VirtualCommunity

© 2001 Ann Schlosser, University of Washington Business School

Agenda

• Virtual Communities– Overview– Sources of value

• Case example: Hutchworld

• Managing Online Communities

Virtual Communities

                                 

Virtual Communities

“Virtual communities are defined by bringing people together with a common set of needs or interests.”

1) Bring people together with a common set of needs;

2) Integrate published content with discussion forums;

3) Over time, an increasing amount of value will be concentrated in the user-created content.

4) Aggregate competing vendors and publishers to maximize selection available to the members of the virtual community.

5) Clear commercial motivation, since resource-intensive.

Source: Hagel (1999) JIM

What is a Virtual Community?

Another definition: community is about communication, the sharing of ideas. It is this communicative core of community that makes possible the virtual community, an entity that parlays the power of new information technologies into shared knowledge, information, and power…. The ability of members to compare their experiences and share their expertise transforms the online experience from just a viewing of a so-million-channel television into a process of shared learning and community-building. It is this feature that makes participation in a virtual community an experience of empowerment.

Hagel (1999 JIM) identifies three types…

– Personal Interests– Demographic and Geographic– Business-to-Business

Source: Emermanl (1997) JIM

Sources of customer value:are virtual relationships real?

• Lack of nonverbal cues that specify the social context and define the nature of the social situation.

• Computer has a low “social presence”

• Conversation is in a “social vacuum”

• No physical proximity or sense of location

• Creates the “illusion” of community, rather than “real” community

• People in computer-mediated communication are more self-absorbed than other-oriented

• Interacting with people in CMC is not really interacting with people.

• Forms “weak” rather than “strong” social ties

February 16, 2000

Portrait of a Newer, Lonelier Crowd Is Captured in an Internet Survey

By JOHN MARKOFF

                 AN FRANCISCO, Feb. 15 -- The nation's obsession with the Internet is causing many Americans to spend less time with friends and family, less time shopping in stores and more time working at home after hours, according to one of the first large-scale surveys of the societal impact of the Internet.

Sources of firm value:virtual community strategy

• Speed of entry• Recruiting and retaining members• Differences between virtual communities &

traditional marketing• Reap wealth of consumer data

Hutchworld

Situation Analysis for Hutch

S W O T

Top 5 cancer research center

Logistics and operations

CMC overcomes barriers of geographical isolation

Privacy concerns

Interdisciplinary research

Formal review process is time-consuming

CMC overcomes barriers of physical deliberation

Security concerns

Able to quickly incorporate “bench-to-bedside” transition to new technologies

No formal channels for decision making

CMC provides anonymity

Legal concerns

Relationship with Microsoft

CMC is available 24/7

Firm’s Goals

• Microsoft: To research and develop tools and technologies that contribute to effective online communication between individuals and among groups

• FHCRC: Opportunity to research and enhance services for patient community

Source: Virtual Worlds Group at Microsoft

Members’ Needs

In s trum en ta l

In form ation retrieva l

In form ationa l

G am es C om m unica tion

E m otiona l

F orm s of S upport

Research Questions

• Social support/community– Can social support be enhanced by computer

mediated interactions?– Can online social support improve well-being?

• Online identity– How does online social identity affect online

interaction?

• Use of attention for communication– How are the demands on a user’s attention

affected by different types of communication?

Internet Use and Social Support

LaRose, R., Eastin, M. S., Gregg, J. (2001). Reformulating the Internet paradox: Social cognitive explanations of Internet use and depression. Journal of Online Behavior, 1 (2)

CHESS: Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support Systems

Design Process: Audience

• Defining audience– Researchers at the Hutch?– Patient community?

• Appropriate for patients as extension of inpatient activity? For former patients? For pre-admits?

• Caregivers, friends and family?

• Trial: Caregivers and patients in Hutch housing

Audience

• 400+ patients annually participate in patient services

• Track progress of 3,000+ bone marrow transplant recipients

• Restrict access to patients and approved family/friends, Hutch staff, the Microsoft team, and qualified volunteers at the Hutch

Design Process: Content

• Defining content– Medical– Social support

• Identify content experts– Patient care administrators, social work, psychologists,

medical director, volunteer services, patients, chaplain, management, researchers

• Develop and review designs• Prototype and iterate

Design Issues

• “Imaginative” versus “real life”?• Include medical information?• Include information? Games? Communication?• Open or password protected?• Moderation and ownership? Peer patient world?

Staff moderated?• Synchronous vs. asynchronous communication?

Measuring Success: Clinical Trial

• Collect real data on measurable outcomes

• Determine value of study and effects on social well-being

• Determine what components are valuable (both computer usage and HutchWorld software)

• Study results recognized by both medical and computer science fields

Keys to Creating and Sustaining Online Communities

1. Asset management– Setting up and maintaining system

• includes consent, assessment, hardware, training, software and network maintenance, etc.

2. Member development– Establishing critical mass

• getting enough people on the system at once to have simultaneous accessing and support

– Managing membership • ill or dying patients• fluctuations/variations/unpredictability in caregivers

3. Community relations– Establish norms and guidelines

Enforce Appropriate (Brand-Congruent) Codes of Conduct

Member Agreement: Handling Liability and Censorship