Week 10

 Social Computing

 

Corporate social networks are used to facilitate employee and customer communication to promote their business, target areas of improvement, and have products available at all times via the internet. There are many different aspects of social computing, but this is an overview of some of them.

Social commerce is the delivery of electronic commerce and transactions, such as online shopping, and encourages social interaction, such as online reviews of a store or restaurant. However there are some risks that come along with social commerce, as negative information is put out a lot quicker, and data can be stolen or misused.

Online shopping is a type of e-commerce using social networking to enhance shopping experiences, and providing a 24 hour store, such as amazon.com. Now most in-person stores have an online version available at all times of the day, and they often have better inventory.

Group shopping encourages people to pay memberships to a store or third party for exclusive "club" discounts on everything from groceries to airplane tickets. These memberships encourage brand loyalty and consistent purchases.

Peer to peer shopping is a type of e-commerce where you can purchase something from another person without any stores, licenses, and often tax. Peer to peer shopping is often used for selling second-hand items.

Social advertising uses peer pressure, celebrity endorsements, friend recommendations, and many other pathways to make you aware of a product of service.

Social apps are online applications that support social interactions within commerce, such as a shopping app, package tracker, or place to check customer reviews.

Conversational marketing uses blogs as a primary way of making you aware of a product or service, but tries to not make it an obvious advertisement, often using product placement or recommendations instead of blatant advertising.

Social intelligence or AI, such as ChatGPT are useful tools, but pose major security risks, such as where is your data going? And is it secure? Data is often stolen, and one of the biggest problems with social computing.

Crowdsourcing uses many people to fund a project, and is also called crowdfunding. A great example of this is the TV series 'The Chosen', which relies on donations to fund its production, and in turn is able to offer all the episodes for free to all. 

Gray,H.,Issa,T.,Pye,G., Troshani,I.,Rainer,K.(2014). Management Information Systems