Projects and Exercises

Project 1: Network Visits

Visit a social network mentioned in the opening case, Social Network Fever Spreads to the Professions, on pages 731–732, or another of your choosing, and then prepare a short report or presentation describing the major features and benefits provided to users of the network. Then try to determine if the network has any competitors, and if so, visit that network as well, and compare the two. Which of the two do you think is likely to be more successful, and why?

Project 2: Sponsored Communities

Choose a commercial website such as Ford.com or Cisco.com or similar that has created a community page for its customers. Prepare a short report or PowerPoint presentation discussing how community building techniques are being used to support sales of products or services.

Project 3: Specialized Auction Sites

Visit one of the specialized auctions listed in Table 11.5 on page 749 or another of your choosing. Prepare a short report or presentation describing the kinds of products available on the site, how many auctions are running and how many members the site has. How is the site similar to or different from eBay?

Project 4: Old School Auction House

Visit the websites for Sotheby's and Christie's. How are these “old school” auction houses dealing with the online age? What services do they offer online? Do they offer online auctions? Why or why not? Prepare a short report or presentation on these topics.

Project 5: European Portals

What are the major search engine/portal sites in Europe? Investigate this topic on the Web and prepare a report for your class with slides showing with screen shots some of the more popular European sites.