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New communication behaviours in a Web 2.0 world
videos, images and music. And they are a much more effective way for users to stay connected
to, and updated about, the activities of huge numbers of other users on a richer scale than any
one-to-one personal network.
Online social networking services are now starting to replace TV and many other media forms
as places for young consumers to spend their free time, in part because ‘always on’ internet
broadband connections allow them to have unlimited time online. In fact the average consumer
in Europe spends 12 hours a week online and nearly a third spend upwards of 16 hours
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2.2.(v) Fragmentation of consumer markets
Consumer habits are shifting. There is now a higher level of individualism and differentiation.
This in turn is eroding traditional approaches to market segmentation, as consumer groups
become even more segmented
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.
Web 2.0 is strengthening this trend. Every internet user can pursue his or her specific interest
online, be it finding books on very specific topics, or a niche musical taste, and find a network
of like-minded people. In a small community this market group would lack critical mass. On
the internet, all like-minded users can be part of it. The global reach of the internet gives
these niche market segments a large collective population and can provide relevant business
opportunities, not least because potential customers can be reached easily through the internet
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.
Further enhancing such business opportunities is the growing ability of ISPs and service
providers in general to understand their customers in much more detail;
they now have the ability to understand customer habits and behaviours and
classify their users into very specific marketing/opportunity segments.
2.2.(vi) The internet as the main source and transmitter of knowledge
Through internet encyclopaedias such as Wikipedia and information-sharing
Web elements such as blogs, videos and podcasts, not to mention search
powerhouses like Google, the internet is becoming for many people the main
source of information and knowledge development. Much of this knowledge
is based on collaboration (which we referred to earlier as ‘the knowledge of
crowds’).
The internet has also enabled global co-operation in R&D. Research teams
worldwide are co-operating on similar tasks, taking advantage of each
other’s free computing capacity and thus increasing the capacity of the wider
network, an approach similar to peer-to-peer networking
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2.2.(vii) Internet privacy, online security and data ownership
The massive spread of collaboration tools and social networking providers
has a downside, however: it creates new opportunities for security attacks
and data frauds. Hackers have found new ways to attack computers through
applications and mash-ups uploaded on social networking portals. This
approach is growing in popularity as users learn how to deal with email
attacks. In the first half of 2007 Symantec research documented three times
The global reach of the
internet gives niche market
segments a large collective
population and can
provide relevant business
opportunities
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