Web 2.0: Opportunities & Challenges

1. Web 2.0: Opportunities & Challenges Brian S. Butler, MSIA, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Business Administration bbutler@katz.pitt.edu

2. What do these have in common? • Google buys YouTube for $1.65bn (October 2006) • Apache Web Server, an Open Source Software project, is the infrastructure for ~50% of all websites • Wikipedia has 2 million+ articles, all created by volunteers • Massively Multiplayer Online Games were a $1 billion market in North America & Europe in 2006 • Dell, IBM, and others creating spaces in Second Life • Time Magazine making “You” the person of the year

3. Today’s Agenda • What is Web 2.0? • Organizational Applications of Web 2.0 • Principles of Successful Web 2.0 Efforts Adidas in Second Life

4. Early “Virtual” Communities • 17th century (and before) • Scholars associated with the Royal Society of London • Founded in 1660 • Science • Still in existence today • Community based on the exchange of letters

5. Early Online Community Infrastructures • Before the Internet there were BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) • Most popular from mid-70’s to early 90’s • Direct access via dialup modem • Used to: • Upload & download programs • Engage in threaded discussions • Many were free, long distance charges were an issue

6. Large Scale Online Community Infrastructures • AOL pre-internet • Had moderated chat rooms • Threaded discussions • Usenet • Similar to BBS, but no one central server • Large number of servers that store and forward • Users post EMAIL-like messages to discussions in categories called newsgroups • Some are moderated, most are not

7. Other Online Community Technologies • Listserv - Automated mailing list • a list of e-mail addresses & the people receiving mail at those addresses • the publications (e-mail messages) sent to those addresses • a reflector, which is a single e-mail address that, when designated as the recipient of a message, will send a copy of that message to all of the subscribers • Announcement lists • Only a few can post • Designed for one-sided information flow • Discussion lists • All members can post • Designed for discussion –more like Usenet • Some are moderated, some are not • Google and Yahoo groups build on Usenet & Listserv infrastructures

8. Web 2.0 Communities • More types of content • Greater levels of user participation and control • Examples: • Social • MySpace • Facebook • Media/Music • Youtube • Google Video • Professional Networking • Matchmaking

9. What is Web 2.0? • Technologies – Facilitating technologies • Blogs • Wikis • Social networking technologies • Predictive markets • Virtual worlds • RSS • Ajax • Web Services and Service Oriented Architectures • Techniques – Prompting and leveraging voluntary social activity • Social tagging, bookmarking, and filtering • Mashups, aggregation, and recombination • Social network analysis • Referrals, sharing, and word-of-mouth • Crowdsourcing & Human Computation • Communities - High profile examples • Wikipedia • MySpace, Orkut, LinkedIn • Flickr, Fotolog • Second Life • Google Maps • YouTube

10. So now that that’s cleared up… • Web 2.0 refers to a collection of technologies and techniques that mobilize highly-distributed, latent resources by facilitating voluntary individual action within sustainable communities

11. Organizational Use of Web 2.0 Technologies • Use of formally managed blogs for distributing announcements • Restricted wikis as a platform for team archives and document distribution • Second Life as a meeting support tool or training platform • Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) as a basis for corporate infrastructure • Ajax and RSS as a tool for implementing web-based systems and portals

12. Types of Web 2.0 Efforts Created Community Existing Community Inside an Organization Outside an Organization

13. Business Uses of Online Communities • Extending an existing brand name • Gather customer feedback and suggestions • Supplementing technical support • Creation of complementary “products” • Generating an audience • Signaling innovativeness

14. Resource Flows in Traditional Systems Resources • Data • Attention • Time • Hardware • Infrastructure • Software External Support Use External Impact Benefits • Information • Analyses Use

15. The Web 2.0 Resource – Benefits Cycle Resources • Data • Attention • Time • Hardware • Infrastructure • Software External Support Contribution Use Benefits • Information • Analyses • Visibility • Reputation • Social Support External Impact Use

16. Leveraging Diverse Motivations and Needs • Successful Web 2.0 efforts bring together complementary needs and motivations in synergistic communities

17. Seeding and Controlling Structures • Wikipedia contains 3+ millions articles created by volunteers working without formal supervision… • but this community has clearly defined leaders, roles, governance structures, and policies • Technology and techniques provide a context in which the activities can occur – rather than attempting to ensure that they do occur

18. Web 2.0 Ecology • Expect turnover • Successful communities have more turnover than unsuccessful ones (not less) • Focus on managing flows of people (not on capturing specific individuals people) • Accounting for competition • Overall impact on the community and • Differential impact on member segments • Selection vs. Design • Many community efforts fail (plan for and take advantage of it)

19. Stages of Membership • Peripheral (Lurker) – Observing the community and viewing content. Does not add to the community content or discussion • Inbound (“Newbie”) – Just beginning to engage the community. Starts to provide content. Tentatively interacts in a few discussions. • Insider (Regular) – Consistently adds to the community discussion and content. Interacts with other users. • Boundary (Expert) – Recognized as a veteran participant. Connects with regulars to make higher concepts ideas. Community grants their opinion greater consideration. May correct another user in behavior the community considers inappropriate. • Outbound (Legacy) – Leaves the community for a variety of reasons. Interests have changed. Community has moved in a direction that doesn’t agree with. Lack of time.

20. Be Aware of Hype • Hype (exaggeration, overstatement, etc.) is a bad indicator of the true impact or importance of an innovation • The level and type of hype is a good indicator of the development of the collective knowledge, experience, and expertise around an innovation (e.g. hype cycle) • Hype is a valuable tool for assessing the risk of engaging an innovation (not the benefits)

21. Key Takeaways • Web 2.0 refers to a collection of technologies and techniques that mobilize highly-distributed, latent resources by facilitating voluntary individual actions within sustainable communities • Web 2.0 can be used in a variety of ways (technology use, community building, community engagement) • Successful Web 2.0 efforts: • Create and maintain a sustainable resource-benefit cycle by • Integrating diverse needs and motivations, • Providing structures that seed desired activity, and • Account for the Web 2.0 ecology • Use hype as a valuable signal of risks not benefits and impact (and plan resources, development strategy, and evaluation metrics accordingly)