virtual community and web portals_ecommerce
- 1. Virtual Community and Web Portal Strategies NIMISHA.T 13MCA11030
- 2. Virtual Community Also called a Web community or an Online community. It is a gathering place for people and businesses that does not have a physical existence. Exist on the Internet in various forms – Usenet newsgroups – Chat rooms – Web sites Offer people a way to connect with each other and discuss common issues and interests 2
- 3. Virtual Communities (Continue…) Helps companies, customers, and suppliers interact in a mutually beneficial way . Three key elements are required to make up a virtual community: Cellular-satellite communication technology Intelligent software agents Electronic marketplaces 3
- 4. 4 Cellular-satellite communications technology Can be packaged with • Notebook computers • Personal digital assistants (PDAs) • Mobile phones Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Allows Web pages formatted in HTML to be displayed on devices with small screens
- 5. 5 Web Page Displayed on a PDA(Personal Digital Assistant)
- 6. 6 Electronic Marketplaces Marketplaces – Can serve people who want to buy and sell a wide range of products and services
- 7. 7 Intelligent Software Agents Programs that search the Web and find items for sale that meet a buyer’s specifications Some software agents focus on a particular category of product
- 8. 8 Virtual Communities (continued) Virtual learning community One form of a virtual community Can help companies, their customers, and their suppliers plan, collaborate, and transact business Google Answers Gives people a place to ask questions that are answered by an expert for a fee
- 10. Virtual Communities (continued) Most web communities are Business-to-Consumer Business-to-Business community also emerged E.g: Milacron’s Milpro site They manufactures machine tools and sells them to a wide variety of industrial customers. 10
- 11. Milpro virtual community site 11
- 12. 12 Early Web Communities The WELL ( “whole earth ’lectronic link”) • One of the first Web communities • Founded in 1985 • Began as a series of dialogs among San Francisco authors and readers. • Members pay monthly fee to participate in its forums and conference. • Purchased by Salon.com
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- 14. Early Web Communities(continue…) GeoCities • Free web space for members • Sells advertising to generate revenue • Owned by Yahoo! Tripod • Founded in 1995 • Offered its participants free Web page space, chat rooms, news and weather updates, and health information pages. • Purchased by Lycos (search engine site) 14
- 15. 15 Web Portal Strategies Combinations of virtual communities, search engines, and Web directories. Provide a high degree of “stickiness” that is extremely attractive to advertisers. Top 10 most-visited web sites included 7 web portals. Examples include AOL, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, MSN, Netscape Netcenter, Snap, and Yahoo!
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- 17. 17 Stickiness of Popular Web Sites
- 18. homebid.com Smaller business that create a portal site Conducting online auctions of residential real estate But plan to become an all-purpose real estate web portal by allowing • Buy home • Finance it • Register for electricity • Telephone • Other necessary services 18
- 20. 20 Mixed Revenue Portals Time Warner’s AOL unit • One of the most successful Web portals • Charges a fee to users and has always run advertising on its site Yahoo! • Now charges for the Internet phone service originally offered at no cost.
- 21. 21 Internal Web Portals Run on intranets Can save significant amounts of money by replacing the printing and distribution of paper memos, newsletters, and other correspondence Can become a good way of creating a virtual community among employees
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