The document outlines various case studies on the impact of social media and online communities, highlighting examples from notable companies like Dell, Threadless, and Zynga. It emphasizes the effectiveness of crowd-sourcing, emotional investment, and creating engaged communities for businesses to thrive in online spaces. Key concepts such as social capital, connection types, and community growth are also discussed.

1. COMP 113
Social Media & Online Communities, Summer School 2012
4: SM case studies & Online community

2. PART 1: Social media
case studies
2

3. Case 1
3

4. 4

5. Social media numbers
3, 279,102 friends 620,359 friends
1,043, 850 friends 218,172 friends
1,824 videos uploaded 330 videos uploaded
Channel Views: 20,024,491 Channel Views: 2,221,268
137, 206 followers 4, 848 Followers
[Source: Rahaf Harfoush 2008] 5

6. Other numbers
 Overall funds raised:
– McCain $360 million
– Obama $639 million
 September ($150 million):
– 67% online
– 33% offline
 1 million SMS subscribers
 1 billion emails sent
6

7. MyBarackObama.com
 2 Million profiles created
 35,000 volunteer groups
 400,000 blog posts
 200,000 offline events
 70,000 people raised $30
million on personal fund
pages
[Source: Rahaf Harfoush 2008] 7

8. [Source: Edelman, 2009] 8

9. Case 2
9

10. Business practice
 Dell
 Threadless
 Zappos
 Cisco
 Air New Zealand
 The Wine Vault
 Giapo’s
 ...

11. Dell’s social media goals
 Enter into conversations with customers everyday in
every major language
 Address any form of customer dissatisfaction head-on
knowing that not everything will be solved and some of
Dell’s weaknesses will be exposed
 Encourage "crowd sourcing" as the next step in listening
to customers
 Use video to personalize the Dell story
--John Pope, digital media senior manager

12. “1 million in 2008”
“3 million in 2009”

13. The Dell care team
 1,000 people certified to tweet, blog and post
on behalf of the company
 Social Media Listening Command Centre
(“25,000 conversations happening a day
focused on Dell, in any of 11 languages.”)

14. My anecdote

19. Case 3
19

20. Threadless
 Ongoing online t-shirt competition
 Designs submitted by community
 Best designs voted on by community
 Winning designs then offered for sale

21.  “Threadless sold $6.2
million worth of merch
last year and has pretty
much quadrupled in size
each year for the past four
years. This year’s target =
$18-$20 million.”
--http://www.37signals.com/

22. Why did it work?
 Self-sustaining
 Devoted community
 Publicity is free and viral
 Quality site and products
 Fun + playful = engaging
 Limited editions
 DIY = credibility
 Strong brand

23. Case 4
23

24. 24

25. Zynga numbers
 Created in 2007
 Obtained 180 million in new investment
 156 (206) employees at start of 2009
 561 (712 ) employees at end of 2009
 Revenue estimated at $300 million
 90 percent of revenue selling "virtual goods"
[Source: http://blogs.reuters.com/] 25

26. 26

27. Case 5
27

29. Approach
 Used social media for a year
 Began with filmed wine tastings
 Wine Vault TV = 50,000 views (2009)
 Website built by Twitter contacts
 Business grew by 20-25%
 Gave up all paid advertising (zero advertising
budget

34. Case 6
34

35. Skittles
35

36. 36

37. 37

38. 38

40. What have we
learned?
40

41. COMMERCIAL BREAK
41

42. PART 2: Online community & social
networks
42

43. Online community
 Common
interests
 Reciprocity
 Emotional
investment
 Time
 Social capital

45. Lurkers
45

46. Lurkers

47. Newbies

48. Regulars

49. Leaders
49

50. Elders

51. Officials
founders
hosts
techies
moderators
administrators
community

52. Online community theoretical stuff
 Also referred to as “virtual communities”
 Based on computer-mediated communication
 Key folk: Rheingold, Jones, Wellman, boyd, …
 Interesting elements:
– Social networks
– Social capital
– Ties
– Friends
– Dunbar number

53. 53

54. What is social capital?
“… the processes between people which
establish networks, norms and social
trust and facilitate co-ordination and co-
operation for mutual benefit.”
–Eva Cox (1992)

55. Strength of ties
 Grew out of social capital research
(Granovetter)
 Differentiated along four criteria:
– Time
– Emotional intensity
– Mutual confidence (trust)
– Reciprocity
 Types: Bonding (strong), bridging (weak), &
latent ties

56. Close associate
Strong vs. weak ties Distant associate
Weak tie
Strong tie
YOU
Amazing new
connection

57. 57

58. What about “friends”?
58

59. The Dunbar Number
59

60. Let’s test the Dunbar number!
1. Go to your Facebook profile
2. Find out how many “friends” you have
3. Write it on the white board in a column
4. Work out the average for the class
5. How does it compare to the Dunbar #?
60

61. We want a growing and thriving
community!  next week

62. THE END
62