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New communication behaviours in a Web 2.0 world
Customer relationship building
Corporations today have the opportunity to interact with their customers for many more
purposes than just selling products. They could, for example, get the opinions of a target
audience, build brand awareness or just get feedback directly from the market. By taking part
in the social networking environment, a corporation can more easily communicate its own
corporate culture and built up brand awareness among like-minded people in the network. It
can do this directly, through its corporate Web pages, by participating in the social environment
or through interactive elements in the Web portals used by its target audience.
Nike’s approach to new consumers
Nike+
is a social networking Web portal created for people who enjoy
running and socializing with others who run. A small sensor in their shoes
monitors their running performance. The results can be stored on an
Apple iPod and then uploaded to the portal. This allows them to check
their own progress or compare results with friends. At the same time they
will get training advice and useful information. Thanks to Nike+ many
reluctant athletes have started running regularly. And of course the portal
also serves as a useful brand and recognition building tool.
Nike also runs a ‘Nike Running Club’. Three times a week the company
organizes a guided run through Central Park in New York. Runners can
join free of charge and get professional support and supervision. There are
no conditions or payments. However, it has proved a very effective way
to build loyalty. Although not required to do so, many runners wear Nike
shirts and shoes, acting, in effect, like walking advertisements.
Nike is gradually cutting back on its presence in traditional media and
moving into digital media. Its advertisements now appear on YouTube and
other media sharing portals, helping it to attract consumers by word of
mouth.
(From: Story L.: The New Advertising Outlet: Your Life; The New York Times; Oct. 14th
2007; http://www.nytimes.com/ )
Application modernization
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The Web has been with us for ten years. However, the majority of business applications are still
based on Client/Server or mainframe. These applications are expensive to maintain and support
due to their architectural limitations. The lack of robust support for the rich user experience
and complex functionality of the Web previously prevented such applications from leveraging its
power. Now RIA (Rich Internet Applications) technologies have removed this barrier, making it
possible to modernize these heavy and expensive desktop applications in ways that make them
better able to work with the Web. Various integration initiatives as well as adoption of SOA
make application modernization a natural next step.
Summary of Contents for Web 2.0 services
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