The Impact of Social Software on Customer Decision Making Processes

Abstract

As a part of so called Web 2.0 development social software allows internet users not only to consume information as a passive visitor on websites but also to create and edit content and therefore affect customer decision making processes (Lattemann and Stieglitz, 2007). This contribution includes an explorative study on the usage of social software by companies and NGOs. In this context advantages as well as limitations of social software are described. The analysis depicts that NGOs are using different components of social software to build up virtual communities that may directly influence the buying decisions of its members. However, this study shows that companies hardly use Web 2.0 technologies to establish a dialogue among consumers.