With advent of the internet and global connectivity, the way business is done is changing, the way we utilize the people and their potential is changing, the way we interact with people is changing. Nobody is a stranger now and we are connected to one another with the network of networks.
Virtual Communities are interaction platforms for the new age millennials and beyond. The presentation explores different dimensions of establishing and fostering such Communities and the way their potential can be harnessed for the process of co-Creation.
1. Online communities & Co-Creation
Ms. Anubha Rastogi
Astt. Prof, Vidya School Of Business
2017-18
THE POWER OF CONNECTIONS
2. Anubha Rastogi | VSB
Defining Virtual or Online Community
“Social aggregators that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions
long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace.”
Virtual communities can be basically defined as groups of like-minded strangers who interact
predominantly in the cyberspace to form relationships, share knowledge, have fun or engage in economic
transactions.“
• Online communities combine 4 important features
• Internet communication tools
• Rules that define community membership
• Collaborative production of material by members
• Repeat use by members
• Communication is multidirectional
• Users provide material
• Users consume information
• Challenges faced by community builders
• Building traffic
• Maintaining member collaboration
• Member retention
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Exploring Virtual Communities
What do you do in a Virtual Community.
• Share
• Teach
• Assist
• Entertain
• Discuss
• Works towards a common goal
• Beautify
• Patrol
Types Of Virtual Community
• Blogs
• Facebook pages
• Forums
• Email groups
• Social Networks
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Typology of Virtual Community
Four distinct categories of communities occur based on the exchanges that occur within them:
• Community Of Interest - Information exchange about a topic
• Goal-oriented Community Of Interest - Sharing of diverse perspectives and production of objects
commissioned by the mandate.
• Learner's Community - Participation to the realization of a collective educational project.
• Community Of Practice - Professional practice development through sharing knowledge among members of
a professional community
Two distinct categories of communities based on the size and types of members
• Personal communities
• Are small in scale
• Members know each other
• Communication is direct between individuals through E-mail or a shared Web site
• Extended communities
• Larger in scale and scope
• Composed of many smaller areas that allow personal communities to flourish
• Rely on a mixture of content and communication tools including Web content publishing
and Centrally-managed discussions
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Types Of Online Community Members
• The Sleepers: Almost dead on the community. Not even aware about what is happening. Just joined it for the heck of it.
• The Lurker: You rarely hear from the Lurker. She likes to read all the conversations and takes what she needs from each
discussion, but she rarely participates. Every now and then, she surprises everyone by voicing an opinion, but most of the time, you
don’t even know she’s there.
• The Newbie: Newbies (new members) often don’t know where to start. Newbies may introduce themselves to the group and then
do their best to find ways to fit in. Most members welcome newbies and do what they can to make them feel at home.
• The Regular: The Regular is a familiar personality in the online community. Everyone knows her face or recognizes her avatar —
the image she uses to portray herself online. Because the Regular is so active, other community members may feel that they know
her and trust her judgment — most of the time.
• The Leader: Whether self-appointed or through mutual respect, the Leader is someone who has been with the community for
years and truly knows his stuff. When he offers his two cents, people listen. Sometimes, the Leader is someone that the community
has chosen; at other times, the Leader is a legend in his own mind.
• The Elder: As a pillar of the online community, the Elder isn’t necessarily active anymore, but she’s held in high esteem. When she
does participate, members hang on to her every word. The Elder has been with the community since day one. Not every member
may agree with or even like the Elder, but no one will say a disparaging word about her.
• The Expert (aka the Know-It-All): Every group has an Expert — someone who knows everything
about everything. The Expert has been everywhere and seen everything. He did it all long before
the other members did and thinks that he did it better, stronger, and faster. The Expert doesn’t
have many friends but doesn’t seem to notice.
• The Elite: Forums and communities that rank their members by how long they’ve been around or
how often they participate have a clique of Elite members. Though an Elite member mingles with the
newer members now and then, she keeps pretty much to herself.
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Types Of Behavior In Virtual Community
Positive or Interactive
Type Description
Announcements Posts written to share information
with members of thecommunity
Queries or Specific Requestsfor
Information
Posts requestinginformation,
including:
a) Queries made by other
community members
b) Queries taken out of the
community
c) Queries presented to the
community
Directed Group Projects Posts written to further a goal of
the community, such as the
creation of a FAQ (Frequently
Asked Questionsfile), a database
or project in the world outside the
community
Type Description
Flaming Argumentative posts written purely for the sake
of insulting others
Trolling Posts seeking to illicit flames, called “flame-bait”
by Tepper (1997)
Spamming Posts regarded as unsolicited junk mail
Cyber-rape Posts of an unsolicited, unwelcome and
assaultive nature
Hostile
• No Flaming
• No Spamming
• No Phishing
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What drives Virtual Community
A. Affordances of Virtual Communities
Affordance Description
Persistence Continuous over time and use by
many
Periodicity Sense of time and rhythm to
interactions
Boundaries Multi-use areas: rooms, forums,
private areas
Engagement Multiple ways to connect and interact
Authoring Users create content and space, and
recreate it as well
B. Motivators of Virtual Community
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C. Communication Tools Are The Heart Of Online Community
• Two categories of tools, based on the type and scale of communication possible
• Communication rings send messages directly between users
• Everybody in the ring gets the message
• Communication rings don’t scale – they break down as the group gets too big
• E-mail, Internet Pagers , Groupware, Games & Simulations
• Content trees are indirect
• They use a central gathering point such as a bulletin board or a Web site to collect and store information
• Depend on hierarchies that create manageable discussions
• Community members go to topic areas and discussion groups that match their interests
• Usenet, Bulletin Boards, Chat rooms, Websites
D. Membership rules define the nature of community and interaction
• Strong communities have strong rules
• Membership depends on passing through a difficult hurdle that creates shared values and
experiences
• Interests and opinions are strongly held
• Weak communities are easy to join
• Examples are fan clubs, shopping club members, frequent flyer programs
• Weak community ties are a serious problem for online marketers
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Community Goes online : The IMPACT
• THE ARGUMENTS FOR:
• New technologies allow new forms of
communication between close friends,
acquaintances, and strangers
• Online communities provide a focus for social
interaction
• New technologies improve communication
between co-workers, customers and
suppliers
• Online communities enable consumer-to-
consumer interaction
• Marketers can use community-building
technologies to generate customer loyalty,
involvement, and repeat sales
• THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST
• :
• Private time online comes at the expense of
physical interaction with friends and family
• Weak ties between strangers replace strong ties
between friends and neighbors
• Those who spend hours online often test higher on
psychological measures of loneliness and
depression
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Increasing Returns Cycles with Virtual Communities
Transaction
Offerings
Member
Loyalty
Online Community
Increasing Returns
Draw more
members to
community
Promote member-
to-member
interaction
Build member
loyalty to
community
Generate member-
based content
Content
Attractiveness
Target
products
and offerings
Member
Profiles
Draw vendors and
user spending to
community
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CO-CREATION
Using the power of community
for business advantage
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Co-Creation
Co-creation is a management initiative that brings different parties together (for instance, a company and
a group of customers), in order to jointly produce a mutually valued outcome.
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Strategic networks such as Collaborative Networked Organisations (CNOs) and Virtual Customer Communities
(VCCs) show a high potential as drivers of value co-creation and collaborative innovation in today’s Networking Era.
Value Co Creation with Virtual Communities
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Co Creating Value Through Experiences In VC
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The 5 Principles of Co-Creation Tools, Processes And Research Techniques To
Help Clients Better Interact With Their
Communities And Their Customers
• Online Chat Groups
• In-Depth Interviews, pairs and triads
• Forum/Bulletin Board Discussion
• Online ethnography, video/photo diaries
• Online stimuli evaluation
• Video Clip Evaluation
• Online Surveys
• Polling
Enabling Co-Creation
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The Co-Creation Process
Style Of Engagement With The Co Creation Projects
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Guidelines for Managing Communities of Co-Creation
