CHAPTER 9:
Web 2.0 and Social Networks
Chapter Outline
9.1 Web 2.0 Underlying Technologies
9.2 Web 2.0 Applications
9.3 Categories of Web 2.0 Sites
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, and explain the benefits of three
information technologies used by Web 2.0.
2. Identify five prominent Web 2.0 applications, and provide at least one example of how each
one can be utilized in a business setting.
3. Discuss the three categories of Web 2.0 sites, and provide at least one example of how each
one can improve business efficiency and profitability.
Teaching tips and Strategies
Even thought most of our students have been using the Internet since elementary school, they do
not recognize how the Internet and Web-based applications have evolved.
Each term, I find more of my students using social networking sites, such as Facebook and
LinkedIn. However, some may not understand all the implications of their use of these sites
means for them and for the companies that use or monitor the sites. As part of this discussion, I
also cover some of the personal security issues the students should be aware of when using a
social network site.
One project that I have started to assign is having students join LinkedIn and create a profile. I
also have created a LinkedIn group that I have them join to get credit. This exercise has become
so successful that all the departments in the School of Business have also created LinkedIn
groups. The benefits include another place to post announcements for the students and a place
where graduates can network with current students (potential source of job leads, etc.).
Review Questions
Section 9.1 … Before You Go On...
1. Differentiate between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.
Web 1.0 was the first generation of the Web. The key developments of Web 1.0 were the
creation of Web sites and the commercialization of the Web. Users typically have minimal
interaction with Web 1.0 sites. Rather, they passively receive information from those sites.
According to Tim O’Reilly, a noted blogger, Web 2.0 is a loose collection of information
technologies and applications, plus the Web sites that use them. These Web sites enrich the
Chapter 9: (4th edition)
Page 2
user experience by encouraging user participation, social interaction, and collaboration.
Unlike Web 1.0 sites, Web 2.0 sites are not so much online places to visit as Web locations
that facilitate information sharing, user-centered design, and collaboration.
2. Explain how AJAX, tagging, and RSS have made the Web more interactive and informative.
AJAX is a Web-development technique that enables portions of Web pages to reload with
fresh data instead of requiring the entire Web page to reload. This process speeds up
response time and increases user satisfaction.
A tag is a keyword or term that describes a piece of information — for example, a blog, a
picture, an article, or a video clip. Users typically choose tags that are meaningful to them.
Tagging allows users to place information in multiple, overlapping associations rather than in
rigid categories. For example, a photo of a car might be tagged with “Corvette,” “sports car,”
and “Chevrolet.” Tagging is the basis of folksonomies, which are user-generated
classifications that use tags to categorize and retrieve Web pages, photos, videos, and other
Web content.
Really simple syndication (RSS) allows you to receive the information you want
(customized information), when you want it, without having to surf thousands of Web sites.
RSS allows anyone to syndicate (publish) his or her blog, or any other content, to anyone
who has an interest in subscribing. When changes to the content are made, subscribers
receive a notification of the changes and an idea of what the new content contains.
Subscribers can then click on a link that will take them to the full text of the new content.
Section 9.2 … Before You Go On….
1. Differentiate between blogs and wikis.
A weblog (blog for short) is a personal Web site, open to the public, in which the site creator
expresses his or her feelings or opinions via a series of chronological entries. Bloggers—
people who create and maintain blogs—write stories, convey news, and provide links to
other articles and Web sites that are of interest to them.
A wiki is a Web site on which anyone can post material and make changes to already posted
material. Wikis have an “edit” link on each page that allows anyone to add, change, or delete
material, fostering easy collaboration. Wikis harness the collective intelligence of Internet
users, meaning that wikis take advantage of the combined input of many individuals.
2. What is netcasting?
Netcasting, which includes podcasting and videocasting, is the distribution of digital media,
primarily audio files (podcasting) and video files (videocasting), via syndication feeds for
playback on digital media players and personal computers. Interestingly, the term
podcasting, derived from combining the terms “broadcasting” and “iPod,” is a misnomer,
because netcasts (or podcasts) can be played on a variety of devices in addition to iPods.
Chapter 9: (4th edition)
Page 3
3. Discuss the business benefits of crowdsourcing.
Crowdsourcing involves taking a job traditionally performed by an employee or a consultant
and outsourcing it to an undefined group of people in the form of an open call.
The benefits of crowdsourcing to companies include finding large numbers of workers to
complete projects quickly, attracting niche expertise, saving money, and making better use of
in-house resources. For the workers, crowdsourcing provides unprecedented flexibility to
work almost anywhere at any time.
Section 9.3 … Before You Go On….
1. What are social networks, and how are organizations using them?
Social networking Web sites allow users to upload their content to the Web in the form of
text (for example, blogs), voice (for example, podcasts), images, and videos (for example,
videocasts). These sites provide an easy, interactive tool for communicating and
collaborating with other people on the Web. They help users find like-minded people online,
either to pursue an interest or a goal or just to establish a sense of community among people
who may never meet in the real world.
Organizations are finding many useful ways to employ social networks to pursue strategic
objectives. For example, many employees have organized work groups using publicly
available social networking sites because their companies don’t offer similar tools. In
response, many firms are meeting this demand by implementing internal social network
platforms that are secure and are tailored to company needs. These networks typically
replace the traditional employee directory. Social network listings are easy to update and
expand, and employees are encouraged to add their own photos, interests, and expertise.
2. What are aggregators, and what is their greatest value to Web 2.0 users?
Aggregators are Web sites that provide collections of content from the Web. Their greatest
value to Web 2.0 users is their ability to aggregate information from a number of different
sites into a useable format.
3. Describe mashups, and discuss their business value.
Mashup means to “mix and match” content from other parts of the Web. A mashup is a
Web site that takes different content from a number of other Web sites and mixes them
together to create a new kind of content. The launch of Google Maps is credited with
providing the start for mashups. A user can take a map from Google, add his or her data, and
then display a map mashup on his or her Web site that plots crime scenes, cars for sale, or
virtually any other subject.
IT’s about Business Questions
Chapter 9: (4th edition)
Page 4
IT’s About Business 9.1
Making Money with YouTube Videos
1. Access the article in Forbes, “YouTube: Five Tips for Building Your Own Video Career.”
Provide examples of how McLaughlin and Neal have followed each tip.
The link to the Forbes article is
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelhumphrey/2011/03/30/youtube-5-tips-for-building-yourown-video-career/.
The five tips from the article are:
1) Recognize your talent and be yourself: Whether it is cooking, telling jokes, strategizing
video games or playing the piano — there is truth to the old phrase “Love what you do
and you’ll never work another day in your life.” YouTube partners who have done well
are genuine, and their audiences connect with that honesty. (Rhett&Link were
professional comedians who wanted to be TV stars.)
2) Structure your content and keep it consistent: The best videos are well thought out,
and viewers know when they can catch the next installment. Does your show require a
script? A recipe? Costars or props? (Rhett & Link stared out by having a toy company
sponsor them in what was supposed to be an advertisement/music video that generated
fan interest. They built a following by only briefly showing what they were selling.)
3) Hone your camera and editing skills: Everyone can make a shaky video, but not
everyone can create quality content that viewers turn to for the latest recipes, songs, or
make-up tutorials.
4) Grow your viewer base: Interact with your viewers, answer their questions, and address
their messages via videos or through your message wall. YouTube partners are taking
advantage of all networks available to engage with their viewers, driving people to
YouTube from Twitter and Facebook.
5) Work hard at building and maintaining your brand: There’s no substitute for it.
Some of the most successful YouTube partners work 80 hours or more a week on their
videos, and people know what they can expect from those channels. (An example is
Rhett & Link expanding their brand through becoming a YouTube partner and having
more than one revenue stream from their videos.
2. What are the difficulties involved in building your own brand on YouTube? Give specific
examples of these difficulties.
Being unique and finding sponsors.
IT’s About Business 9.2
The Blog del Narco
1. What are the advantages of the Blog del Narco?
Chapter 9: (4th edition)
Page 5
The author remained unknown, making it possible to report on government and drug cartel
activities that were not being covered in the local papers. The postings also periodically
yielded important pieces information that, in a few instances, helped to solve a crime.
Finally, users learned which streets to avoid and where wounded shooting victims were being
treated.
2. What are the disadvantages of the Blog del Narco?
Information posted was usually unedited and not fact checked.
IT’s About Business 9.3
Share Your Life in Pictures
1. Explain how and why a startup can survive if it becomes “wildly popular” before it evolves
into a real, profit-making business.
Students will have different opinion as to “why” some sites become popular ad other do not.
It usually involves what is “in” and popular with their friends at that point in time.
2. What are some potential disadvantages to photo-sharing Web sites such as Instagram and
Color?
There is the potential for someone to sell or use the pictures that you post in a manner that
you did not intend. Depending on the content of the pictures you post, someone (including
an employer) could use them against you.
IT’s About Business 9.4
Online Games Are Big Business
1. From Zynga’s perspective, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the company’s close
relationship with Facebook.
Their success depends on their continued good relations with Facebook because that is where
almost all of their games are played. Zynga insists that it helps Facebook (and vice-versa)
because Zynga’s games increase the time that users spend on Facebook
Zynga stopped sending spam-like notifications to a player’s friends every time the player
performed an action in an online game. This action hurt Zynga’s revenue.
2. What kinds of actions could Zynga take to minimize its dependence on Facebook? Be
specific, and provide examples.
Student will have various ideas, but some may suggest that Zynga develop games that do not
depend on Facebook. Options include a non-Facebook-based site that could be accessed via
a Web browser or a smart phone app.
Chapter 9: (4th edition)
Page 6
IT’s About Business 9.5
Location, Location, Location
1. What are some possible disadvantages of being a member of Foursquare? Would you join
Foursquare? Why or why not?
Foursquare is based on using GPS-enabled mobile technology (tracking) to broadcast a user’s
location. This can bring a number of benefits and privacy concerns.
Students will have different opinions on joining Foursquare.
2. Analyze the differences between social networking and social location networking, using
specific examples.
Social networking (Facebook, Twitter) does not necessarily involve location-based
technology. Social location networking (Facebook Places, Foursquare) is based on GPSlocating or tracking technology based on where the user is.
Discussion Questions
1. How would you describe Web 2.0 to someone who has not taken a course in information
systems?
In the first generation of the Web, communications were one way, as users passively received
information from Web sites. Web 2.0 provides two-way communications using many
options such as blogs, chat rooms, wikis, workflow technologies, and groupware.
2. If you were the CEO of a company, would you pay attention to blogs about your company?
Why or why not? If yes, would you consider some blogs to be more important or more
reliable than others? If so, which ones? How would you find blogs relating to your
company?
Blogs present an opportunity for organizations to obtain customer feedback and to monitor
the tone of the feedback. It is crucial, particularly if the feedback is negative, that the
company respond when necessary. The blogs that are visited more often and have a larger
following are more important than others. Users need to search on product names and
company names to find the blogs of interest.
3. Do you have a page on a social networking Web site? If yes, why? If no, what is keeping
you from creating one? Is there any content that you definitely would not post on such a
page?
Students will have wide and varied responses to this question. These responses should
initiate a very interesting class discussion.
Chapter 9: (4th edition)
Page 7
4. How can an organization best employ Web 2.0 technologies and applications to benefit their
business processes?
First, ask students to define Web 2.0 technologies and applications. Then, ask them how
they might use any or all of those technologies to support the business processes of a generic
company.
5. What factors might cause an individual, an employee, or a company to be cautious in the use
of social networks?
There are a wide variety of responses to this question. Students will have their own reasons,
but their responses may include concerns regarding their personal security (i.e. personal
information becoming public) and harassment by others.
6. What risks does a company expose itself to if it leverages feeds? How might the company
mitigate these risks?
If a company uses feeds, then it should develop policies that limit whose feeds they use, and
it should indicate its source of information.
7. What sorts of restrictions or guidelines should firms place on the use of social networks by
employees? Are these Web 2.0 sites a threat to security? Can they tarnish a firm’s
reputation? If so, how? Can they enhance a firm’s reputation? If so, how?
Many organizations have policies prohibiting employees from discussing customers and
business practices beyond the workplace. These rules could also be applied to social
networks. Web 2.0 provides tools and opportunities for employees to reveal sensitive
information easily, whether intentionally or not, that could pose threats to security. These
threats could also damage the firm’s reputation. For example, after a long day at work, an
employee at a restaurant could update her Facebook status by complaining about a customer
who left a small tip. If other people read this complaint, it could damage the restaurant’s
reputation of friendly service. This type of damage is very difficult to reverse because the
company normally does not know who read the comment. In response, many organizations
set up a social network page as a way to directly communicate with customers. They use
social networks as an outlet to clarify, apologize, or compensate customers.
Problem Solving Activities
1. Enter www.programmableweb.com, and study the various services that the Web site offers.
Learn how to create mashups, and then propose a mashup of your own. Present your
mashup to the class.
Students should report their ideas. Some ideas may be worthy of follow-up.
2. Go to Amazon’s Mechanical Turk Web site (www.mturk.com). View the available HITs. Are
there any HITs that you would be interested in to make some extra money? Why or why not?
Chapter 9: (4th edition)
Page 8
Students will click “Find HITs now” on the link to search the list of available HITs.
On the result page, they should click “view a HIT in this group” of their choice, read
about what to do, then decide if they would be interested in working on any of those
HITs.
3. Access Mojofiti (www.mojofiti.com). What is interesting about this social networking site?
This site is designed to let users communicate with people who speak another language. In
addition to functioning as a social networking site, it can be used as a business and enterprise
site.
4. Access ChatRoulette (www.chatroulette.com). What is interesting about this social
networking site?
ChatRoulette is a one-on-one video chat room. The catch is you do not whom you will be
connected to (be chatting with) until you enter the site.
5. Using a search engine, look up the following:
 Most popular or most visited blogs. Pick two, and follow some of the posts. Why do you
think these blogs are popular?
 Best blogs (try www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/). Pick two, and consider why they
might be the “best blogs.”
Students will come up with different ideas for this exercise.
6. Research how to be a successful blogger. What does it take to be a successful blogger?
What time commitment might be needed? How frequently do successful bloggers post?
The students should first define what kinds of blog there are describing (i.e. news, etc.) This
will have an impact on how the students answer the other parts of this question.
7. Design a mashup for your university. Include the purpose of the mashup, sources of data,
and intended audience.
Students will come up with different ideas for this exercise.
Team Assignments
1. Each team will visit a major social networking site. Discover features that distinguish each
site. Present the pros, cons, and distinguishing features of each site to the class.
Students will come up with different responses for this exercise. Those responses will
depend on the site(s) they visit and their personal opinions of those sites.
Chapter 9: (4th edition)
Page 9
2. Each team should pick a subject that needs aggregation. Set up the plans for an aggregator
Web site to accomplish this goal. Present the aggregators to the class.
Students will come up with different responses for this exercise.
3. Enter www.podcasting-tools.com. Explain how to record a podcast. Each team will create a
podcast on some idea in the course and make it available on your class Web site.
Students will come up with different responses for this exercise.
4. Each team will independently take on the following problem: You are an external consulting
company with experience in corporate Web 2.0 implementation. Create a PowerPoint
presentation that sells Web 2.0 to the following company while addressing the following
concerns:
 The company is a credit card and payment-processing firm that has 100 employees.
Many of the employees are not very literate on the Internet, and most have not heard of
Web 2.0. It is believed that they will be resistance by employees to any proposed
changes.
 The company CIO would like to implement Web 2.0 technologies and applications to
enhance employee life and perhaps venture into new ways of marketing the company’s
services.
Each team will conduct its research independently and present the results to the class.
Closing Case
Marketing with Facebook
The Problem
Almost 100 years ago, John Wanamaker coined the advertiser’s dilemma: “Half the money I
spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Until the advent of the
Web, it was difficult to argue that these percentages, or even an advertiser’s ability to track these
percentages, had improved much. However, the Web has advanced to the point that most large
sites can serve ads based on a user’s browsing history. For example, Google (www.google.com)
has developed its brand of targeted advertising so effectively that the company reported some
$28 billion in revenues in 2010.
Marketers have long hoped to turn the Web into the perfect advertising medium. Pop-ups on
AOL, banners on Yahoo!, and search ads on Google were steps along that path. Facebook,
however, is pioneering targeted advertising.
The Solution
Facebook (www.facebook.com) has developed a powerful kind of targeted advertising that is
more personal, or more “social,” than any previous type. For example, if you recently became
engaged and you updated your Facebook status to reflect that fact, you might start seeing ads
Chapter 9: (4th edition)
Page 10
from local jewelers. Those jewelers have likely used Facebook’s automated ad system to target
recently engaged couples living in the area.
Consider David Belden, founder of Residential Solar 101 (www.residentialsolar101.com), a
San Francisco-based reseller of solar panels. Belden knows exactly who his customer is: male,
around 55 years old, and with an environmental conscience that is often demonstrated in the
ownership of a hybrid car. Such details are exactly what Facebook can provide for Belden.
However, ads on Facebook’s Web site (say for Belden’s Residential Solar 101) are located
on the far right of the page and are clicked on by less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the site’s
users. In contrast, Google ads, which are triggered by searches for specific topics, can draw
clicks from up to 10 percent of all searchers. However, they are also far more expensive than
Facebook ads.
Facebook’s extremely low click-through rates limit the effectiveness of the site’s targeted
ads, which would matter much more if Facebook were only selling clicks. However, Facebook
ads can evolve into conversations among friends, colleagues, and family members, and
advertisers want to be involved in these conversations.
The entire premise for Facebook’s model of advertising is that advertisements are more
valuable when they are reinforced by your friends’ behaviors. If enough of your friends like or
comment on an ad, that ad can move into your main news feed, along with the names of your
friends and all the conversations about the ad. The advertiser pays nothing for this movement.
Facebook’s promise to advertisers is not to get consumers to buy their products – or even to
get them to visit the advertiser’s Web site. Instead, Facebook wants to subtly place the
advertiser’s brand in the user’s consciousness and provoke a purchase at a later time. More
immediately, Facebook wants you to “like” the brand itself. When you do this, it serves as a type
of opt-in, allowing the advertiser to insert future messages into your feed.
The Results
Nielsen (www.nielsen.com), the marketing research firm, notes that if users discover that
their friends “like” an ad or have commented on it positively or negatively, they are up to 30
percent more likely to recall the ad’s message. Consider Nike’s (www.nike.com) three-minute
commercial at the FIFA World Cup in the summer of 2010. Hundreds of millions of people saw
the commercial on television. However, before the commercial even appeared on television,
Nike launched it on Facebook.
The commercial started as a video on Facebook and then was passed from friend to friend,
often with comments and recommendations. Facebook users played and commented on the
commercial more than 9 million times. This activity helped Nike double its number of Facebook
fans from 1.6 million to 3.1 million over a single weekend. Nike officials said that placing the ad
on Facebook cost “a few million dollars.” However, passing around the ad did not cost Nike
anything. David Grasso, Nike’s chief marketing officer, noted that Facebook was the equivalent
for Nike to what TV was for marketers in the 1960s. Facebook is now an integral part of Nike’s
marketing strategy.
Ford, 7-Eleven, and McDonald’s have unveiled products on their Facebook pages, in some
cases using their fan groups to help design those items in advance. Starbucks offers coupons and
free pastries to its 14 million fans. Other brands use Facebook to pursue what they describe as
their products’ “service mission.” For example, Special K’s page provides nutritional tips, and
Chapter 9: (4th edition)
Page 11
Nature Valley’s page discusses national parks and nature photography. Coca-Cola, which has
more than 12 million Facebook fans, also relies and focuses on Facebook.
And the bottom line for Facebook? The company reported revenue of $1.86 billion in 2010
and was valued at $82.9 billion in January, 2011.
Even though Facebook’s bottom line looks good, the company’s success is creating
competition. Google is adding a feature to its Web searches that enables users to recommend
useful search results to friends. This process could lead Google to rank Web sites based on what
users and their friends find useful rather than using only Google’s PageRank algorithm. Google’s
social search effort is called “+1” or “plus one.” “Plus one” comes after Google botched an
attempt to create a viable social-networking service, called Google Buzz. Google and Facebook
increasingly appear to be on a collision course for online advertising dollars.
Questions
1. Describe the advantages enjoyed by advertisers who place ads on Facebook.
Advertisers are able to target ads based on the personal traits of Facebook users (location,
where they went to school, friends, etc.).
2. Discuss disadvantages that users may encounter when advertisers target them on Facebook.
What some advertisers may consider as a trait of their target audience may not match what a
user might consider to be important. In some cases, a Facebook user may see an ad from an
advertiser that the user has negative feelings towards.
CHAPTER GLOSSARY
Aggregator
Web sites that provide collections of content from the Web.
AJAX
a Web development technique that allows portions of Web pages to reload
with fresh data rather than requiring the entire Web page to reload.
Blog (Weblog)
a personal Web site, open to the public, in which the site creator expresses
his or her feelings or opinions with a series of chronological entries.
Blogosphere
the term for the millions of blogs on the Web.
Crowdsourcing
the process of taking a job traditionally performed by an employee or
consultant and outsourcing it to an undefined group of people in the form
of an open call.
Mashup
Web site that takes different content from a number of other Web sites and
mixes them together to create a new kind of content.
Netcasting
the distribution of digital media via syndication feeds for playback on
digital media players and personal computers.
Chapter 9: (4th edition)
Podcasting
Page 12
the distribution of digital audio media via syndication feeds for playback
on digital media players and personal computers.
Printing-on-demand customized printing done in small batches
Really simple syndication (RSS) a technology that allows users to receive the information
they want, when they want it, without having to surf thousands of Web
sites.
Social networking sites
Web sites that allow users to upload their content to the Web in the
form of text, voice, images, and videos.
Tag
a keyword or term that describes a piece of information.
Videocasting
the distribution of digital video media via syndication feeds for playback
on digital media players and personal computers.
Web 2.0
a loose collection of information technologies and applications, plus the
Web sites that use them.
Web 2.0 media
any Web site that provides user-generated media content, and promotes
tagging, rating, commenting, and other interactions among users and their
media contributions.
Weblog (see blog)
Wiki
a Web site on which anyone can post material and make changes to other
material.