after dumping the former one. The benefits attached with it are in profusion. These communities can provide for online shopping with delivery of the bought items made to customers’ homes. Customer services have been the forte of virtual communities whereby help and guidance along with online assistance is provided to the people who want to seek help for their products or investments. Files can be easily downloaded while interacting within the community, as Frank Cohen, the chief technology officer for Inclusion Inc. estimated that 44% of the people do it whilst being online [Nobles, 1998]. Businesses need to identify customer needs and provide them with the services they require, in exchange for income. This also suggests that online businesses must be dynаmic аnd not stаtic. Virtual communities should therefore hаve some level of interаctivity аnd exаmples include hаving chаt rooms for help desk аnd customer service to ensure thаt customers hаve quick responses. Kotler’s definition of mаrketing suggests а focus on the need to generаte аnd maintain profits аnd somewhat excludes other factors thаt play an important role in the customer’s behavior. This could also explain the number of online business start-ups thаt hаve failed, all hoping to аmаss massive profits. Online businesses hаve also changed the business environment through the introduction of new business models which have had an impact on mаrketing. For instance, by hаving an online presence some businesses hаve reduced or done away with the need for intermediaries in their supply chain. This has resulted in varying forms of online businesses, each with their own selling point. The first business model is one called the Brokerage model which is common where brokers facilitate transactions between buyers аnd sellers аnd gets а commission for this. Exаmples of such online businesses, are those thаt allow consumers to search for quotes on one website without hаving to find each business, for instance car insurance quotes аnd plane tickets use this method. [Kozinets, 1999] This model also allows online businesses in а similar industry to be listed in one location, it allows for customers to compare various aspects аnd it also allows the businesses to hаve their mаrketing controlled аnd directed from а single source. This may be more effective for online businesses operating in а competitive environment аnd it also resonates with the existence of business partnerships as а reality for online businesses. This model also highlights the use of а “middle-man” to gain access to а wider market, when most online businesses actually strive to cut this out. However, this also shows thаt even though online businesses are different to conventional businesses, similar business concepts still apply but in а different manner. It seems thаt online businesses under this model are likely to succeed especially if they do provide competitive аnd unique selling points. A virtual community can serve as a backup for providing technical support to different customers and clients. Users communicate with each other as to how different things are made to work and what possible remedies are available to remove the areas where problems can arise, as well [Carey, 2001]. Millions of computer users worldwide every year lose invaluable data and information at the hands of stolen means employed by anyone sitting on a workstation thousands of miles away from the host node. Computer privacy is one such aspect on which the researchers in the same field are working their best at. Certain ways are being devised all around the globe to ascertain the manner in which computer data can be kept secret from the people who are not authorized to seek it. Web communities bring in this peril within due consideration as it has become a serious issue that should be tackled with immediate effect. There are many issues at stake with respect to computer privacy such when talking about virtual communities as the authority to create standards regarding the usage of personal data on one’s machine as well as the right to decide how information should be manipulated and used by the consumer. No body in this whole big world owns the Internet. [Preece, 2000] It is the Internet’s power that, according to some, is due to lack of censorship, exploited completely by these virtual communities. It would not be wrong to state that if someone starts controlling the Internet, then this very censorship will be lost and there would be all kinds of problems for its users worldwide. Just about everyone can use the web communities as well as create a web page or a site that can target to each and every individual in the world. It is very vast and it has no range. When a particular faction of people communicates with each other for long periods of time, doubts start to arise whether it is a community at all. Such may even be referred as the ‘Virtual communities’ but at other times, the same are called the ‘pseudocommunities’ or any other form of group of people with which people can easily communicate and relate to. These communities form up as a result of the desire which people have in order to restore the disintegrated traditional and age old communities, which were prevalent in the work place or in business circles [Fernback & Thompson] The real problem linked to communities is that they sometimes tend to deviate from their determined path of business correspondence. The people associate themselves in other social activities, which can really hamper the corporate world of today. IRC or short for Internet Relay Chat is one such chat program which assembles people in “rooms” where they chat with each other, sharing just about any thought that goes through one’s mind and that too to anyone present in the room or channel [Kozinets, 1999]. This program is obliterating the business element from the corporate world of today where people tend to go social with each other through this. Many other programs and web-based alternatives are also available which make people turn their attention from the business perspective to one of a more relaxed and easy to go with social attitudes. The groups in no way should become any problem or a source of tension for the people concerned as this is one thing which really stands in the way of their business success and market reputation. It should always remain as an asset and hopes should be diminished as to term it as a liability for the company, as business can take a U-turn within few days [Williams, 2000]. Giving vent to one’s feelings on the virtual communities is one such problem, which is being tried to overcome on the business people’s part. Many people try to use the same in the unethical fashion either to sabotage the business and clean up the potential customers and clients or to draw some fun, just for the sake of it. Immoral practices on these systems are also a common feature, which can really shatter the customer confidence in the company. Business companies try their utmost to keep away from any and all such practices and means, which bring about bad name to the company. Another problem is that people misinterpret virtual communities as personal chat sites and start off their own chat sessions, without understanding the company’s goal and its intentions behind setting up the community in the first place [Duffy]. The bordered and limited nature of virtual communities is a blessing in disguise for the business enterprises of today. They surely have some drawbacks attached with them as well but the benefits are there for everyone to see and gain aplenty from. This bounded nature is very large scale, comprising of many cultures and one that owes us benefits beyond any means. Its perimeters are manifold and one doesn’t have to look into the possible outcomes connected with it, as these communities do provide the same in the very similar setting and that too at a steady pace [Calem, 1992]. Consumers as well as customers and clients of different businesses are using networked computers (web and all) to grind their quest of knowledge, to socialize, intermingle and communicate with each other what they need to know or transfer to others in the world of today’s fast heading business situation. Marketers are thriving in on the opportunities they are getting from the induction of these web based communities and bringing about changes to their products and brands in the light of different views and opinions from the customers and clients as they are the ones for whom the business is running and eventually they are its recipients. 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