{"id":146,"date":"2018-11-16T10:20:57","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T10:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.veritay.co.uk\/?p=146"},"modified":"2018-11-16T10:20:57","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T10:20:57","slug":"user-online-communities-uses-and-pitfalls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.veritay.co.uk\/?p=146","title":{"rendered":"User Online Communities \u2013 Uses and Pitfalls?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Online communities are a popular way for organisations to gather information and insights and to better understand users\u2019 views of their existing and potential products and services.<\/p>\n<p>These usually by-invitation-only \u2018Voice of the Consumer\u2019 moderated communities also enable users share opinions, connecting with other users, exchange advice and exchange with the brand. Naturally, promoting participation is vitally important to organisations that wish to engage with users if such a community is to thrive and provide valuable feedback.<\/p>\n<p>This begs the question as to why consumers would want to become part of such an online community if invited so to do and what resulting biases might arise?\u00a0 Similar attitudes can derive from different motivations.\u00a0 Which might cause users to join and actively participate?<\/p>\n<p>Psychological \u2018Social Identity Theory\u2019 can help us here.\u00a0 Online communities play a social function for their members with like-minded or similarly interested individuals.\u00a0 It is a silo of sorts.\u00a0 They provide participants with a degree of enhanced self-worth, because they perceived they are being listened to and have some degree influence over organisation\u2019s decisions \u2013 otherwise they wouldn\u2019t have been chosen to join.<\/p>\n<p>So, why join?\u00a0 It might be to;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Find out, or learn more about, or in some way assist the organisation, its products or services<\/li>\n<li>Gain financial or other incentives in return for participation<\/li>\n<li>Provide a virtual soap box for the individual to express their views<\/li>\n<li>Support their self-identity as invested in the brand, products and\/or services<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The online community itself can provide participants with a form of social self-identification by differentiation between members (us) with non-members (them).\u00a0 This emotional attachment is akin to being in a tribe.\u00a0 The strength of motivations for the individual can influence the degree of engagement in such communities.<\/p>\n<p>This is also a two-way street as, for example, the organisation can communicate privileged information to the members of the community (us) that only they know and not to others (them).\u00a0 A real conversation is a vital element of inclusion.<\/p>\n<p>Research suggests that social and self-identity-supporting user motivations are particularly important in driving participation on online communities.\u00a0 Great.\u00a0 But there\u2019s a problem.\u00a0 Membership becomes part of who users are and consequently they become more subjective.\u00a0 They may identify too closely with the brand, and over criticise competitors to support their self-perceived status in the community.<\/p>\n<p>Also, if participants have significant time and\/or resources invested in the brand, they may defend their purchase decision at all costs, especially in the face of objective criticism.\u00a0 This may be overlain with the tendency to post-rationalise positive aspects of our purchase to justify the user\u2019s choice to themselves and others engaging in the online community.\u00a0 Also, the participant may express views online in a way they would not if face-to-face or over the telephone.<\/p>\n<p>These biases are not inevitable, nor do they necessary apply in all circumstances or to all participants.\u00a0 Indeed, they can become inverted. But it is as well be cognisant of the possibility of bias and to attempt to design-out opportunities to express such biases as far as possible \u2013 and to recognise them when they do occur.<\/p>\n<p>Good research avoids supporting the pre-judged view but illuminates the scene instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Online communities are a popular way for organisations to gather information and insights and to better understand users\u2019 views of their existing and potential products and services. These usually by-invitation-only \u2018Voice of the Consumer\u2019 moderated communities also enable users share opinions, connecting with other users, exchange advice and exchange with the brand. Naturally, promoting participation &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veritay.co.uk\/?p=146\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">User Online Communities \u2013 Uses and Pitfalls?<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>User Online Communities \u2013 Uses and Pitfalls? - Veritay<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.veritay.co.uk\/?p=146\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"User Online Communities \u2013 Uses and Pitfalls? - Veritay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Online communities are a popular way for organisations to gather information and insights and to better understand users\u2019 views of their existing and potential products and services. These usually by-invitation-only \u2018Voice of the Consumer\u2019 moderated communities also enable users share opinions, connecting with other users, exchange advice and exchange with the brand. 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