Project for Chapter 7

Choose either Option A or Option B to submit through Class Moodle site on the Project 7 link.

Option A

The Internet puts small businesses on the same footing as large organizations by providing an inexpensive platform for interacting with customers and selling products and services. With their global reach, social networking sites are a good example of how the Internet can level the playing field. Here are five ways that small businesses can take advantage of these sites:

• Creating local social networks—Small businesses can use sites such as Yelp (www.yelp.com), which help people find local restaurants, dentists, hairstylists, mechanics, and so on. People also use these sites to find out about upcoming events, take advantage of special offers, and talk to other customers.
• Creating a blog or social hub—This allows small businesses to keep customers engaged by creating useful content such as how-to lists or industry insights.
• Using Twitter—This allows small businesses to connect with their consumers in real time.
• Creating a Facebook fan page—This allows small businesses to visualize and build a community that can be customized by adding maps, coupons, and so forth.
• Using a custom wiki—A wiki can be used as a public forum that alerts customers to problems and concerns related to the company’s products and services and resolves issues or answers questions to keep customers engaged.

Answer the questions in a two-page paper submitted through Class Moodle site on link Project 7.

1. How does the Internet put small businesses on the same footing as large organizations?

2. What are two ways social networking sites such as Twitter can help a small business?

3. How can a site such as Yelp help small businesses?

OR

Option B

A properly designed extranet allows companies to reduce internetworking costs and gives participating companies a competitive advantage, which can lead to increased profits. After reading the information presented in this module and other sources, write a two-page paper that identifies three companies that are using extranets as an internetworking platform. List two applications of this platform in each company. What are two challenges that must be overcome for designing a successful extranet?

Answer the questions in a two-page paper submitted through Class Moodle site on link Project 7.