X-posted from custardether.co.uk

Well, it has taken a little longer than I anticipated to formulate my account of the recent NLab Social Networks conference, held at DMU on 19th June, following the IOCT Salon.  However, I have finally made sense of all of my notes!  So, without further ado, as they say….

The Opening Address

 

Professor David Asch opened the conference by briefly putting Leicester in the context of the day’s theme of social networking – a diverse community working to connect and network to build cohesion.  He noted that there is a need to academically examine how social networking is affecting us – whether it is making life better or more complex.  He highlighted the role of DMU in this process and the academic work going on here.

 

Professor Asch’s own research covered business competitiveness at the turn of the millennium – looking in particular at the impact of the Internet on the way companies compete in terms of economic theory. He noted the difference between searchable and unsearchable items in relation to internet sales: searchable items have defined and can therefore be purchased online or offline.  However, if you are purchasing an unsearchable item (usually a service) – how do you know what you are buying or whether what you have bought was the best that you could?  Asch’s interest was therefore in the way in which the internet and social networks have developed to address this problem since he was researching the issue from an economics stance in the late 90s.

 

What became apparent throughout the day was that the development of social communities on the internet does not just benefit those purchasing “unsearchable” items.  Social networks allow internet users to get advice and recommendations about all types of retailers, and to make better informed decisions about which retailers to trust, regardless of the type of product they are buying.  The key to the day was developing an understanding of how to harness this proactively both for marketing purposes and for the management of company image….