{"id":514,"date":"2020-03-03T15:33:11","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T13:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/?p=514"},"modified":"2020-03-03T15:35:21","modified_gmt":"2020-03-03T13:35:21","slug":"the-traditional-internet-forum-old-but-not-forgotten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/2020\/03\/03\/the-traditional-internet-forum-old-but-not-forgotten\/","title":{"rendered":"The traditional internet forum: old but not forgotten"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our online activity is evolving and new\nforms of social media and online communication and interaction are constantly\ndeveloping. Recent trends include, for example, continued growth of messaging\nplatforms, the rise of augmented and virtual reality, TikTok\u2019s rising\npopularity among Gen Z users, and increasing social (media) commerce. So, a lot\nof new exciting things are happening all across the Web. There is one type of\nonline space, however, that seems to be largely forgotten: the traditional\nInternet forum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Internet forums, or online message boards, have\nbeen around as long as the World Wide Web itself, but have seen a decline in\npopularity over the last decade or so. The main reason is of course the rise of\nsocial media. Much of the discussions online around shared interests, topics,\nor questions are now taking place on, for example, Facebook. So, why bother\nabout Internet forums? Well, I think a lot of interesting stuff is still\nhappening on the traditional Internet forums. In fact, I think many online\nmessage boards offer things to people that social media cannot, or at least\nstruggles with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compared to social media, Internet forums\ntypically have a superior level of organization, structure, searchability, continuity\nand last but not least, anonymity. And all these characteristics of the\nInternet forum can be really helpful and valuable for anybody in search of\ninformation about, or an interest to discuss, a certain topic or question. Some\nInternet forums have evolved into encyclopaedias of collected wisdom and\nknowledge and stretch as far back in time as 20 years. These forums also\ncontinue to be gold mines for marketing researchers and companies trying to\nunderstand consumers\u2019 opinions, preferences, activities, and experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great example of an Internet forum that still\nsees a lot of activity is MacRumors<\/a>. MacRumors<\/a> has a very active community of\nApple users that discuss everything from purchasing decisions to technical\naspects across the entire array of Apple products. This particular forum has\nbeen around since 2000 and also features a great archive of old discussion threads.\nIt is interesting to go back and read these old discussions and see, for\nexample, how wrong initial consumer reactions can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As many of you might know, Steve Jobs\nintroduction of the iPod in 2001 not only saved Apple from bankruptcy, but also\nset the company on a trajectory towards becoming the consumer electronics giant\nwe know today. However, in a thread labelled \u201cApple\u2019s New Thing (iPod)\u201d a few loyal\nApple fanboys of the day were quite sceptical of this new product: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis isn’t revolutionary!<\/strong><\/p>

I still can’t believe this! All this hype for something so ridiculous! Who cares about an MP3 player? I want something new! I want them to think differently!<\/p>

Why oh why would they do this?! It’s so wrong! It’s so stupid!\u201d \u2013 WeezerX80, posted October 23, 2001<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo ***** Way<\/strong>

All that hype for an MP3 player? Break-thru digital device? The Reality Distortion Field is starting to warp Steve’s mind if he thinks for one second that this thing is gonna take off.\u201d \u2013 nobody special, posted October 23, 2001<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there were also a few positive\nreactions in the same discussion thread of the forum: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cnot that disappointing<\/strong><\/p>

The reason why everyone’s disappointed is because we had our hopes up for this incredible device that would do everything you could possibly use the word “digital” in and most of the things you can’t. The truth is that is really is revolutionary. 5 gigs? Where do you see 5 gigs in an Mp3 player?<\/p>

If Apple had gone with something completely and utterly new, it would probably go down the hole that the cube and the newton went down… they were ahead of their time, and suffered because of it. Apple can’t have another disaster like the Cube, so they decided to stay just a bit ahead of the game. As long as apple markets it effectively, I think it’s gonna do really well.<\/p>

The product really looks great, give it a chance guys!\u201d \u2013 greatm31, posted October 23, 2001<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWow! Great Job Apple!<\/strong><\/p>

This is not like any other MP3 player on the market, imagine being able to store several days worth of music at once! The iPod will be great for travelers, students, heck anyone who is really into music.\u201d \u2013 schmoe, posted October 23, 2001<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Now, the really exciting thing is that we\ncould, in the same way, backtrack the buzz and customer sentiment on this forum\nfollowing literally every product launch made by Apple since 2000. It might not\ngive us insights as to which products will fail or succeed in the future, but\ncould definitely further our understanding of topics such as customer loyalty, e-word-of-mouth\n(WOM), customer feedback, customer acceptance of innovations, customer buying behaviour,\ncustomer engagement, customer perceptions, emotions and attitudes. Internet\nforums in their traditional forms might slowly be dying, but they arguable\nstill have a lot to offer to observant marketing and consumer researchers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gustav Medberg<\/a><\/em>
Postdoctoral Researcher<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P.S. For anybody interested in qualitative marketing\nresearch online, I recommend learning more about the method \u201cNetnography\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/forums.macrumors.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heinonen, K. and Medberg, G. (2018), \u201cNetnography\nas a tool for understanding customers: implications for service research and\npractice\u201d, Journal of Services Marketing<\/em>,\nVol. 32 No. 6, pp. 657-679.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kozinets, R.V. (2019), Netnography: The Essential Guide to Qualitative Social Media Research<\/em>, 3rd Edition, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos: Unsplash<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our online activity is evolving and new forms of social media and online communication and interaction are constantly developing. Recent trends include, for example, continued growth of messaging platforms, the rise of augmented and virtual reality, TikTok\u2019s rising popularity among Gen Z users, and increasing social (media) commerce. So, a lot of new exciting things …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,46,45,15,29],"class_list":["post-514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cers-blog","tag-netnography","tag-consumer","tag-consumers","tag-marketing","tag-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":518,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions\/518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}