Download A study of social computing and its impact on organization

Presenter: Han-Ming Jeffrey Chen
Instructor: Dr. Pi-Ying Teresa Hsu
Date: Apr. 20, 2009
Kwai, R. & Wagner, C. (2008). Weblogging:
A study of social computing and its
impact on organizations. Decision Support
Systems, 45, 242-250.
Introduction
Literature review
Methodology
Result & Conclusion
Reflection
A recent survey from the Gallup Poll
organization reported that 20% of the
respondents participated in blogging
activities and 28% of them were aged
18–29.
(http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_
display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001957922)
The most commonly used social networking technologies are discussion
boards, real time chat, P2P newsgroups,
and listservs.
(Lee, Vogel, & Limayem, 2002)
Social computing is defined as any type
of computing application that serves as an
intermediary or a focus for a social relation.
(Schuler, 1994)
Background on weblogging
Popular weblog technology feature

The term weblog was first coined by John
Barger in December 1997.
(Bausch, Haughey, & Hourihan, 2002)

Du and Wagner (2006) described three
generations.
First
Generation
first-person diaries, with the focus of being
a “log of the Web”
Second
Generation
more between weblog communication features,
including the important “permalink”
(permanent URL to each individual weblog entry).
Three
Generation
application blogs, which provide practical
applications for the webloggers to use
Bulletin
Commentary
a broadcasting feature for disseminating
messages to community members
allowing community members to add
comments on other weblogs
Eprop
show how good a weblog is by other
webloggers
Permalink
a permanent URL to each individual
weblog entry
Skin/Scheme
Predefining templates for webloggers to
design their websites
Syndication
allowing webloggers be notified when
their interested weblogs are updated
Metro/Bloging/Community
groups of webloggers in same geographical region or with a
shared interest to interact together
Participant
33 college students
Age
Method
20-22
(all but two were young adults)
Different universities in Hong Kong
(a Chinese speaking city)
Individual interview
Period
Around 30-60 minutes
Place
Blogging
lurker
Habitual
(enthusiastic)
Characteristics of
different user types
Active
Personal
Habitual
Active
Frequency Several times a Once daily
day
Duration Hours per day Around 1hour
per day
Personal
Blogging
luker
Once daily
Not fixed
Depends on
own needs
Not fixed
Peer
influence
High
High
Low
Unknown
Group
belonging
Strong
Strong
Weak/none
Unknown
•Journal
writing
•Content
management
None
Preferred
tools
•Community
building
•Journal
writing
•Community
building
•Journal
writing
Users
Habitual
(enthusiastic)
Active
Personal
Technological needs
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Content management tools
Community building tools
Search by category
Commentary
Time structuring
Content management tools
Community building tools
Search by category
Commentary
Content management tools
Secure closed blog
Blogging luker • Reading
Emergent model of
needs-technology fit model
Impact on
organizational computing
Needs (Social)
Technology
Needs-Technology
Fit
Usage Type
Needs
Habitual
(enthusiastic)
Active
Technological features
fitting the need
• Community
building
• Content
management
• Time structuring
Community building tools
• Community
building
• Content
management
Community building tools
Content management tools
Search engine
Commentary provision/alert tools
Content management tools
Search engine
Commentary provision/alert tools
Personal
• Content
management
• Privacy
Blogging luker • Information
seeking
Community building tools
Secured closed blogs
Reading
Impact on the internal organizational environment
A number of “open-minded” companies have
adopted instant messaging for internal communication between employees as well as external
communication between business partners, with
good results.
Impact on customer relationships
Marketing departments will be to adopt the
weblog medium (technology) and mode
(voice), to interact with the most intensive
weblog users, but also to at least change the
mode of communication for customers
becoming used to the “voice of the Web.”
Bloggers’ innovative characteristics
Quality
relationship
Innovation
adaptation
Product
attributes
Characteristics
of different user
types