Viral Marketing: Identifying Likely Adopters Via Consumer Networks

We investigate the hypothesis: those consumers who have communicated with a customer of a particular service have increased likelihood of adopting the service. We survey the diverse literature on such "viral marketing," providing a categorization of the specific research questions asked, the data analyzed, and the statistical methods used. We highlight a striking gap in the literature: no prior study has had both of the two key types of data necessary to provide direct support for the hypothesis: data on communications between consumers, and data on product adoption. We suggest a type of service for which both types of data are available telecommunications services. Then, for a particular telecommunication service, we show support for the hypothesis. Specifically, we show three main results. 1) there is such a "viral" effect and it is statistically significant, resulting in take rates 3-5 times greater than a baseline group; 2) attributes constructed from the consumer network can improve models for ranking of targeted customers by likelihood of adoption, and 3) observing the network allows the firm to target new customers that would have fallen through the cracks, because they would not have been identified based solely on the traditional set of attributes used for marketing by the firm. We close with a discussion of challenges and opportunities for research in this area. For example, can one determine whether the reason for the viral effect is customer advocacy (e.g., via "word of mouth") versus network-identified homophily?Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Viral Marketing: Identifying Likely Adopters Via Consumer Networks

We investigate the hypothesis: those consumers who have communicated with a customer of a particular service have increased likelihood of adopting the service. We survey the diverse literature on such "viral marketing," providing a categorization of the specific research questions asked, the data analyzed, and the statistical methods used. We highlight a striking gap in the literature: no prior study has had both of the two key types of data necessary to provide direct support for the hypothesis: data on communications between consumers, and data on product adoption. We suggest a type of service for which both types of data are available telecommunications services. Then, for a particular telecommunication service, we show support for the hypothesis. Specifically, we show three main results. 1) there is such a "viral" effect and it is statistically significant, resulting in take rates 3-5 times greater than a baseline group; 2) attributes constructed from the consumer network can improve models for ranking of targeted customers by likelihood of adoption, and 3) observing the network allows the firm to target new customers that would have fallen through the cracks, because they would not have been identified based solely on the traditional set of attributes used for marketing by the firm. We close with a discussion of challenges and opportunities for research in this area. For example, can one determine whether the reason for the viral effect is customer advocacy (e.g., via "word of mouth") versus network-identified homophily?Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Distributing Event Information by Simulating Word-of-Mouth Exchanges

Word-of-mouth is a persuasive but error-prone and unreliable mode of communicating personally relevant event information in a university environment. In this paper we present a design, early prototype, and the results of preliminary usability tests for Augmented Word-of-mouth Exchange (AWE), a portable system that models and enhances word-of-mouth communications

Internet on mobiles: evolution of usability and user experience

The mobile Internet is no longer a new phenomenon; the first mobile devices supporting web access were introduced over 10 years ago. During the past ten years technology and business infrastructure have evolved and the number of mobile Internet users has increased all over the world. Service user interface, technology and business infrastructure have built a framework for service adaptation: they can act as enablers or as barriers. Users evaluate how the new technology adds value to their life based on multiple factors. This dissertation has its focus in the area of human-computer interaction research and practices. The overall goal of my research has been to improve the usability and the user experience of mobile Internet services. My research has sought answers to questions relevant in service development process. Questions have varied during the years, the main question being: How to design and create mobile Internet services that people can use and want to use? I have sought answers mostly from a human factors perspective, but have also taken the elements form technology and business infrastructure into consideration. In order to answer the questions raised in service development projects, we have investigated the mobile Internet services in the laboratory and in the field. My research has been conducted in various countries in 3 continents: Asia, Europe and North America. These studies revealed differences in mobile Internet use in different countries and between user groups. Studies in this dissertation were conducted between years 1998 and 2007 and show how questions and research methods have evolved during the time. Good service creation requires that all three factors: technology, business infrastructure and users are taken in consideration. When using knowledge on users in decision making, it is important to understand that the different phases of the service development cycle require the different kind of information on users. It is not enough to know about the users, the knowledge about users has to be transferred into decisions. The service has to be easy to use so that people can use it. This is related to usability. Usability is a very important factor in service adoption, but it is not enough. The service has to have relevant content from user perspective. The content is the reason why people want to use the service. In addition to the content and the ease of use, people evaluate the goodness of the service based on many other aspects: the cost, the availability and the reliability of the system for example. A good service is worth trying and after the first experience, is it worth using. These aspects are considered to influence the 'user experience' of the system. In this work I use lexical analysis to evaluate how the words "usability" and "user experience" are used in mobile HCI conference papers during the past 10 years. The use of both words has increased during the period and reflects the evolution of research questions and methodology over time

Constructionism through mobile interactive knowledge elicitation (MIKE) in human-computer interaction

Mobile computing holds significant as-yet unknown applications of interest in the field of Cyberscience (e-Science) methods. This thesis provides a diverse exploration into the advancement of HC1 theory through the development and testing of mobile cyberscience tools. This is done by synthesising new metrics from learning epistemologies, with the benefits that can be provided by mobile computing solutions. This thesis aims to explore how mobile cyberscience can improve HCI knowledge elicitation (KE) methods. A review of the current state of the art in mobile computing and mobile HCI demonstrates that there is very little reported research in the direction of applying mobile computing to HCI theory (rather than the reverse which is demonstrated to be significantly considered in academia). This motivates a review of the current methods and cyberscience-based tools in the domain of KE in HCI, with several prototype mobile tool designs discussed. A review of candidate grounding theories in pedagogical epistemologies is then covered to build a theoretical foundation for this work. This facilitates the acquisition of a mobile-applicable investigation candidate, namely Constructionism theory, for software modelling in mobile computing methods in HCI KE. A framework for investigating constructionism is designed and presented, describing three key models that extend the domain of HCI KE theory. Through the design, implementation and testing (both expert and user testing) of several mobile computing tools for HCI KE, termed MIKE (Mobile Interactive Knowledge Elicitation) tools, these three key models of constructionism are explored through empirical research and are reported in this thesis as separate case studies. Case study 1 investigates the use of inert constructionism through the use of card sorting. Case Study 2 investigates the use of semi-dynamic constructionism through the use of affinity diagramming. Case Study 3 investigates the use of dynamic constructionism, through the use of low fidelity paper prototyping. The findings from these case studies indicate that mobile cyberscience has a significant scope for application in the practice of current-day HCI methods, and that new qualitative measures in HCI can be acquired through mobile cyberscience tools. There are three main contributions of this thesis that provide practitioners, educators and researchers in HCI with new knowledge. Firstly, the fields of mobile computing and mobile HCI are expanded with the empirically tested simulation of the techniques of card sorting, affinity diagramming and low-fidelity paper prototyping in HCI theory through mobile software. Secondly, a developed framework of constructionism theory successfully enhances the field of HCI KE, contributing to the growth of grounding theories in the field of HCI through the findings of three separately reported case studies. Lastly, cyberscience research for HCI has been given an expansion of research in the area of augmenting HCI with mobile computing. This is achieved through the user centred design, development and user testing of several mobile tools incorporating facilities unique to HCI practitioners, educators and researchers, leading to several related peer-reviewed publications