IS 340
Management
Information Systems
Case Study – Managing in the
Digital World: Facebook.com - social networking
I.
Defining Web 2.0 Defining Web 2.0 – not just an upgrade in technology
(Web2.0 still uses much of the old Web1.0 technologies), but rather a focus on
using the Internet to execute successful business technologies. This idea became popular after the
“dot-com-bubble” collapse that lost over $5Trillion in market value over a
2-year period (around 2001). Most of
this collapse was because most of these businesses had no sustainable business
plans. [NOTE: if $5T was lost, exactly where did it
go? It did not just evaporate or burn
up; the resources, if they actually existed, had to go somewhere. If economists and financial experts claim
that $5T actually left the market, WHERE did it go? This is a philosophical argument, but it has
substance in that the $5T, if it existed, had to go somewhere!]
A. Social Software (Social Media) – a Web 2.0
application allowing people to communicate, interact, and collaborate in
various ways; the mass movement to the use of this type of software is credited
with changing behavior and even societal norms
B. Enterprise 2.0 – the use of Web 2.0 techniques
and software within a firm, or between the firm and its customers and
stakeholders; helps share organizational knowledge and increases innovation and
productivity
C. Collective Intelligence – the notion that
distributed groups with a divergent range of information and expertise will
outperform individual experts; Web 2.0 sites not only provide content, they
allow users to contribute to content, thus improving the content (e.g.,
Wikipedia);
D. The Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter Workspace – A
shift in philosophy is taking place where people no longer view themselves as
employees working at a firm for life, but as citizens developing a “portfolio
career” that will take them from job to job.
Use of social networking sites is central to this philosophy, people become
adept at circumventing organizational policies against their use, and firms are
adopting use of these sites for communication purposes.
II.
Enhancing Communication with Web 2.0 – A prime Web 2.0 application is
facilitating and enhancing communication both within the firm and between the
firm and its employees and stakeholders.
Communication can be synchronous (at the same time) or asynchronous
(not coordinated in time). Discussion
forums allow discussion between participants.
A. Blogs – self-publishing of views or opinions
or experiences; critically called the “amateurization of journalism”
B. Social Presence (microblogging) – tools
designed for short “status updates”, but enable people to voice their thoughts
(e.g. Twitter)
Inset: Brief Case – Instant Messaging At Work
C. Instant Messaging – synchronous (real time)
online communication
D. Virtual Worlds – use of avatars (simulated
persons) to interact in real time to buy/sell/communicate/interact in a
simulated online environment (e.g., Second Life); you can run real businesses
in these virtual worlds, buying and selling real physical products, or products
that do not exist outside the virtual world itself in exchange for REAL MONEY.
Inset: Ethical Dilemma – Virtual Reality People – We
experience virtual reality when we watch TV or play computer games, and this
can lead to a decline in real physical activities and desire for virtual
activities (“videophilia”). Is this an
ethical issue? Is one idea more “right”
than the other? Or is it all personal
choice?
III. Enhancing Cooperation with Web
2.0 – Web 2.0 applications depend on the Network Effect where one
participant’s success improves the chances of success for other participants.
A. Media Sharing – sharing music, videos, audio,
presentations (e.g., YouTube, Flickr, SlideShare). Netcasting
(or podcasting) – distribution of digital media for playback on on
digital media players; may use RSS (see Syndication below).
B. Social Bookmarking – sharing Internet
bookmarks; a challenge for surfing the Web is finding information, then finding
it again at a later time, so people bookmark sites they want to
remember. Folksonomies –
categorization systems for Internet bookmarks.
Organizations find this very important for sharing knowledge management
and harnessing the collective intelligence of employees.
C. Social Cataloging – creation of a
categorization system by users; organizations typically deal with tremendous
amounts of information and social cataloging can help structure this information
and make it more accessible and usable.
D. Tagging – manually adding metadata to media
and other content; closely related to social cataloging.
1. Geotagging – adding geospatial metadata to
media (exact location of the data); Geocaching has become a popular
pastime for many people.
2. Metadata – data about the data; specifying
data to better understand the context and meaning of the data (is “42” the
height of something? Feet or meters? or a game?
or a famous picture or a movie?)
IV.
Enhancing Collaboration with Web 2.0
– two or more people working
together to achieve a common goal; communication can be synchronous (at
the same time) or asynchronous (not coordinated in time); Virtual
Meetings – conducted over distances via Internet technologies
A. Virtual Teams – composed of members from
different geographic areas
B. Tools for Collaboration – there are various
ways to communicate and collaborate, and various tools to help do that
1. Web-Based Collaboration Tools – easy access
and transferability, run on any computer with a Web browser and Internet
access; however, they require an Internet connection to access and usually
offer only basic funtionality
a. Google Apps – online Web-based collaboration
tools
1. Gmail – Web-based email
2. Google Calendar – Web-based calendar
3. Google Talk – instant messaging
4. Google Docs – online office suite: word processing, spreadsheet, presentations
5. Google Sites – enterprise-level collaboration
tool for creating group Web sites ans sharing team information
b. Microsoft SharePoint – a document management
platform to enable shared workspaces and integrate other collaborative
applications (e.g., wikis and blogs)
C. Content Management Systems – allow users to
publish, edit, track, and retrieve digital information
1. Creator – responsible for publishing new
information
2. Editor –edits the content into a final form
3. Administrator – manages account access to the
digital information
4. Guest – person who can only view (not edit)
the digital information
D. Peer Production – the creation of goods or
services by self-organizing communities; dependent on the incremental
contributions of the participants (anyone can help produce or improve the final
outcome)
1. Wikis – a Web site allowing people to post,
add, edit, comment, and access information; keeps a database of all previous
versions and changes of the Web page (e.g., Wikipedia)
E. Human-Based Computing (Crowdsourcing) –
employing everyday people as a cheap source of labor; people can be located anywhere and work in
their own spare time to solve problems, fix problems, provide expert opinions,
provide resources (e.g., pictures and photographs) for very cheap prices; and a
lot of people can be working at these projects at any time.
V.
Enhancing Connection with Web 2.0 – social software connects people to
people, companies to their customer and stakeholders, and people with content.
A. Social Networking
1. Social Online Communities – one of the most
popular uses of the Internet in the last few years; where individuals with a
broad and diverse set of interest meet and collaborate (Facebook.com); original
demographic was teenagers, but that has shifted upward to greater ages
B. Viral Marketing – using the network effect to
increase brand awareness (similar to word-of-mouth advertising); critical
factors:
1. Do something unexpected
2. Make People feel something
3. Make sequels
4. Allow sharing and easy distribution
5. Never restrict access to the viral content
C. Social Search – attempts to provide relevant
search results by including content from social networks and blogs; as the Web
grows (explosively!), finding relevant information becomes increasingly
difficult
D. Syndication - Real Simple Syndication (RSS) –
a family of syndication feeds to publish the most current
blogs/podcasts/videos/news from different sources, automatically
downloaded
E. Web Services, Widgets, and Mashups
1. Web Services – a critical component of sharing
data; Web services allow data access/sharing without intimate knowledge of
another organization’s systems (no need for EDI-style systems); basically, any
device can use any network to access any service
2. Widgets – small, interactive, single-purpose
software tools, placed on or integrated into a Web page (clocks, weather
forecasts, streaming music, etc.)
3. Mashups – a combination of Web services and
widgets that creates a new Web application (such as some mapping applications)
F. Future Web Capabilities Web technologies and
collaboration are evolving issues and have yet to be fully realized.
1. Semantic Web – a set of design principles
that will allow computers to better index Web sites, topics, and subjects
(better than today’s search engines)
2. Web 3.0 – data is viewed as a “cloud” and
technologies allow access to that data from any device, PC or mobile phone
a. The World Wide Database – the ability to
distribute and access data from anywhere
b. Open Technologies – design of Web sites, etc.
so they can be easily integrated
c. Open ID – providing an online identity that
can be ported to many devices allowing easy authentication across Web sites
d. Integration of Legacy Devices – ability to
use current mobile devices as credit cards, tickets, and reservations
e. Intelligent Applications – use of Agents,
machine learning, and Web concepts to complete intelligent tasks for users
VI.
Managing the Enterprise 2.0 Strategy – factors to consider when
evaluating Enterprise 2.0 tools within an organization
A. Organizational Issues – there are a number of
factors to be considered with Enterprise 2.0 tools; a Corporate Culture of
knowledge sharing and trust is very important; Technology is a critical success
factor, but not the only one!
1. Enterprise (not equal) Web – what works for
people on the Web may not work for an organization or across the entire
enterprise
2. Culture – organizational culture is
critical! Organizations must understand
stakeholders, personalities, and perspectives of future users (the future comes
at us very quickly – be ready for it!).
Enterprise 2.0 must appeal to the users.
3. Organizational Context – an implementation of
an Enterprise 2.0 application should be driven by a specific usage context and
fill a specific need; i.e., need should drive the application, not the other
way around.
4. Organizational Hierarchies – Web 2.0
implementations need active involvement of senior management (Senior Management
Commitment!) to assure changes in organizational culture and flattening of
organizational hierarchies
5. Network Effects and Critical Mass –
successful Web 2.0 implementations require a critical mass of users , and this
may take time and patience to achieve
6. Generation Gap – younger persons are more
likely to embrace Web 2.0 concepts where older people are more used to rigid
organizational structures and may be less likely to embrace Web 2.0
applications
7. Technological Inertia – many people are not
willing to adopt new applications unless they see tangible benefits, and these
Web 2.0 applications may incorporate other social networking applications, or
the benefits may take time to appear
8. Technological Integration – to get the
greatest benefits, organizations must ensure that Enterprise 2.0 applications
are well-integrated into existing information systems infrastructure
9. Security – securing the information systems
infrastructure is a paramount concern, and applications that allow
collaboration by increasing data sharing will incur greater risks of security
breaches; firms must balance the desire for collaboration with the need for
security
B. Pitfalls of Web 2.0 Marketing – potential
pitfalls of marketing with Web 2.0
1. Online Product Reviews – online product
reviews are not always unbiased – although unethical, firms may hire people to
post specific reviews (pro or con)
2. Microblogging – this can be a valuable tool
for communications, but also can be dangerous and lead to lawsuits if something
controversial is said
3. Social Networks – posting (or allowing to be
posted) the wrong content can get a firm in trouble; over 85% of firms look up
potential employees on social networks; be careful about rants posted on a
social network
4. Viral Marketing – viral marketing can be a
blessing or a nightmare
5. Lessons Learned – news travels very quickly
on social media and companies must learn to respond quickly and substantively;
to deal with a crisis:
a. identify a crisis team with members from both
inside (public relations or executive members) and outside (lawyers) your
organization
b. Identify your worst social media nightmare,
prepare for it in advance, and watch for it
c. Monitor your social media environment – be
connected and responsive
d. Act FAST!!!!!
The first 24 hours count!!