Presenter: Prof Ping Zhang, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University (invited by Prof Xingquan Zhu)

Abstract: Social commerce can be briefly described as commerce activities mediated by social media. In social commerce, people do commerce, or intentionally explore commerce opportunities by participating, and/or engaging in a collaborative online environment. As a relatively new phenomenon which was acknowledged in 2005, social commerce presents new opportunities to examine various issues related to technologies, information/content, business strategies, management, and people’s behavior. This seminar presents a qualitative longitudinal study that systematically examines technological features and tools in social commerce websites to illustrate their evolution and impacts on the formation of social commerce practice today, and its potential future. Using live captures by the Wayback Machine, fifteen websites are analyzed from the year they were “born” to the year of 2010. The analyses are guided by a semi-structured checklist of expected and desired tools and features based on a literature review in social commerce. The study finds that activities of social commerce appeared as early as in late 90s and there are different approaches to incorporate social channels and social networks. In addition, the findings support a preliminary classification of social commerce websites, a realignment of the term conceptualization and the anticipation of possible new directions for this market segment.

Brief bio: Dr Ping Zhang is Professor in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. Her research interests include the intellectual development of information related fields; human-centeredness in ICT development, evaluation and use; affective, cognitive, motivational and behavioral aspects of individual reactions towards ICT; and the impact of ICT design and use on individuals, organizations, societies and cultures. She publishes in information systems, human-computer interaction and information science journals and conference proceedings. She is co-editor (with Dennis Galletta) of two edited books on HCI and MIS of the Advances in MIS series (by M.E. Sharpe, 2006), and is co-author (with Dov Te’eni and Jane Carey) of the first HCI textbook for non-CS students (by John Wiley, 2007). Dr. Zhang has received 4 Best Paper awards, 3 nominations for best paper awards, an excellence in teaching award, and two service awards. She and Dennis Galletta are founding Editors-in-Chief for AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction. In addition, she is Senior Editor for the Journal of Associations for Information Systems (JAIS), former Associate Editor for the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS) and Communications of Association for Information Systems (CAIS), on the editorial board of Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS) and Journal of Database Management, and a guest senior editor of 7 special issues for Journal of Association for Information Systems (2004 and 2008), Journal of Management Information Systems (2005), International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (2003 and 2006), International Journal of Human Computer Interaction (2005), and Behavior & Information Technology (2004). Dr. Zhang is co-founder and the first chair (2001-2004) of Association for Information Systems (AIS) Special Interest Group on Human-Computer Interaction (SIGHCI). She received her PhD in Information Systems from the University of Texas at Austin, and M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Computer Science from Peking University, Beijing, China. (http://melody.sry.edu/pzhang).