Evaluating Online Forums as a Customer Service Tool for Consumer Products

INTRODUCTION Online social media have gained tremendous popularity among Internet users. Millions of consumers share personal information as well as their knowledge with others, many of whom are strangers, using online communities such as blogs, social network sites, and online bulletin boards. These online communities cover a wide variety of topics and interest groups (see, for example, Byrne (2008) on black social networks such as BlackPlanet.com; Barnett & Hwang (2003) on online forums for breast cancer patients, Schroeder, et al. (2010) on using social software in higher education, and Wasko, et al. (2009) on communications within an online legal professional association network). Online retailers also implement social media tools to allow customers to learn about new and existing products, obtain technical support, and even express their opinions about the products they have used. In this research, we focus on online forums that are implemented primarily to provide customer service. In spite of the popularity of using online forums as a customer service tool, little research has been done to examine the effectiveness and the social nature of these forums. For example, are these forums useful in providing technical or product advice? Do consumers receive the information they seek? Do forum members actually form a well-connected support group or a community? In order to answer these research questions, our study examines communication activities from a range of online forums, allowing us to conduct extensive analysis and to investigate the social structures that exist and communication activities that occur within the online communities. We select online forums that were created to support two types of consumer products: mobile phones and MP3 players. These two products are often used on a daily basis and have a large worldwide consumer base. Unlike past studies focusing online communities of experts in specific industries (e.g., financial services: Schoberth, et al. (2006) or professional legal services: Wasko & Faraj (2000); Wasko & Faraj (2005) that are not necessarily applicable to general consumers, the forums included in our study support a broad consumer base. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, none of the previous studies on online forums examined online communities that are implemented primarily as a customer service feature. We also select the online forums whose participants come from diverse backgrounds and geographical locations to ensure that our findings can be generalized. We developed a software application that employed advanced data collection techniques to compile a complete archive of information stored on each online forum. Our comparative and social network analysis (SNA) allows us to extend the results from past studies and gain additional insights into the nature and effectiveness of using online forums as a customer service tool. PAST RESEARCH ON ONLINE COMMUNITIES Research on online communities spans a broad spectrum of academic fields. Past studies in communications research examined the information exchange that takes place in an online environment (e.g., Sohn & Leckenby, 2007; Liu, 2008). In the field of Marketing, research on word-of-mouth communication encompassed both offline and online environments. Past studies (e.g., Bampo, et al., 2008; Godes & Mayzlin, 2004; Richins, 1983; Putsis et al., 1997; Kozinets, 2002) provided an excellent overview of research in this area. In Organizational Behavior, researchers have examined the nature of virtual organizations and the behavior of their participants (Constant, et al., 1994; Constant, et al., 1996; Desantis & Monge, 1999). Other academic disciplines that have substantial interest in this research topic include Economics (e.g., Ellison & Fudenberg, 1995) and Sociology (e.g., Van den Bulte & Lilien, 2001). In the past decade, the topic of online communities has also piqued the interest of scholars in Information Systems. …