Nine characteristics of online community

Mgema Musa z.
BAPRM 42615

Nine Characteristics of Online Communities.

Community management is not a one-size-fits-all discipline. Different strategies will work for different communities. And if anything I say feels like it doesn't fit with your community demographics or organizational goals, then throw it out.
It may seem a little disheartening when you realize there's no silver bullet for community triumph. But fear not although no two successful communities are the same, most successful communities do have a few things in common. At Super Forum, I went over nine of these characteristics. If you didn't make it to the session, here's a brief rundown to get your community on the path to win.
1. Successful communities have a plan.
Do you find yourself working toward boosting discussions and member adoption without a real long-term goal in mind Engagement is an indicator of a community’s health, but it's not a goal in and of itself. Right now, take some time to consider: what is the purpose of your community Are you trying to recruit new members or retain existing ones Are you looking to collect business intelligence or create a member benefit? Choose a concrete goal to work toward, and then decide how you plan to attack that goal. In the case of retention, you could work to improve customer service; or work to improve the perception of the organization in the minds of its members; or promote awareness and usage of non-community member benefits; or provide a great member benefit: the community! Once you drill down on your strategy, you can start to create a plan for how to achieve it. Block out at least a few hours each week to evaluate how you are working toward those goals, and don’t lose sight of your plan.

2. Successful communities are run by humans.
Far too frequently, community managers can become a sterile, emotionless face of the organization they represent. Sometimes it's pressure from others in your organization, and sometimes it's a bad habit that we fall into, especially in uncomfortable interpersonal situations. This "robotic" tendency can manifest in a few different ways: you could only speak in a stilted royal "we," you could twist every conversation into a bland, brand-positive interaction, you could use PR-speak or write in ways no actual person would. All of these make it that much harder to connect with your users. They won’t see you as an ally, and they won't see your community as a place in which they can speak authentically. You don't have to be an overly-friendly folksy CM like yours truly (you can take the girl out of Georgia, but you can't take the Georgia out of the girl), but you do have to speak as you would to someone in any other interpersonal conversation. You are not a PR robot. You are a human being. Act like it
3. Successful communities are designed for the user.
When you are designing the layout of your community site, think about what is the number one action you want your users to take, and design the community to push them toward that action. Because of the flexibility we have in user controls, widgets and the like, community managers are often tempted to add way too many bells and whistles onto the community landing page, which can overwhelm first time visitors. Simplicity is a good thing, and you can attain this blissful simplicity if you keep the user in mind at all times. What is the first thing he or she will see Sometimes it helps to perform a community audit, where you interview people who use the community to discuss everything that is confusing or annoying to them. Chances are, you'll be surprised and learn a lot! User experience: it’s kind of a big deal. Don't let it fall by the wayside.
4. Successful communities have a culture.
Much like communities in the meat space, successful online communities share a purpose and a culture. Burning Man is very different from the Boy Scouts. Reddit is very different from Tumblr. Whenever people come together repeatedly, cultural signifiers start to develop: inside jokes, special terminology, community traditions, and the like. These are signs of a culture, linking people together. These links are the basis of community. This is a tough thing to develop, since culture is a process - it can’t be forced. Nothing is cringier than somebody trying to create an affinity that isn't there. But you can nudge it along through little acts like recognizing individual members and running mini "events" on the community that start to build the groundwork.
5. Successful communities are cared for.
I feel like this metaphor gets trotted out constantly, but that's only because of how apt it is: communities are like gardens. With a community manager, they are fed, watered and pruned. Weeds are removed, fertilizer applied where needed, and slowly the grounds become beautiful and lush. Without a community manager, the garden will struggle. Some parts will become like kudzu, overtaking the entirety, while others will wither away for lack of nutrients, water or sunlight. Community managers don't control the community, but we do serve it, tend it and care for it. We survey the community and consider how best to shape its growth to reinforce the greater plan. Long story short: if your community doesn't have someone explicitly managing it even if that person may have other roles in your organization ,you are going to spend a lot of time in the weeds.
6. Successful communities have awesome content.
Having a community isn't enough. Having an "active" community isn't enough. To be successful, your community has to provide some kind of concrete value, and one of the easiest, most fool-proof ways to provide value is by facilitating great content. This doesn't mean re-posting articles from your blog or magazine to the community; you have to take advantage of the interactive and collaborative nature of community to make it shine. So gather together speakers, bloggers and thought leaders, and ask them to do an Ask-Me-Anything. Throw out discussion topics that invite everyone to disclose and share expertise. Want to drive people to a blog post? Share an excerpt and ask a question about a big picture topic related to the article in question. Check out this blog post to learn more about how you can facilitate great content, collect it and re-use it in order to help your community shine.
7. Successful communities are data-driven.
What is the  of your community Remember, "engagement" doesn't count; you can't pay rent with engagement! Here is where you look back to your plan and consider the purpose of your community. Once you know what you're looking for, go to the numbers. Are community members more likely to renew/engage in other programs/evangelize/etc.? Figure out which metrics reflect your goals and track those obsessively. Is your community intended to be a repository of knowledge for your members? Look at library entry views and downloads. Interested in raising awareness of other organizational programs. Take some time to drill down into your community's popular search terms to figure out what they're looking for and how to address them. This doesn't mean that qualitative data (i.e. great community "stories" isn't valuable. Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts. However, a lot of things that count a LOT can be counted. So count them.
8. Successful communities allow for many voices - not just one.
I know I mentioned raising awareness of organizational programs and services as a possible goal, but remember at all times that it's not about you. Your community is a support group, not a lecture hall. Any community that is full of marketing messages, top-down communication, or where the community manager jumps on every question immediately with an answer of his or her own, is doomed as a community. Think of it like a party: do you like to hang out with the guy who is always talking about himself and how awesome he is, and who turns every discussion into a discussion about him? No, we hate that guy, and we don't invite him to our next party. Any community where the loudest voice is the voice of the organization (especially if that voice is the PR robot I covered in #2) runs the risk of driving away your users. Instead, create an environment where your members feel able to ask questions and share struggles freely. Then, when the issue is something your organization can assist with, step in and offer help. This genuine spirit of service reflects positively back on your organization, and other members will notice.
9. Successful communities are fun.
We have a tendency in communities of practice to fear the Facebook effect, for good reason. If a community just becomes a place for ranting, raving, liking and sharing, its value can drop precipitously and be hard to recover. educational doesn't have to equal boring and stuffy. Consider having a place in your community for "fun," whether it's a special community, a running thread or whatever makes sense for your organization. Higher Logic's is devoted to community management and our clients' success, but that doesn't mean we don't love our party . A sense of fun helps to create that affinity, which is so crucial to a sense of true community. Don't fear fun.

Online Community

Mgema musa
BAPRM 42615

Online community
An online community is a virtual community whose members interact with each other primarily via the Internet. For many, online communities may feel like home, consisting of a “family of invisible friends. Those who wish to be a part of an online community usually have to become a member via a specific site and necessarily need an internet connection. An online community can act as an information system where members can post, comment on discussions, give advice or collaborate. Commonly, people communicate through social networking sites , chat rooms, forums , e-mail lists and discussion boards. People may also join online communities through video games ,
blogs and virtual worlds.
Constance Elise Porter of Notre Dame in a paper entitled A Typology of Virtual Communities: A Multi-Disciplinary Foundation for Future Research offers this definition: "a virtual community is defined as an aggregation of individuals or business partners who interact around a shared interest, where the interaction is at least partially supported and/or mediated by technology and guided by some protocols or norms."
Categorization
The idea of a community is not a new concept. On the telephone, in ham radio and in the online world, social interactions no longer have to be based on proximity; instead they can literally be with anyone anywhere. [2] The study of communities has had to adapt along with the new technologies. Many researchers have used ethnography to attempt to understand what people do in online spaces, how they express themselves, what motivates them, how they govern themselves, what attracts them, and why some people prefer to observe rather than participate. [2] Online communities can congregate around a shared interest and can be spread across multiple websites. [3]
Some signs of community are:
Content: articles, information, and news about a topic of interest to a group of people.
Forums or newsgroups and email: so that community members can communicate in delayed fashion.
Chat and instant messaging: so that community members can communicate more immediately. [4]
Development
There is a set of values known as netiquette (or Internet etiquette) to consider as an online community develops. Some of these values include: opportunity, education, culture, democracy, human services, equality within the economy, information, sustainability, and communication. [5] An online community's purpose is to serve as a common ground for people who share the same interest(s). [5]
Online communities may be used as calendars to keep up with events such as upcoming gatherings or sporting events. They also form around activities and hobbies. Many online communities relating to health care help inform, advise and support patients and their families. Students can take classes online and they may communicate with their professors and peers online. Businesses have also started using online communities to communicate with their customers about their products and services as well as to share information about the business. Other online communities allow a wide variety of professionals to come together to share thoughts, ideas and theories. [5]
Fandom is an example of what online communities can evolve into. Online communities have grown in influence in "shaping the phenomena around which they organize" according to Nancy K. Baym's work. [3] She says that: "More than any other commercial sector, the popular culture industry relies on online communities to publicize and provide testimonials for their products." The strength of the online community’s power is displayed through the season 3 premiere of BBC’s Sherlock. Online activity by fans seem to have had a noticeable influence on the plot and direction of the season opening episode. Mark Lawson of The Guardian recounts how fans have, to a degree, directed the outcome of the events of the episode. He says that "Sherlock has always been one of the most web-aware shows, among the first to find a satisfying way of representing electronic chatter on-screen." [6]
Discussions where members may post their feedback are essential in the development of an online community.
[7] Online communities may encourage individuals to come together to teach and learn from one another. They may encourage learners to discuss and learn about real-world problems/situations as well as focus on such things as teamwork, collaborative thinking and personal experiences. [8][9]
Classification
Online communities are dynamic by nature and there are researchers and organizations working to classify them. For example, it is important to know the security, access, and technology requirements of a given type of community as it may evolve from an open to a private and regulated forum. [10] A number of authors have studied online communities to better understand how they are structured. It has been argued that the technical aspects of online communities, such as whether pages can be created and edited by many, as is the case with wikis including
Wikipedia , or whether only certain users can post entries and edit them, as is the case with most blogs , can place online communities into stylistic categories. [11] Another approach argues that "online community" is a metaphor and that contributors actively negotiate the meaning of the term, including values and social norms. [12]
Some research has looked at the users of online communities. Amy Jo Kim has classified the rituals and stages of online community interaction and called it the 'Membership life cycle'. [13] Clay Shirky talks about community of practice whose members collaborate and help each other in order to make something better or improve a certain skill. What makes these communities bond is "love" of something as demonstrated by members who go out of their way to help without any financial interest.
[14][15] Others have suggested
character theories to break particular patterns of behavior of particular users into certain categories. [16][17][18]
A 2001 McKinsey & Company study showed that only 2% of transaction site customers returned after their first purchase, while 60% of new online communities users began using and visiting the sites regularly after their first experiences. [ citation needed ] Online communities have changed the game for retail firms, forcing them to change their business strategies. Companies have to network more, adjust computations, and alter their organizational structures. This leads to changes in a company’s communications with their manufacturers including the information shared and made accessible for further productivity and profits. Because consumers and customers in all fields are becoming accustomed to more interaction and engagement online, adjustments must be considered made in order to keep audiences intrigued. [10]
It may be beneficial to introduce a term described by Ray Oldenberg called a third place to help classify online communities. A "third place is a generic designation for a great variety of public places that host the regular, voluntary, informal, and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals beyond the realm of home and work” (Oldenburg, p. 16). An online community can take on the role of a third place. Third places have characteristics that many online communities exhibit, for example: they provide neutral ground for all parties; they are levelers, easily accessible and highly accommodating; conversation is the main activity; they allow people to keep a low profile, and a few others. While these may be characteristics to help classify online communities, they may not all apply to a specific online community nor does an online community need to embody each of these characteristics.
The four requirements of “virtual settlement” include: interactivity, a variety of communicators, a common public place where members can meet and interact, and sustained membership over time. Based on these considerations, it can be said that microblogs such as Twitter can be classified as online communities. [19]
Building communities
According to Dorine C. Andrews, author of Audience-Specific Online Community Design there are three parts to building an online community: starting the online community, encouraging early online interaction, and moving to a self-sustaining interactive environment. [20] When starting an online community, it may be effective to create webpages that appeal to specific interests. Online communities with clear topics and easy access tend to be most effective. In order to gain early interaction by members, privacy guarantees and content discussions are very important. [20] Successful online communities tend to be able to function self-sufficiently. [20]
Participation
There are two major types of participation in online communities: public participation and non-public participation, also called lurking.
Lurkers are participants who join a virtual community but do not contribute. In contrast, public participants, or posters, are those who join virtual communities and openly express their beliefs and opinions. Both lurkers and posters frequently enter communities to find answers and to gather general information. For example, there are several online communities dedicated to technology. In these communities, posters are generally experts in the field who can offer technological insight and answer questions, while lurkers tend to be technological novices who use the communities to find answers and to learn. [21]
In general, virtual community participation is influenced by how participants view themselves in society as well as norms, both of society and of the online community.
[22] Participants also join online communities for friendship and support. In a sense, virtual communities may fill social voids in participants' offline lives. [23]
Sociologist Barry Wellman presents the idea of "glocalization" - the Internet's ability to extend participants’ social connections to people around the world while also aiding them in further engagement with their local communities. [24]
Online learning
Online learning is a form of online community. The sites are designed to educate. Colleges and universities may offer many of their classes online to their students; this allows each student to take the class at his or her own pace.
According to an article published in Volume 21, Issue 5, of the European Management Journal titled Learning in Online Forums, [citation needed] researchers conducted a series of studies about online learning. They found that while good online learning is difficult to plan, it is quite conducive to educational learning. Online learning can bring together a diverse group of people, and although it is asynchronous learning, if the forum is set up using all the best tools and strategies, it can be very effective.
Another study was published in an article[ citation needed ] in Volume 55, Issue 1, of the Computers and Education Journal called Computer-supported team-based learning and found results supporting the findings of the article mentioned above. The researchers found that motivation, enjoyment, and team contributions on learning outcomes enhanced students learning and that the students felt they learned well with it. A study published in the same journal in Volume 55, Issue 4, called Can learning be virtually boosted? [ citation needed ] An investigation of online social networking impacts, looks at how social networking can foster individual well-being and develop skills which can improve the learning experience.
These articles look at a variety of different types of online learning. They suggest that online learning can be quite productive and educational if created and maintained properly.
One feature of online communities is that they are not constrained by time thereby giving members the ability to move through periods of high to low activity over a period of time. This dynamic nature maintains a freshness and variety that traditional methods of learning might not have been able to provide. [ citation needed ]
It appears that online communities such as Wikipedia have become a source of professional learning. [citation needed] They are an active learning environment in which learners converse and inquire.
In a study exclusive to teachers in online communities, results showed that membership in online communities provided teachers with a rich source of professional learning that satisfied each member of the community. [25]
Saurabh Tyagi [clarification needed] describes benefits of online community learning which include:
No physical boundaries: Online communities do not limit their membership nor exclude based on where one lives.
Supports in-class learning: Due to time constraints, discussion boards are more efficient for question & answer sessions than allowing time after lectures to ask questions.
Build a social and collaborative learning experience: People are best able to learn when they engage, communicate, and collaborate with each other. Online communities create an environment where users can collaborate through social interaction and shared experiences.
Self-governance: Anyone who can access the internet is self-empowered. The immediate access to information allows users to educate themselves.
These terms are taken from Edudemic, a site about teaching and learning. The article [clarification needed ] provides background information about online communities as well as how to incorporate learning within an online community.[26]
Aspects of successful online communities
An article entitled "The real value of on-line communities," written by A Armstrong and J Hagel of the Harvard Business Review, [citation needed] addresses a handful of elements that are key to the growth of an online community and its success in drawing in members. In this example, the article which was available on mendeley.com focuses specifically on online communities related to business, but its points can be transferred and can apply to any online community. The article addresses four main categories of business-based online communities, but states that a truly successful one will combine qualities of each of them: communities of transaction, communities of interest, communities of fantasy, and communities of relationship. Anubhav Choudhury, from incrediblogger.net, provides basic descriptions of each of these four types of online communities. [citation needed]
1. Communities of transaction emphasize the importance of buying and selling products in a social online manner where people must interact in order to complete the transaction.
2. Communities of interest involve the online interaction of people with specific knowledge on a certain topic.
3. Communities of fantasy encourage people to participate in online alternative forms of reality, such as games where they are represented by avatars.
4. Communities of relationship often reveal or at least partially protect someone's identity while allowing them to communicate with others, such as in online dating services.
Membership lifecycle
Amy Jo Kim's membership lifecycle states that members of online communities begin their life in a community as visitors, or lurkers. After breaking through a barrier, people become novices and participate in community life. After contributing for a sustained period of time they become regulars. If they break through another barrier they become leaders, and once they have contributed to the community for some time they become elders. This life cycle can be applied to many virtual communities, most obviously to bulletin board systems , but also to blogs , mailing lists (listserve) and wiki -based communities like Wikipedia.
A similar model can be found in the works of Lave and Wenger, who illustrate a cycle of how users become incorporated into virtual communities using the principles of legitimate peripheral participation. They suggest five types of trajectories amongst a learning community:[27]
1. Peripheral (i.e. Lurker) – An outside, unstructured participation
2. Inbound (i.e. Novice) – Newcomer is invested in the community and heading towards full participation
3. Insider (i.e. Regular) – Full committed community participant
4. Boundary (i.e. Leader) – A leader, sustains membership participation and brokers interactions
5. Outbound (i.e. Elder) – Process of leaving the community due to new relationships, new positions, new outlooks
The following shows the correlation between the learning trajectories and Web 2.0 community participation.
Learning trajectory in participation
Example – YouTube
Peripheral (Lurker) – Observing the community and viewing content. Does not add to the community content or discussion. The user occasionally goes onto YouTube.com to check out a video that someone has directed them to.
Inbound (Novice) – Just beginning to engage the community. Starts to provide content. Tentatively interacts in a few discussions. The user comments on other user’s videos. Potentially posts a video of his or her own.
Insider (Regular) – Consistently adds to the community discussion and content. Interacts with other users. Regularly posts videos. Either videos they have found or made themselves. Makes a concerted effort to comment and rate other users' videos.
Boundary (Leader) – Recognized as a veteran participant. Connects with regulars to make higher concepts ideas. Community grants their opinion greater consideration. The user has become recognized as a contributor to watch. Possibly their videos are podcasts commenting on the state of YouTube and its community. The user would not consider watching another user’s videos without commenting on them. Will often correct a user in behavior the community considers inappropriate. Will reference other user’s videos in their comments as a way to cross link content.
Outbound (Elders) – Leave the community. Their interests may have changed, the community may have moved in a direction that they don’t agree with or they may no longer have time to maintain a constant presence in the community.
Roles in an online community
Although online societies differ in content from real society, the roles people assume in their online communities are quite similar. Elliot Volkman [28] points out several categories of people that play a role in the cycle of social networking, these include:
Community architect – Creates the online community, sets goals and decides the purpose of the site.
Community manager - Oversees the progress of the society. Enforces rules, encourages social norms, assists new members, and spreads awareness about the community.
Professional member - This is a member who is paid to contribute to the site. The purpose of this role is to keep the community active.
Free members - These members visit sites most often and represent the majority of the contributors. Their contributions are crucial to the sites' progress.
Passive lurker - These people do not contribute to the site but rather absorb the content, discussion, and advice.
Active lurker - Consumes the content and shares that content with personal networks and other communities.
Power users - These people push for new discussion, provide positive feedback to community managers, and sometimes even act as community managers themselves. They have a major influence on the site and make up only a small percentage of the users.
These terms are taken from Social Media Today [clarification needed] . The article describes different aspects of online communities and specifically describes the different roles within a community.
Motivations and barriers to participation
Main article: Motivations for online participation
Successful online communities motivate online participation . Methods of motivating participation in these communities have been investigated in several studies.
There are many persuasive factors that draw users into online communities. Peer-to-peer systems and social networking sites rely heavily on member contribution. Users’ underlying motivations to involve themselves in these communities have been linked to some persuasion theories of sociology.
According to the reciprocation theory, a successful online community must provide its users with benefits that compensate for the costs of time, effort and materials members provide. People often join these communities expecting some sort of reward.
The consistency theory says that once people make a public commitment to a virtual society, they will often feel obligated to stay consistent with their commitment by continuing contributions.
The social validation theory explains how people are more likely to join and participate in an online community if it is socially acceptable and popular.
One of the greatest attractions towards online communities is the sense of connection users build among members. Participation and contribution are influenced when members of an online community are aware of their global audience. [29]
The majority of people learn by example and often follow others, especially when it comes to participation. [30] Individuals are reserved about contributing to an online community for many reasons including but not limited to a fear of criticism or inaccuracy. Users may withhold information that they don’t believe is particularly interesting, relevant, or truthful. In order to challenge these contribution barriers, producers of these sites are responsible for developing knowledge-based and foundation-based trust among the community. [31]
There are two types of virtual online communities (VOC): dependent and self-sustained VOCs. The dependent VOCs are those who use the virtual community as extensions of themselves, [clarification needed] they interact with people they know. Self-sustained VOCs are communities where relationships between participating members is formed and maintained through encounters in the online community.[32] For all VOCs, there is the issue of creating identity and reputation in the community. People can create whatever identity they would like to through their interactions with other members. The username is what members identify each other by but it says very little about the person behind it. The main features in online communities that attract people are a shared communication environment, relationships formed and nurtured, a sense of belonging to a group, the internal structure of the group, common space shared by people with similar ideas and interests. The three most critical issues are belonging, identity, and interest. For an online community to flourish there needs to be consistent participation, interest, and motivation. [33]
Research conducted by Helen Wang applied the Technology Acceptance Model to online community participation. [34] Internet self-efficacy positively predicted perceived ease of use. Research found that participants’ beliefs in their abilities to use the internet and web based tools determined how much effort was expected. Community environment positively predicted perceived ease of use and usefulness. Intrinsic motivation positively predicted perceived ease of use, usefulness, and actual use. The technology acceptance model positively predicts how likely it is that an individual will participate in an online community.
Consumer-vendor interaction
Establishing a relationship between the consumer and a seller has become a new science with the emergence of online communities. It is a new market to be tapped by companies and to do so, requires an understanding of the relationships built on online communities. Online communities gather people around common interests and these common interests can include brands, products, and services. [35] Companies not only have a chance to reach a new group of consumers in online communities, but to also tap into information about the consumers. Companies have a chance to learn about the consumers in an environment that they feel a certain amount of anonymity and are thus, more open to allowing a company to see what they really want or are looking for.
In order to establish a relationship with the consumer a company must seek a way to identify with how individuals interact with the community. This is done by understanding the relationships an individual has with an online community. There are six identifiable relationship statuses: considered status, committed status, inactive status, faded status, recognized status, and unrecognized status. [36] Unrecognized status means the consumer is unaware of the online community or has not decided the community to be useful. The recognized status is where a person is aware of the community, but is not entirely involved. A considered status is when a person begins their involvement with the site. The usage at this stage is still very sporadic. The committed status is when a relationship between a person and an online community is established and the person gets fully involved with the community. The inactive status is when an online community has not relevance to a person. The faded status is when a person has begun to fade away from a site. [37] It is important to be able to recognize which group or status the consumer holds, because it might help determine which approach to use.
Companies not only need to understand how a consumer functions within an online community, but also a company “should understand the communality of an online community” [38] This means a company must understand the dynamic and structure of the online community to be able to establish a relationship with the consumer. Online communities have cultures of their own, and to be able to establish a commercial relationship or even engage at all, one must understand the community values and proprieties. It has even been proved beneficial to treat online commercial relationships more as friendships rather than business transactions.
Through online engagement, because of the smoke screen of anonymity, it allows a person to be able to socially interact with strangers in a much more personal way [39] This personal connection the consumer feels translates to how they want to establish relationships online. They separate what is commercial or spam and what is relational. Relational becomes what they associate with human interaction while commercial is what they associate with digital or non-human interaction. Thus the online community should not be viewed as “merely a sales channel”.
[40] Instead it should be viewed as a network for establishing interpersonal communications with the consumer.
Growth cycle
See also: Metcalfe's law and Bass diffusion model
Most online communities grow slowly at first, due in part to the fact that the strength of motivation for contributing is usually proportional to the size of the community. As the size of the potential audience increases, so does the attraction of writing and contributing. This, coupled with the fact that organizational culture does not change overnight, means creators can expect slow progress at first with a new virtual community. As more people begin to participate, however, the aforementioned motivations will increase, creating a virtuous cycle in which more participation begets more participation.
Community adoption can be forecast with the Bass diffusion model , originally conceived by Frank Bass to describe the process by which new products get adopted as an interaction between innovative early adopters and those who follow them.
Problems
Online communities are relatively new and unexplored areas. They promote a whole new community that prior to the Internet was not available. Although they can promote a vast array of positive qualities, such as relationships without regard to race, religion, gender, or geography, [41] they can also lead to multiple problems.
The theory of risk perception, an uncertainty in participating in an online community, is quite common, particularly when in the following online circumstances:
1. performances,
2. financial,
3. opportunity/time,
4. safety,
5. social,
6. psychological loss. [42]

Eleven characteristics of online store

Mgema Musa z.
BAPRM 42615

11 characteristics of a trustful online store

It is not enough to open an online store and wait for revenue to come. The customer has to go through an easy and enjoyable shopping experience, and above all we must inspire confidence, which is not always easy in an electronic environment. These eleven factors can help to sell more and better.
1. The online store must be easy to use. If customers have to waste time trying to figure out how to register or how make a payment, we will lose them.
2. It must be convenient. One of the reasons why consumers buy online is the possibility to receive products at home, so the online store must count with a fast and effective shipping company. The delivery must also be quick: some companies are already experimenting with same day delivery . If we have a physical store, it is a good idea to offer the possibility to collect or return the product at the point of sale.
3. In fact, we should aim for a multichannel offer, so that the client has
the advantages of both online and offline channels .
4. The store should be flexible, offering as many modes of payment as possible. At least credit cards and Paypal.
5. It should inspire confidence. In a traditional store this is easy because customers know where we are and we speak to them face to face. In an online store this confidence be generated confirming that:
- Payments are safe.
- Customers can exchange or return products without problems.
- They can easily contact us through a contact form, an email or a phone number to be found easily. And even, why not, they could be able to chat with a salesperson .
6. One way to differentiate ourselves and become even more trustful is providing content . For example, through a blog where we can discuss products and market trends, or posting demonstration videos of each item in the product sheets.
7. It is also essential to open the page to customer feedback on products, transparently and without fear. On the Internet, consumers trust other users' reviews .
8. We can offer a customized experience. If our software takes into account what do clients consult and purchase in addition to saved products as well as items purchased by similar clients, we can offer recommendations according to their preferences.
9. Premium offers can help to our clients. For example, a flat rate for shipping charges or discounts and special offers for newsletter subscribers and social networks followers.
10. The store should count with a good search engine, including categories, products and the most appropriate keywords for each item, so that the client can easily find what he is looking for.
11. The online store has to be adapted to smart phones and tablets . The experience in these two devices is different from a computer: the screens are smaller, typing is more difficult and the star products must be accessible easily and directly.

Laizer Edwin n Baprm 42691

Ensuring centralised information can be accessed, searched and employed

For a digital ECM strategy to succeed, employees must be able to access centralised information quickly and accurately. Doing so requires various software processes, such as capturing (registration), indexing (tagging), searching and retrieving, editing and controlling versions.

Because local councils are complex, multi-departmental organisations, their ECM software should include a faceted classification system that allows users to find the same document from different business policy areas. For example, imagine you have a purchase order (PO) document for a council vehicle, and several different departments require access. It needs to be referenced in two places the asset management system and financial management system. Some councils may choose to duplicate the PO document, potentially leading to version control problems, and auditing and compliance issues. Now imagine you have a single instance of the PO document, which can be ‘tagged’ with the asset number and the organisation unit so it appears in both the asset management system and financial management system. Your version control problems are immediately eliminated. Some councils are also starting to push internal systems and public services to the cloud. Usually the logical place to start is moving to new age email and authoring tools like Microsoft Office 365 or Google Docs. However, this then raises important considerations for a council’s ECM strategy. Will my ECM be able to accept emails and documents from these new systems? What about those relying on plugins and connectors to their ECM? Will they work with the new system or will there be a flood of support calls from workers who are unable to store and access information? A futureproofed ECM system that can cater for information from these and other sources is crucial for councils. One that aids their move to the cloud, rather than acting as a hinderance and forcing constant work arounds. It is also important to consider additional costs such as training and change management. For instance, local councils should consider choosing an ECM system that can be used by existing employees without the need for significant investment in training.

 The value of centralised and widely accessible Information

A good example of where a centralised approach to information management can deliver business benefits is with field workers. From building inspections to road repairs, a large proportion of council work is carried out by field workers. If the council made changes to residential building policy, how difficult would it be to disseminate the new information to ensure every building inspector in the field has access to it? Most councils would email the new document to each field worker, which is slow and inefficient. It requires double handling and wastes time due to email follow ups and confirmations. Additionally, there is no guarantee that the worker will use the latest version. But what if the council’s centralised document repository automatically updated the document, and field workers could access it from any phone, tablet or laptop? The latest version would be instantly accessible as the single source of truth and no email correspondence would be required. Workers could even compare previous versions of the document to see what exactly had changed. Furthermore, building inspectors could submit their inspection report from the field along with supporting notes and images. It could be saved centrally, and automatic tagging would allocate the document to the correct business domain. Where required, the council could also automate the workflow to push the tagged inspection report to the next stage in the reporting process. An ECM tool that centralises information makes all of this possible. Employees can access the same pool of information from any device anywhere, and at any time. Security is an added benefit. Consider what would happen if a field worker lost their device or had it stolen. What would happen to the inspection report? Would it be lost forever? Centralised information storage removes this issue.

By Charles kulwa n reg no 42688

Temptation to remain focused on McLuhan

He was right. Perhaps the biggest temptation to dwell on McLuhan is that McLuhan was correct about things that others at the time were not able to perceive or understand. More clearly than most other social observers, McLuhan was able to see past the surface content of television and radio programs, films and books in order to analyze the nature underlying medium, what was special about it, and how it was different from other media.

While others focused of imitation and on counting acts of violence, sexuality or sexism, McLuhan ( 1964/1994) in his most famous pun, attacked this focus on message by declaring, ‘’the medium is the message, emphasis use reshapes people and culture, I’ve called this approach ‘ medium theory- following McLuhan in the singular ‘’ medium as the key message- rather than media ecology or media theory in general, because medium theory focuses on the unusual characteristics that distinguish one medium, or one type of media, from other media( Meyrowitz, 1985)

Even more impressive, McLuhan was able to see past the specific of radio and television to some underlying characteristics that set electronic media (what he called electric media) apart from print media. While others saw general continuity (or simply cultural decline) he saw fundamental difference and transformation.

As Paul Levinson ( 1999) has documented in impressive detail in his book digital McLuhan, McLuhan’s theory are even a better match for the current digital age they were for the communication technologies that existed when McLuhan was writing .indeed, McLuhan spoke about the global village’’ long before there was even a CNN, let alone a world wide web. When McLuhan wrote about electric, media making all of us present to each other across the globe, he did a rather good job of describing a world of email and instant messaging that was beyond the imagination of his contemporaries

As even critics of McLuhan would now have to acknowledge his understanding media gave us the current conceptions about and awareness of media and the information age, it’s difficult to believe today, yet when McLuhan wrote his earliest draft of understanding media in 1959 as high school media curriculum for the  us. National association of educational broadcaster, generally enthusiastic reviewer cautioned that the term media was not in the average teachers vocabulary and would need to be explained clearly ( Gordon, 1997) simply, some early critics’ of McLuhan put the word media in quotes to distance themselves from what they saw as McLuhan odds usage( Burke, 1968 Mroszak)

McLuhan was wrong in some of his predictions, His claims that the end was in sight for baseball, cities, and the automobile seem pretty far off mark. But he was usually right. In understanding media (1964/1994) McLuhan correctly saw that advances in technologies would lead executives to do work once done by servants and secretaries, that it was becoming impossible to isolate minorities and youth from the larger culture.

Characteristics of PR

Kimishua Angela
BAPRM 42583

1. Meaning:
Public relations activities are typically designed to build and maintain a favourable image for an organisation and a favourable relationship with the organization’s various “publics.” These publics may be customers, stockholders, employees, unions, environmentalist, the government, people in local community or some other groups in society
2. Important Managerial Function:
It is an integral part of managerial functions. Many companies operate a special department for the purpose known as public relations department to create and maintain constructive relations with different interested publics. A manager must take concrete steps to manage successful relations with the key publics.
3. Publicity and Public Relations:
It is an extension of publicity. Publicity concerns with getting favourable response from mass media about a company, its products, and its activities while public relations concerns with creating and maintaining constructive relations with various publics over a time.
4. Wide Range of Activity:
Public relations includes a lot of activities to build and maintain long-term and positive relations with a large set of interested publics. It involves a number of interactions, such as contacting, inviting, informing, clarifying, responding, interpreting, dealing, transacting, and so forth.
5. Various Parties:
Public relations covers a number of publics – formal and informal groups. These publics may be customers, stockholders, employees, unions, environmentalists, the government, people in local community, or some other groups in society. The purpose of public relations is to make these parties build positive attitudes about a company.
6. Continuous Process:
Public relations is a continuous process. It starts with inception of business unit and lasts as long as it exists. The firm has to perform public relations activities on a continuous basis. Once the company has established a good image and reputation, such image and positive attitudes may extinguish if they are not monitored or maintained. Similarly, along with expansion of business, it has to build new relations with varied parties at different places.
7. Management Philosophy:
It is fundamentally the management attitudes and managerial philosophy to build and maintain good relations with publics. A company formulates policy to establish public relations. This philosophy is based on building healthy relations with various groups for company’s interest. Management must know the attitudes of publics toward the company’s policy and practice. It considers general interest while taking decisions.
8. All Level Activity:
All the officials from the top level to the supervisory level perform public relations activities. It obvious that officials working at various levels of management can contribute in developing positive relations with different publics like shareholders, customers, traders, service providers, government, and so on. It is the joint duty of all the employees from top to bottom.
9. Routine Activity:
Note that public relations is a part of routine activities. It is not incidental or occasional. Further, it is not taken as distinct activity, but a part of day-to-day activities. It is treated as part of daily activities like purchase, administration, production, marketing, finance, and likewise.
10. Essence of Public Relations:
It is an essential function of marketing department. A company can build, improve, and maintain its image through public relations. Due to the healthy public relations with several publics, the company can smoothly carry out its operations. It is treated as important as production and marketing.
11. Public Relations as a Profession:
In relation to modern management practices, the public relations has become profession. It enjoys professional status. All the characteristics of profession such as specialized knowledge, need of formal education, ethical codes, service motive, continuous development, etc., are also prevalent in public relations.
The professional is called PRO (Public Relations Officer. There are special courses intended to prepare and train successful professional public relations officers. There are professional public relations consultancies to guide businessmen how to build, improve and/or maintain public relations.
12. Public Relations as an Art:
It is, no doubt, an art. To make publics think positively about the company, one must know how to deal with them. The officer  designated as public relations officer (PRO) – must have skills, special qualities, and knowledge to interact successfully with different groups of society to build the long-term constructive relations. He needs special qualities to be the successful PRO.

IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH

CHAMSHAMA DEBORA S. BAPRM 42540
Research refer to the systematic ,investigative process employed to increase or revise current knowledge by discovering new facts .Research is divided into general  categories these are basic research which normally inquiry aimed at increasing scientific knowledge and applied research its effort aimed at using basic research for solving problems or discovering new processes, products or techniques. The following below are importance of research in the practice of international public relations
Research enables management to formulate policies that are acceptable and familiar with a certain environment or depending on the nation culture, research produces suggestions that can lead to the  better products, services and relationship also can define and make the management aware of existing and potential problems also can helpful in determining objectives and strategies of a public relations program.
Research provides emphasis on the listening of the two way street concept and thus satisfies the desires of the people to express their views over the management. As public relations public relations function itself, research provides a means of evaluating the effectives of outbound communication by determining its impact on the public opinion and finally by providing such tangible evidence research can do much to earn support from both management and the public for the counseling services itself.
Research has been a good link of determining the public’s basic attitudes especially in the practice of international public relations research influences groups’ opinions and an organization must understand the background and make up of its audience or public to feel respected for example the management of the large department store about to enter a rural community must rise to first asses how residents feel about large stores in general, after knowing their feelings it can attempt to win public support.
Research helps in determining the opposition strength and weaknesses in every area there must be competition for the better success so in order to win your competitors you must have a knowledge and understand over them and the better way of knowing them is through research for example before a political candidate spends time or money on squelching the oppositions view, research should be applied to determine just how potential the issues is in the minds of the electorates.
Research also helps in positioning public relations efforts within frame work. By tying such research to business goals communications, programs can be more specifically structures to complement a firm’s line objectives for example any business organization or nonprofit organization must have a certain goals and in order to accomplish them as a public relation manager, you must have the knowledge about your public’s culture their way of life especially when your practicing internationally you have to conduct a research so that you can be familiar with different countries’ cultures that can lead to accomplish your organization goals without any biasness.
Research helps in clarifying issues, attitudes are often fuzzy people may say they like something without being specific about the particular characteristics they admire. Research probes deeper to determine what specifically about an issue or product appeals to someone also research helps or assuring you what to do without guessing that these society may be preferring this but research gives you the realities about what to do over a certain society for example an introduction of a company which is dealing with producing  Islamic dressings in Iran or Iraq means you are sure with the market and no one will be biased compare with opening  a shop which dealing with selling bibles in the same countries I mentioned above.
Research is the key to the design and execution of a successfully public relations program in the final instance, information and data must be gathered and fact compiled. It also necessary to have knowledge of target audience, a public practitioner who understand his or her audiences their attitudes, hopes and fear will be better able to formulate messages that appeal specifically to them
Research helps to understand the level of economy of countries means that understanding the economic situation over countries will help you to set a better price which is propositional with their income level for example many companies from chine work or produce products and set price according to the country’s abilities economically the phone which they have been exported to Tanzania are different with those are going to England and this is because the level of income of Tanzanian compare to English people.
Finally research is a vital role in the practice of international public relations because it helps more many organization and companies to achieve their goals after conducting research and discovering the need and the culture of every society or every nation without research many companies and organization would fail but because of research has reached their target so research is important in the practice of International public relations.