Social commerce

Social commerce is a subset of Electronic commerce in which the active participation of customers and their personal relationships are at the forefront. The main element is the involvement of a customer in the marketing of products being sold. e.g. recommendations and comments from customers. This happens for example when customers publish weblogs with their shopping lists. The term was first introduced by David Beisel [ [http://www.genuinevc.com/archives/2005/12/the_beginnings.htm Genuine VC: (The Beginnings of) Social Commerce ] ] and then picked up on by Steve Rubel, [ [http://www.micropersuasion.com/2005/12/2006_trends_to_.html Micro Persuasion: 2006 Trends to Watch Part II: Social Commerce ] ] and originally referred primarily to sites such as Yahoo!'s shoposphere, and Shopit, where the social component is primarily recommendation and review.

However, the term has been expanded to include a variety of collaborative commerce activities, where the social participation may extend beyond recommendation to collaborative purchasing, such as microPledge, BountyUp, or fundraising (ChipIn, Crowdfunder, Causes on Facebook).

Social commerce, like social shopping and online social networks such as Facebook, is a Web 2.0 business application.

Social commerce can be correlated with Search Engine Optimization as a way to build inbound links and generate user content, all of which are tools to improve a website's search results on a given search engine such as Google.

Academic research on social commerce, focusing on the social networking aspects in online marketplaces and the value implications of this business model for companies running social commerce marketplaces and for individuals participating in these marketplaces, has been conducted by researchers at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business. This research defines social commerce as networks of sellers/shops in online marketplaces, whereas social shopping involves networks of buyers/customers in online marketplaces and online communities. [ [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1150995 "Deriving Value from Social Commerce Networks." Andrew T. Stephen & Olivier Toubia, Columbia University.] ]

ee also

*Collaboration
*Electronic commerce
*Social shopping
*Social networks
*Web 2.0

References

External links

* [http://www.genuinevc.com/archives/2006/11/the_meaning_of_2.htm David Beisel's Review]
* [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1150995 Academic paper on social commerce from Columbia University]