Developing an Online Business Community: A Travel Industry Case Study

Many businesses are now using online communities to interact with their customers and to realise the many benefits such communities offer. However, there remains little understanding of how such communities should be developed and maintained. A case study of Lonely Planet examines the way in which the travel publisher has established a vibrant online community with more than 250,000 members. Analysis shows that the company has integrated the elements of a socially constructed community with those of a business one. Lonely Planet has increased the value proposition for their customers while nurturing a sense of social belonging. An examination of a successful business-sponsored online community contributes to more understanding of how such communities can be developed.

[1]  The dissemination of information by means of travel agency extranets , 1998 .

[2]  Samer Faraj,et al.  Why Should I Share? Examining Social Capital and Knowledge Contribution in Electronic Networks of Practice , 2005, MIS Q..

[3]  Lois W. Sayrs.  Interviews : an introduction to qualitative research interviewing , 1996 .

[4]  Jacques Bughin,et al.  The Operational Performance of Virtual Communities - Towards a Successful Business Model? , 2000, Electron. Mark..

[5]  S. Wilson,et al.  The Anthropology of Online Communities , 2002 .

[6]  S. R. Hiltz.  Online communities , 1983 .

[7]  Quentin Jones,et al.  Virtual-Communities, Virtual Settlements & Cyber-Archaeology: A Theoretical Outline , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[8]  Peter O'Connor,et al.  Electronic Information Distribution in Tourism and Hospitality , 1999 .

[9]  G. Hutton.  Net gain: Expanding markets through virtual communities , 1998 .

[10]  R. Kozinets.  The Field behind the Screen: Using Netnography for Marketing Research in Online Communities , 2002 .

[11]  Geoff Walsham,et al.  Interpretive case studies in IS research: nature and method , 1995 .

[12]  Daniel R. Fesenmaier,et al.  Assessing Motivation of Contribution in Online Communities: An Empirical Investigation of an Online Travel Community , 1998, Electron. Mark..

[13]  Marko Čupić,et al.  Online communities – Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability , 2003 .

[14]  D. Silverman.  Interpreting Qualitative Data , 1993 .

[15]  J. Schofield.  Increasing the generalizability of qualitative research. , 1993 .

[16]  Hannes Werthner,et al.  Information Technology and Tourism — A Challenging Relationship , 1999 .

[17]  Jenny Preece,et al.  Online Communities: Designing Usability and Supporting Sociability , 2000 .

[18]  S. Kvale.  Interviews : an introduction to qualitative research interviewing , 1996 .

[19]  Gerhard Knolmayer,et al.  Application Service Providing (ASP) , 2000, Wirtschaftsinf..

[20]  Ellen Rose.  Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 1999 , 2001 .

[21]  Jun Li.  Electronic Commerce: Strategies and Models for Business‐to‐Business Trading , 2003 .

[22]  Chris Werry,et al.  Imagined Electronic Community: Representations of Virtual Community in Contemporary Business Discourse , 1999, First Monday.

[23]  G. A. Hillery.  Definitions of community : Areas of Agreement , 1955 .

[24]  Gary Inkpen,et al.  Information Technology for Travel and Tourism , 1994 .

[25]  T. M. Harrison,et al.  Researching and Creating Community Networks , 1999 .

[26]  A. Tjoa,et al.  Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism , 1996, Springer Vienna.

[27]  Eric Walden,et al.  Some Value Propositions of Online Communities , 2000, Electron. Mark..

[28]  J. Preece,et al.  Online communities: focusing on sociability and usability , 2002 .

[29]  Peter Weill,et al.  Place to Space: Migrating to Ebusiness Models , 2001 .

[30]  D. Fesenmaier,et al.  Modeling Participation in an Online Travel Community , 2004 .

[31]  Craig Standing,et al.  Re-engineering Travel Agencies with the World Wide Web , 1998, Electron. Mark..

[32]  D. Hindman.  The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier , 1996 .

[33]  S. J. Backman,et al.  Can Tourism Providers Buy their Customers’ Loyalty? Examining the Influence of Customer-Provider Investments on Loyalty , 2004 .

[34]  Petra Schubert,et al.  Business Models for Mobile Communities , 2005, Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[35]  Christopher Peter Lueg,et al.  Virtual Communities as Challenges to Real Companies , 2001, PACIS.