Exercise 1

An online community is a group of people interacting via a computer network through communications such as newsletters, email, internet social network services or instant messaging rather than face to face, for social, education, professional and many other purposes. Online communities depend upon social interaction and exchange between users online.

These online communities allow the people involved to share their interests, views and thoughts with other like minded people. Websites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo have created the means for online communities generally for people that have some form of real life relationship, whereas, websites like Tapped In (for educational professionals) and Charity Channel (for non-profit professionals) provide a place for professionals to share their experiences and thoughts etc.

Online communities have become important for e-commerce as it allows people to buy and sell goods and services. This 'new' type of community has provided different benefits and opportunities for businesses that were never possible in the past, some of these include online purchasing where a business does not require a physical shop front, which allows small businesses to compete with large enterprise, and also create the ability to advertise to specific groups of people.

Online communities allow for people to rate and comment on a businesses goods or services which allows other potential buyers to determine which items to purchase or whether or not to make a purchase. This rating system has been a large benefit for the online ordering website www.amazon.com, the site is able to bring together like minded people through the use of forums on the products they provide and entice discussion on those particular products. Items are easily ordered from the site through a shopping cart system, a virtual representation of buying groceries at a supermarket, where items can be viewed, then added to the cart and paid for at the 'check-out' through the sites secure payment system.

Price comparison sites are emerging throughout the internet which allows online users to compare prices and products in there own time, 24 hours a day 7 days a week, which saves time and the need to travel all over town finding the best deal. Some sites even allow for user input and discussions on products and even businesses which can help when choosing a product that may require follow up service from the business.