A Newer Identity Over the Internet - Research Paper Example

Table of Contents Introduction 2 The Real Story 2 Motivation and Online Communities 3 Groups and Online Communities 6 The Online Experiment 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Solomon, M.R., Dann, S., Dann, S. & Russell-Bennett, R. 2007. Consumer behaviour: Buying, having and being. Sydney: Pearson/Prentice Hall. 13 Bibliography 14 Introduction Online communities have become so popular in today’s world that 2 out of every 3 people of the global online population visit online communities – including social networks and blogs. According to a recent Neilson report, 3 out of 10 people visit facebook – the world’s most visited social network site. Other snippets of interesting information is also to be found – for example, over 2 million users now access these networking sites through their mobiles. The internet has been able to create an online domain for the common man – a separate space for him to socialize, innovate and create. This lowering of barriers has resulted in the spawning of communes over the net. Groups of people have started to come together and share information like never before (Grossman L., Sep 3, 2007). This report aims to find the reason for which people adopt a newer identity over the internet, why it is a better proposition for the producers to get more interactive with the consumers and what managerial learning can be derived from such an exercise. A survey was done to come up with some observations – it involved randomly selecting 25 respondents from an online community and asking them the reasons for which they joined the community. The Real Story One of the biggest achievements of the present decade is the ease that it has brought about in communication – you can watch your ten day old niece, playing with her legs in faraway Canberra through video chatting facilities, shop online through eBay, order that vintage Pink Floyd LP from a firm in Naples, book tickets for the weekend opera from the opera company’s own website – the world is the global village, finally! Now, in addition to these accomplishments of the previous decade, the net has given us the option of living a new life, meet new friends, honour multiple appointments, save a kid in Africa and a dying species of Koala in Australia. Welcome to the new World Wide Web. Online communities rule the roost here. “Communities are about people and their interactions with each other. Thus communication is the heart of online communities” (Bowes J., n.d.). True, the communities have helped us to decide whether the latest Nicole Kidman flick is at all watchable or not – from the reviews we have seen from the facebook blog, or learnt new cheat codes of the latest Call of Duty game from the orkut community – but what is the contribution of these communities to the learning process of an individual? Companies or corporate organisations have understood this much earlier it seems. One leading greeting card company has pioneered the concept of a feedback oriented endeavor – one can actually converse with the company and it reverts back. One is also encouraged to upload photographs and talk about oneself in this community – in short, be oneself. This helps the company to learn – to know the consumers better so as to come up with better offerings. Traditional tools like focus groups and surveys are not only costlier; they also take away the vital element of interaction that these communities provide with consumers. Considering that the previous company consumers suggested cards for newer occasions and also spoke of the price that they are likely to pay for such an offer. This in turn has saved the company a lot of time and money that it would have otherwise spent in market research and pricing exercises. Motivation and Online Communities The reasons for which a person is motivated to form, join, or even idolize an online community is varied. A person may have three needs at a particular time - Biogenic Needs, Psychogenic Needs or Motive. Needs which arise from a psychological state of unease such as thirst, hunger or discomfort is labeled as Biogenic Needs. Also known as innate needs, these are vital for the survival of an individual. Psychogenic Needs are more acquired in nature – they include the need for social belongingness, recognition and self-esteem (Solomon, M.R., Dann, S., Dann, S. & Russell-Bennett, R. 2007). Motive, on the other hand, is an intensified need. One can argue that the reason(s) for which people are moving in numbers to the online communities are more of an acquired nature. The internet has been successful in giving acceptance, love, and self-fulfillment as achievements to separate individuals. Every need brings along an appropriate and distinct goal into the limelight. The specific goals are often interdependent on specific variables like the person’s age, gender, experience, prevailing cultural values and norms, and the degree to which the goal is accessible in the present social setup (Farrior M., August 2005). Social communities often help the individual to set up specific goals for themselves which might not have been possible for them to set for themselves in the real world. A person sets a goal for losing a few pounds, which he is unable to accomplish in real life. However the internet provides him with the option of being the real ‘Marlboro Man’ – lean, rugged and handsome. So it, in turn, helps him to achieve the goal of becoming accepted due to bringing up a new identity for him (Jonathan L., 2002). One of the questions asked in the survey was whether the respondents, in real life have ever opposed anyone smoking in front of them. A sizeable percentage of them said that they have not. However it was the same set of people who later turned out to be very vocal about the issue of smoking in the public space on the internet. So the web offers a person something which the real world could not – an avenue for voicing his own concern, and getting appreciated for that. Moreover, the failure to achieve a goal often results in frustration, to which a person reacts in two distinct ways ‘fight’ or ‘flight’. They can either adopt a new goal as a substitute or devise a mechanism to get around the obstacle which hinders their goal attainment. This is the ‘fight’ strategy. The possibilities that the net has opened up on this front is endless. Since there is virtually no limit to the extent to which a person can develop online relationships or affiliations, there is no obstruction towards the attainment of any goal. However where the Internet excels is the ‘flight’. This is primarily a situation where a person, in order to protect their self-esteem, adopts a defensive mechanism. The Internet may just have one-way traffic if one wants it to be – one may choose to keep quiet and stop interacting as soon as one finds her standards are not being met in the interactions. And therein lays the possibilities of a new identity, always! (Sciffman L. G. & Kanuk L. L., 2007) It is however not easy to infer motives from consumer behavior. One may have a very different need in mind, but may select the same goal as someone else does, and vice versa. It is here that some reference may be drawn to the Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Maslow discusses about five different levels of needs – biological and Psychological needs, Safety needs, Belongingness and Love needs, Esteem needs and finally, Self–Actualization needs. He argued that the needs are hierarchically fulfilled – it goes from bottom to top. (Source: http://www.sinclair.edu/academics/lhs/departments/nsg/pub/maselowover.pdf) The online world can fulfill almost each and every need of an individual – except perhaps the basic ones like food and shelter. And more over one may have different stages of fulfillment across different environment that s/he maintains – be a member of an anti-war group in facebook, a dating community in Orkut, a power-achievers forum in Linkedin- the list will go on and on. Groups and Online Communities Interaction and the possibilities of ‘many to many’ communication are the basic tenets on which an online community flourishes. Secondly, online communities strive to attract newer members and retain older members so that they become directly involved in the events being done in the community, thus creating value. This may be regarded as the single best reason for which a community flourishes – it gives the scope of creativity, indulgence and fan following. It also opens up a stronger proponent of human psyche – Group influence (Iriberri A. & Leroy G, 2009). Thirdly, the community is focused and is able to satisfy the needs of the users – so it gives the incentive to the members to return again and again. People would be the member of a successful group, even if by nature, the person in question is timid and/or submissive. In the survey which was done, and which will be discussed in detail later, 25 people, from varying backgrounds, were chosen in random from an anti-tobacco community in Orkut, a social networking site and were asked to rate on a scale of 5, the most relevant factor they felt for the purpose of their joining the group. The options given were ‘The community had so many members, I felt special here’, ‘I am concerned about the social evils of smoking – It’s so un-cool!’ etc. By lowering the barriers of communication, the internet has put onus on a democratic system of order. Public figures, issues of national interest, a new car launch, can be debated over by one and all over the internet. This also brings to the fore the possibilities of selecting the best among available resources or choices. Reference groups are considered to occupy an important position in consumer theory and behavior. Though their importance has been investigated for some product purchase situations for which this influence is relevant has not been conclusively examined. The purpose of the exercise, which was conducted with the 25 respondents, was to find out the nature of the interrelationships: the extent of group influence on consumer behavior process. The most relevant questions which arose out of this exercise were Firstly, would social comparison and consumer behavior process be more strongly related among situationally (High self monitors) oriented consumers as compared to dispositionally (Low self monitors) oriented consumers? How does a “Yes” matter at all? A “Yes” would mean that situationally sensitive consumers would acquire information primarily from his or her peers. Thus a marketer who wishes to maximize group influence on the buying of a product must go more into developing the product and its promotion strategies. On the other hand, a “No” here would imply that the characteristics of the consumers need to be studied more efficiently. Going back to the dynamics of an online community, it can be stated that the membership criteria can also be stated to be an important factor for the evaluation of a group (Leimeister J. M. & Krcmar H., 2005). Memberships are often open to anyone interested, or restricted to a nominated few. Intelligent users on the net often use this as a gauging tool – ‘let me go to that community as it has asked for an IMDB registration code, I will find true film buffs there!’ types. A successful online community harps of cooperation and exemplifies it by taking into consideration issues of role hierarchy, membership needs and organisational power. It gives people the option of reaching out and voicing their opinions – be it on social causes, or specific buying patterns or experiences. People finally get to see that their contributions do add up. The head of consumer research for a consumer electronics company created an online community of 50,000 consumers to analyse product development and marketing topics with existing or would-be consumers. Thus consumers could effectively decide what they expected from the company and likewise give the organisation a road map for meaningful expansion. A major chunk of the respondents have replied that mentioning their views on the community against smoking have made them feel that they are contributing to the war against smoking. This has made them conscious about the surroundings better – traditionally anti-smoking campaigns have been in the reckoning for a number of years, but as the respondents claimed, there existed an entire group of activists who have signed in only after the online community happened. The Online Experiment A simple exercise was conducted to enquire about the various reasons for which online communities thrive. Orkut, was chosen as the preferred online social networking site for two reasons –one, its popularity, and secondly due to the fact that the members could be accessed due to their email-ids being visible. The group of individuals who were randomly selected was sent an online questionnaire. Questions were designed so as to decide the general awareness of the respondents about smoking in general, the reason why they have chosen this particular mode of protest, the reasons for their joining such a forum and whether such an action has affected and/or modified their outlook about other social issues, their peers who smoked and the viability of such an activity – in light of the fact that it may get unnoticed with a larger part of the smoking population. The language was lucid, funny – yet thought provoking, so as to keep up with the mood of the age group, which was around 25 – 50. The results show interesting facts – Individuals vary in degree in their reliance on friends, or online acquaintances. People who are influenced by informal reference groups (here the co-members of the community) do so because of a specific characteristic trait, an orientation to seek advice from friends or acquaintances (Forsyth D., 1990). This experiment shows that though there are significant differences in an individual’s ability to evaluate social issues in traditional operative frameworks, these differences become blurred in online environments (Taylor C. A. & Sorenson S. B., 2005). People responded that they chose these online portals to remain in contact with most of their old acquaintances. However these same people would not call their acquaintances; clearly they preferred to be connected on the internet. This also throws some light on the social causes of online networking – the pseudo intimacy which it brings along with itself. Another interesting point of discussion may be the role of sub-cultures in the flourishing of online communities. It is found that the members of a particular subculture possess values, beliefs and customs which make them distinguishable from other members of the same society, while they are found to adhere to the more prominent behavioral patterns of the larger society. The major categories of subcultures include geographic location, nationality, race, age, political affiliation and education (Hebdige D., n.d.). Online communities are expected to be a hit with the Generation Y – people born in between 1977 and 1994 (National study concludes Generations X and Y value mail- Generations shaped by digital media respond to traditional media channel, 2005). These people are relatively young, exert considerable influence on the buying decision which goes on in their families, and are expected to be in the pinnacle of their social network building. The first affiliations that this group is seen to seek out is often online – through the communities again. The fact that they are easily influenced by their peers also helps in the fact that this age cohort has been targeted by a plethora of marketing activity. Unlike their immediate predecessors, they have shifted to the internet, and this has caused a distinct development of activity related online productions. They rely on the internet for almost everything – information, entertainment, and employment and more importantly their social needs. This brings to the forefront another reason for the splurt in online communities – they are merely the meeting point of this generation of people who have distinct needs and choices. Conclusion The internet is a powerful tool, helping us to shed boundaries and giving us a second chance to set up our own perimeter. The reasons are varied – people want to belong to a group which gives them a sense of power and belongingness. Responsibilities are also varied, the net brings out the real marketer in corporations – they try and understand the consumer better. "Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience," says John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen Online. "While two-thirds of the global online population already accesses member community sites, their vigorous adoption and the migration of time show no signs of slowing. Social networking will continue to alter not just the global online landscape, but the consumer experience at large” (“Time Spent” on These Sites Growing Three Times Faster than Overall Internet Rate, Now Accounting for Almost 10 Percent of all Internet Time, March 9, 2009 ). The net has shown the people how to be bold and be themselves without actually moving out from the confines of their homes or cubicles. In all probability, this spurt of online activity is here to stay. References Bowes J., No Date, Building Online Communities for Professional Networks, [Online] Available at http://globalsummit.educationau.edu.au/globalsummit/papers/jbowes.htm, [May 11, 2009] Farrior M., August 2005, Best Practices for Building Online Communities between Researchers and Practitioners, The Conservation Psychology website, [Online], Available at: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2528056/Best-Practices-for-Building-Online-Communities, [May 11, 2009] Forsyth D., 1990, Group Dynamics, Brooks/Cole Pub. Co., ISBN 0534080103, 9780534080105 Grossman L. Sep 3, 2007, Why Facebook Is the Future, TIME, ProQuest, [Online], Available at: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=8&did=1324893681&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1242115098&clientId=78175&cfc=1, [May 11, 2009] Hebdige D., No date, The Function of Subculture, [Online] Available at: http://web.syr.edu/~tjconnel/145/Hebdige-Subculture.html, [May 11, 2009] Huitt, W. (2004). Maslows hierarchy of needs. Educational Psychology Interactive, Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University, [Online] Available at http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html, [May 11, 2009] Iriberri A. & Leroy G., 2009, A Life-Cycle Perspective on Online Community Success, [Online] Available at: http://beta.cgu.edu/Faculty/leroyg/Papers/Iriberri-Leroy-ACM-CS-2009.pdf, [May 11, 2009] Jonathan L., 2002, Social Considerations in Online Communities: Usability, Sociability, and Success Factors, [Online] Available at: http://www.ifsm.umbc.edu/~preece/Papers/herre_chapter03.pdf, [May 11, 2009] Leimeister J. M. & Krcmar H., 2005, Evaluation of a Systematic Design for a Virtual Patient Community, [Online] Available at: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/leimeister.html, [May 11, 2009] Maslow and Erikson, No Date, [Online], Available at: http://www.sinclair.edu/academics/lhs/departments/nsg/pub/maselowover.pdf, [May 11, 2009] National study concludes Generations X and Y value mail- Generations shaped by digital media respond to traditional media channel, 2005, [Online] Available at: http://www.usps.com/communications/news/press/2005/pr05_087.htm, [May 11, 2009] Sciffman L. G. & Kanuk L. L. 2008, Consumer Behaviour: A European Outlook, PHI Private Limited, ISBN 027370401X, 9780273704010 Solomon, M.R., Dann, S., Dann, S. & Russell-Bennett, R. 2007. Consumer behaviour: Buying, having and being. Sydney: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Taylor C. A. & Sorenson S. B., 2005, Community-based Norms about Intimate Partner Violence: Putting Attributions of Fault and Responsibility into Context [Online] Available at: http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1080&context=spp_papers, [May 11, 2009] “Time Spent” on These Sites Growing Three Times Faster than Overall Internet Rate, Now Accounting for Almost 10 Percent of all Internet Time, March 9 2009, The Nielsen Company, [Online], Available at: http://www.nielsen-online.com/pr/pr_090309.pdf, [May 11, 2009] Bibliography Kanner B., 2004, Pocketbook power: How to reach the hearts and minds of todays most coveted consumers—women, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0071418601, 9780071418607 Hellman K. & Burst A., 2004, The customer learning curve: Creating profits from marketing chaos, Thomson South-Western, ISBN 0877573069, 9780877573067 Hoyer W. D. & Macinnis J. D., 2003, Consumer Behavior, Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0618264825, 9780618264827 Siegel C. F., 2004, Internet Marketing: Foundations And Applications, Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0618345116, 9780618345113 Banks D. & Daus K., 2002, Customer.Community: Unleashing the Power of Your Customer Base, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 078795621X, 9780787956219 Read More