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,

Literature review Introduction 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. ( display.jsp?vnu_content_id= )

The most commonly used social net- working 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 (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

Commentary Permalink Eprop Bulletin a broadcasting feature for disseminating messages to community members allowing community members to add comments on other weblogs show how good a weblog is by other webloggers a permanent URL to each individual weblog entry

Syndication Metro/Bloging/Community Skin/Scheme Predefining templates for webloggers to design their websites allowing webloggers be notified when their interested weblogs are updated groups of webloggers in same geographical region or with a shared interest to interact together

Participant33 college students Age20-22 (all but two were young adults) PlaceDifferent universities in Hong Kong (a Chinese speaking city) MethodIndividual interview PeriodAround minutes

Characteristics of different user types Habitual (enthusiastic) Blogging lurker Active Personal

HabitualActivePersonal Blogging luker FrequencySeveral times a day Once daily Not fixed DurationHours per dayAround 1hour per day Depends on own needs Not fixed Peer influence High LowUnknown Group belonging Strong Weak/noneUnknown Preferred tools Community building Journal writing Community building Journal writing Journal writing Content management None

UsersTechnological needs Habitual (enthusiastic) Content management tools Community building tools Search by category Commentary Time structuring Active Content management tools Community building tools Search by category Commentary Personal Content management tools Secure closed blog Blogging luker Reading

Impact on organizational computing Emergent model of needs-technology fit model

Needs (Social) Technology Needs-Technology Fit Usage Type

Needs Technological features fitting the need Habitual (enthusiastic) Community building Content management Time structuring Community building tools Content management tools Search engine Commentary provision/alert tools Active Community building Content management Community building tools Content management tools Search engine Commentary provision/alert tools Personal Content management Privacy Community building tools Secured closed blogs Blogging luker Information seeking Reading

Impact on the internal organizational environment A number of “open-minded” companies have adopted instant messaging for internal communi- cation 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 Characteristics of different user types Product attributes