The Effect of Online Societies IRL, Part Four

The benefit isn’t one-sided.  With the rise of E-commerce, there have also been major strides in customer service which has led to a new type of online society.  In today’s online market, the customer review is incredibly important, with a product’s success sometimes directly tied to the star rating it receives from customers online.  In the 2010 Christmas Customer Survey, Channeladvisor.com found that 92% of consumers consult customer reviews of a product before they buy, and 46% said that they bought a product based on the ratings and reviews of that product (http://go.channeladvisor.com).  This new society of online consumers goes even farther, with sites like Yelp.com is a site that allows users to log in and find businesses that other users like or dislike and base their actions on those reviews (yelp.com).  This is a direct example of how the web intermingles with our real lives.  My choice of dinner reservation or dry cleaner or dog groomer can actually be affected by a few lines of text on a screen.  Wouldn’t it be a strange feeling to know that by typing a paragraph about slow service and bad fish that you directly changed how someone else acted?  Mindboggling! 

            One of the best examples of how an online business and customer reviews have offline ramifications is the wildly popular game Angry Birds.  In 2009, Finland-based game company Rovio Moblie Ltd. was heading into bankruptcy.  With over 51 games that never took flight, the developer needed a hit.  They took that flightlessness and formed a game around it that has been downloaded over 200 million times, making it the most popular paid application in the United States.  Rovio didn’t end the Angry Birds brand there.  A slew of non-digital merchandise has hit the market, including plush toys, apparel, bags, and even board games!  Rovio took their digital game and has turned it into an offline brand with merchandise now even available in Walmart (adweek.com).  This would not have happened without the existence of an online society of mobile gamers who support the game and clamor for more.

            It’s not really a surprise to see companies taking full advantage of these immensely populous online societies and shaping them to fir their own needs.  In fact, it is very common to see various online societies working together for common purposes.  For example, much of Facebook.com’s revenue is geneterated through selling advertising space on their site.  In fact, Facebook uses complex algorithms to match up their user with advertisements of products that they are likely to be interested in.  If I post a status update about going with my family to see a hockey game, it’s very likely that within 24 hours, there will be at least a half dozen advertisements for tickets and merchandise to show up on my homepage (facebook.com).  This cooperation between these groups indicates not only the existence and influence of online societies; it also suggests that these societies work collectively to accomplish goals that benefit them all.  In this way, online societies are somewhat like individuals with ambitions and intentions.