Understanding Web 2.0 service models: A knowledge-creating perspective

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Abstract

We examined Web 2.0 services that provide different levels of knowledge exploitation and developed a framework for classifying existing service models from a knowledge-creation perspective. More than 1000 Web 2.0 application sites were analyzed and classified. We termed the two types of service platforms: Experience-Socialization and Intelligence-Proliferation. These involved four types of service models that we termed as Exchanger, Aggregator, Collaborator, and Liberator. These models show the diversity of existing Web 2.0 applications and provide a framework for a better understanding of operating patterns and value propositions within the Web 2.0 paradigm.

Introduction

Web 2.0 is a network platform on which peers contribute to the development of tools, content, and communities on the Internet. It was phrased during a discussion on technology-enabled business models in a brainstorming session of a 2005 conference between Tim O’Reilly and MediaLive International [7]. The term Web 2.0 was intended to distinguish activities from traditional static and passive Web pages as a paradigm of dynamic and interactive knowledge creation on the Internet. On such a platform, users were expected to be able to draw from and contribute to knowledge databases simultaneously. The approach has been broadly used to harness collective intelligence that enriches user experience, provides a unique and hard-to-replicate source of information, but is disruptive to traditional markets.

Since Web 2.0 utilizes highly interactive Web 2.0 technologies and allows user participation in various ways [14], several innovative Web 2.0 service models have emerged, including Wikipedia and Facebook. Knowledge flows in both directions, and can be triggered by individuals from any location at any time. The Web platform acts as an intelligent broker, fostering cooperation and shifting knowledge control from platform providers to widely dispersed users.

With the rapid increase of communication technologies and social software applications, various Web 2.0 platforms are being invented by using different combinations of databases and social networks to stimulate user interaction [12]. Meanwhile, contemporary businesses are facing more and more usage of Internet and Web 2.0 technologies among customers. Firms need to understand how Web 2.0 impacts knowledge management and how the user learning process can be leveraged as a strategic source for service growth and sustained advantage.

Although people can go through the whole learning process of Socialization–Externalization–Combination–Internalization (SECI), various Web 2.0 services have been developed to provide ways to support different stages of this process. The objective of our study was to develop a framework to classify such services. We adopted a knowledge-creating perspective to define different types of service models by analyzing the activities of Web 2.0 applications.

Section snippets

Web 2.0 for knowledge-creating cycle

Web 2.0 technologies build a platform on which users can exchange information, express thoughts, and reconfigure existing explicit knowledge. Such a platform can lead to new and more complex knowledge. Adding an intelligent searching function enables agents and customers to identify needed content wherever it is stored. Such content includes real-time data retrieval from many back-office systems. Hence, in addition to individual knowledge generation, a Web 2.0 platform emerges as a viable

Research method

To examine and categorize Web 2.0 services, we adopted a qualitative approach, which included a literature review, content review, and expert interviews. First, we reviewed the literature to identify elements of service value, operations, and capabilities to conceptualize the service model. We selected two dimensions, the knowledge-creating cycle and the control mechanism, as the criteria for classifying the service models.

The second stage of the process examined the cases through content

Web 2.0 service models

Table 4 summarizes these four service models.

  • Exchanger: This is a platform that enables knowledge socialization and externalization with a low control mechanism. It is usually a Web site that has instant-messaging functions to facilitate exchange of shared experiences via online communication. This kind of service provides a platform such as MSN or Skype that allows users to exchange information via written or voice messages. This peer-to-peer sharing is a form of externalization.

    The content of

Leveraging Web 2.0 service models

As different Web 2.0 services evolve, participants have more opportunity to develop solutions and thus perform with higher potential. Under the different knowledge-creating cycles of Web 2.0 services, specific properties, such as user motivation, platform management, and knowledge-creating service portfolios, need to be addressed to improve knowledge creation.

  • User motivation. Volunteer must be motivated to join an online community [10], [16], [17]. Due to their different focuses, their

Conclusion and recommendations

With the emergence of the Web 2.0 concept, knowledge-creating services are becoming more complicated and require different efforts from both customers and service providers. Although the application of Web 2.0 is in its early stage, with various applications still progressing, the knowledge-creating processes of the platform requires dynamic and contextual management for appropriate knowledge exploitation and to decrease the negative impact of the created knowledge. We identified four

Shari Shang is an associate professor of Management Information Systems at the National Chengchi University in Taiwan. Her professional expertise includes business innovation, business process management, enterprise systems (CRM and ERP), and strategic technology management. She received her Ph.D. in Information Systems from the University of Melbourne in Australia. Her research has been published in Information Systems Journal, International Journal of Technology Management, Behaviour &

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Shari Shang is an associate professor of Management Information Systems at the National Chengchi University in Taiwan. Her professional expertise includes business innovation, business process management, enterprise systems (CRM and ERP), and strategic technology management. She received her Ph.D. in Information Systems from the University of Melbourne in Australia. Her research has been published in Information Systems Journal, International Journal of Technology Management, Behaviour & Information Technology, Service Industries Journal, and Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. Before undertaking her doctoral study, Dr. Shang worked as a Consulting Manager, MIS Manager, Business Analyst, and EDP specialist in global companies such as IBM, KPMG, and AICPA, in both Taiwan and the United States.

Eldon Y. Li is University Chair Professor and Director of Innovation and Incubation Center and Founder of Center for Service Innovation at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. He was Dean of College of Informatics and Director of Graduate Institute of Social Informatics at Yuan Ze University in Taiwan, as well as Professor and Coordinator of MIS Program at the College of Business, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA. He visited the Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong during 1999–2000. He was the Professor and Founding Director of the Graduate Institute of Information Management at the National Chung Cheng University in Chia-Yi, Taiwan. He received his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University in 1982. He has published over 140 papers in various topics related to innovation and technology management, human factors in information technology (IT), strategic IT planning, software quality management, and information systems management. He is the president of International Consortium for Electronic Business and Asia Pacific Decision Sciences Institute in 2007–2008.

Ya-Ling Wu is an assistant professor in the department of Information Management at Tamkang University in Taiwan. She received her Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from National Chengchi University in 2010. Ya-Ling's major research areas are Service Management and Innovation, Knowledge Management, Online Behavior and E-business. Her research has been published in the International Journal of Human Resource Management, Asia Pacific Management Review, Computers & Education, and Service Industries Journal, among other journals.

Oliver C.L. Hou is currently a Ph.D. student in the department of Management Information Systems at National Chengchi University. Oliver's research interests include Software Engineering and Quality, Web 2.0 and E-business. He also has over 15 years of experience in software development and package implementation, especially in the financial sector.

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