Communities without faces<\/p>\n
By Tjipto Ramuni<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Roy Sembel is a financial and investment expert.
\nHe assigns himself to educate people so that they will have a
\nbetter understanding about money and investment. Hence, almost
\nall of his writings are influenced by this \"personal\" assignment.<\/p>\n
Last year, he traveled across the country to speak at
\nseminars. The topic of the seminars were, of course, about money
\nand investment - how to build a business or make an investment so
\nthat they would yield maximum profit.<\/p>\n
He wrapped his talk with a catchy phrase, \"Planting and taking
\ncare of the money tree.\"<\/p>\n
Most people who attended the seminars, which were held in
\nmajor cities, were interested in Sembel's idea of planting and
\ntaking care of the money tree. Sembel then created a website
\n(www.roy-sembel.com) for people to discuss, exchange information,
\nshare experiences or simply read about what others did with their
\nmoney tree.<\/p>\n
Sembel does not just let visitors to his website discuss
\nwithout direction. As an expert, Sembel comments and answers
\nquestions asked by members of the community.<\/p>\n
The money tree community was established by Sembel
\nunintentionally. His task of educating the people about
\ninvestment has been made easier because people interested in the
\nsubject are in one mailing list and can receive Sembel's
\neducation by accessing his website.<\/p>\n
The community which Roy Sembel has created is a virtual
\ncommunity on the Internet. However, it was built in a different
\nway. Virtual communities are usually formed by launching the
\nwebsite first, then inviting people to join them. In Sembel's
\ncase, he traveled to several cities in the country, first to seek
\nout people interested in investment, then he created the website
\nand a mailing list.<\/p>\n
The BCA community has actually been formed a long time ago.
\nIts members are the some 7 million people who have a BCA savings
\naccount.<\/p>\n
This is an extraordinarily large number. These people have
\nsomething in common: they trust their bank with their money.<\/p>\n
Although it has not been officially launched, BCA's website
\nwww.klikbca.com does not only function as a \"brochure\" for BCA,
\nbut also allows clients to make any kind of transaction usually
\ndone at the bank. Everything can be done here, except
\nwithdrawals.<\/p>\n
What BCA is yet to do with the website is maximally use its
\nclients' common interest. A special channel can be created in the
\nwebsite for the community to discuss or share their experience.
\nIt can even disseminate information about the bank or its new
\nproducts. It would also be easier for the bank's management to
\nintroduce new policies to its members.<\/p>\n
The money tree and BCA communities described above are very
\ndifferent from communities created by other websites in the
\ncountry. Detikcom, which is visited by some one million people a
\nmonth, is among those who build their virtual communities by only
\nusing the Internet.<\/p>\n
It means the website invites people to join Detikcom. On the
\nwebsite, people can choose which communities they want to join,
\naccording to their interests. The communities are about, among
\nothers, entertainment, finance and politics.<\/p>\n
Another website which built virtual communities in a similar
\nway to Detikcom is Kompas Cyber Media (KCM)(www.kompas.com),
\nwhich is one of the oldest website in the country. Only in the
\nlast two years has KCM been more serious in building its
\ncommunity.<\/p>\n
When ties among members of virtual communities are not strong
\nenough, their members commit \"treason\" by moving to other
\ncommunities they consider more beneficial. It is arguable if
\nvisitors to this kind of website can be called a community.<\/p>\n
However, the ties among members of the money tree community
\nand klikbca.com are strong because it is difficult for members to
\nfind other communities which can replace their current
\ncommunities.<\/p>\n
Another virtual community which is effective and has strong
\nties among its members is at www.globalsource.com.. This virtual
\ncommunity of suppliers and buyers from all over the world is the
\nmost effective community on e-commerce in the country.<\/p>\n
Another virtual community worth mentioning is the radio
\ncommunity, radioklik.com.. The website cleverly makes listeners
\nof radio stations members of its community. The website pays the
\nstations to air commercials on the website everyday. So
\nsubconsciously listeners click onto the website if they want to
\nbuy a CD or electronic appliance.<\/p>\n
However, two question can be raised: Is this a real community?
\nCan communities be used for commercial purposes?<\/p>\n
These questions are worth asking for several reasons. First,
\nthe number of people who have access to the Internet is still
\nrelatively low. Internet users in the country amount to only
\nthree percent or about six million people. Some of these people
\ndo not have high purchasing power, and they access the Internet
\nfrom their offices, from other people's computers, or from
\nInternet kiosks, and not from their own homes.<\/p>\n
These people do not have computers and do not intend to buy
\none as they want to save on their telephone bills and Internet
\nService Provider subscriptions.<\/p>\n
However, people's curiosity of the Internet deserves two
\nthumbs up. But again, do they really have the purchasing power to
\nbe included in a virtual community? Furthermore, these six
\nmillion people may not be interested in the community in which
\nthey have become members since the Internet is still a new
\nphenomenon here. So these people will only add to the number
\nwithout \"actually being\" in the community.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, there is no better or effective way to grab the
\nInternet market in the country than to rely on this community
\nsegmentation. However, this kind of community is not as solid as
\nthe ones in the real world.<\/p>\n
Take a community of perkutut bird lovers for an example. Its
\nmembers clearly have something in common i.e they are perkutut
\nbird lovers. Their needs are predictable and their monthly
\nspending on perkutut are measurable. Virtual communities, on the
\nother hand, are like communities without faces. We do not know
\nwho they really are, what their needs are and how much they spend
\nevery month.<\/p>\n
However, someday when the Internet becomes a daily necessity,
\nas in developed countries, virtual communities can be used
\nmaximally to target a segmented market.<\/p>",
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