ABSTRACT
Since the late 1990s, the World Wide Web has been transforming into a more interactive medium that embraces consumer participation in the production of content published on the Internet. Evidence of consumer involvement in content published on the Internet can be found at websites that sell books, auction goods, market classified advertising, and publish reference books. Consumer involvement in content production has not only helped transform the Internet into the interactive medium it is today, consumer participation in publishing content has enhanced the value of these websites. For example, Amazon, which initially started in 1995 as an online bookstore, has now become a place where consumers can write online customer reviews and ratings of seller transactions. Ebay, which launched in 1995 as an online auction site, gained value from the seller reviews posted by online buyers. Craigslist, developed in 1995, grew from the geographical limits of upscale San Francisco to become a global powerhouse of user-generated online classified advertising. The popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which after being established in 2001, has derived its value from the pooled intelligence of users who write and revise its content.
