Social Commerce and Word Of Mouth :Friends versus Strangers | The Impact of Peer Recommendations of Purchase Intent and Perceived Risk | Glenn PepitoMasters of Business Administration | | | | | |

“Social Media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and YouTube are changing the way the world does business. I think this is in response to our desire to connect with others. Relationship Marketing is all about connecting with people first as human beings and then as customers later. For a real business relationship to work, both parties must receive value. If only one or neither does, that relationship won't continue for long.” -- Terry Brock, Marketing Coach and Syndicated Columnist “Nobody cares how much you know,
Diffusion could be defined as a spread of something. In this case, it is the spread of something that is perceived as new, also called innovation which. In relation to ecommerce innovation can be in the form of new products or services offered by a particular online seller.
Time inolves the following: innovation-decision, innovativeness, and rate of adoption. Innovation decision is a process wherein an individual goes into a mental processes: attitude formation on an innovation, adoption or rejection, implementation and confirmation of decision. Applied to ecommerce this could be similar to the stage where the customer is met the dilemna of whther or not to engage in an online transaction, the decision involved and the confirmation or determining the satisfaction met in the transaction. Innovativeness is the degree a person is willing to accept innovation compared to others due to the risks involved in such innovations. This concept is similar to the risk perceived by consumers in engaging with online transactions. Rate of adoption is the number of peopl who adopts th innovation in given period of time.
Communication channels are the means through which innovation is dessiminated. Communication by definiton is the proccess by which participants, in a social network setting, create