03 Online Systems & Platforms

What type of Types of online systems & platforms is being defined by the given statement?

Websites & applications that facilitate shopping from many different third parties/sources, whereas transactions are processed by the marketplace operator.

• MARKETPLACES

• COLLABORATIVE / SHARING ECONOMY

• ON-DEMAND SERVICE PLATFORMS

• COMMUNICATIONS

Answer explanation

Marketplaces enable transactions between demand-side participants (buyers) and supply-side participants (sellers). Prices of goods and services offered on the platform are set by the supply-side participants. Not less important, there is high sensitivity for variety of services/products — generally, the more variety offered on the platform, the better.

The network effect in Marketplaces is between buyers and sellers. Sellers attract buyers, who attract more sellers, and so on.

Identity plays a secondary role in the platform. Buyers look for a specific product or service, not a specific seller. The product/service can be offered by multiple sellers who compete on price, reputation and experience.

What type of Types of online systems & platforms is being defined by the given statement?

It involves short-term peer-to-peer transactions to share use of idle assets and services or to facilitate collaboration.

• MARKETPLACES

• COLLABORATIVE / SHARING ECONOMY

• ON-DEMAND SERVICE PLATFORMS

• COMMUNICATIONS

Answer explanation

A collaborative sharing economy platform is none other than the privilege of use over ownership of a good or a service. This translates for example into the sharing of tools or even a car via a rental marketplace.

This model allows a re-circulation of durable goods, and extends the life of a good or service by making it available to all on a digital platform.

Also known as the sharing economy, this type of market place model was multiplied tenfold during the pandemic, where each actor was able to make himself useful by sharing his goods when it was impossible to acquire them.

What type of Types of online systems & platforms is being defined by the given statement?

Platform is designed to deliver end-to-end services

• MARKETPLACES

• COLLABORATIVE / SHARING ECONOMY

• ON-DEMAND SERVICE PLATFORMS

• COMMUNICATIONS

Answer explanation

This type of platform is designed to deliver end-to-end services fulfilled by a network of independent service providers/contractors. Its tradeoffs are very different from those of Marketplaces.

On-demand Service Platforms integrate discovery, order, payment, fulfilment, certification and confirmation of the service under one roof. Price, quality standards and the fulfillment processes are all set by the platform. The user/buyer typically has very little freedom, if at all, in selecting how the service will be delivered and by whom.

Availability and predictability of the service are essential quality metrics of On-demand Service Platforms. Contrary to Marketplaces, high variety of services is actually damaging for On-demand Service Platforms. The higher the variety, the less control the platform owner has over how the service is delivered, leading to a poor user experience and lower user retention.

What type of Types of online systems & platforms is being defined by the given statement?

It provides real-time communication services such as voice, video and messaging, over the network.

• MARKETPLACES

• COLLABORATIVE / SHARING ECONOMY

• ON-DEMAND SERVICE PLATFORMS

• COMMUNICATIONS

Answer explanation

Communications platform as a service is a cloud-based delivery model that allows organizations to add real-time communications capabilities, such as voice, video and messaging, to business applications by deploying application program interfaces (APIs).

What type of Types of online systems & platforms is being defined by the given statement?

Dedicated websites & applications that allow users to connect and share similar interest with one another through groups, networks, and locations

• SOCIAL NETWORKS

• SEARCH ENGINES

• UTILITY PLATFORMS

• MAPS

Answer explanation

SOCIAL NETWORKS:Using websites and applications to communicate informally with others, find people, and share similar interests. It allows users to directly connect with one another through groups, networks, and location.

The common element is that this type of platform facilitates interactions between specific participants (people and/or businesses). The digital interactions can take form of a message, voice call, image, or money transfer.

Users join the platform to interact with other users, and therefore the primary network effect is between the users of the platform. Users attract users, who attract more users. In that sense, the platform is a one-sided platform connecting participants of the same type.

Launch strategy for Interaction Networks is quite well understood. The platform owner would typically target groups of people who already interact with each other, create a critical mass of interactions on the platform and build up the network effect adding more and more users to the platform. For example, Facebook initially launched a network exclusive to Harvard University students before moving on to other colleges and then finally, opening it up to all users.

What type of Types of online systems & platforms is being defined by the given statement?

Websites & applications through which users can search for Internet content or information by typing keywords into the search field.

• SOCIAL NETWORKS

• SEARCH ENGINES

• UTILITY PLATFORMS

• MAPS

Answer explanation

SEARCH ENGINES:Is a website through which users can search internet content. To do this, users enter the desired search term into the search field. The search engine then looks through its index for relevant websites and displays them in the form of a list.

What type of Types of online systems & platforms is being defined by the given statement?

Utility Platforms attract users by providing a useful, typically free service.

• SOCIAL NETWORKS

• SEARCH ENGINES

• UTILITY PLATFORMS

• MAPS

Answer explanation

Utility Platforms attract users by providing a useful, typically free service. Once there is critical mass of users using the service, the platform opens to the second type of participants, advertisers

What type of Types of online systems & platforms is being defined by the given statement?

Websites or applications that provide navigation of detailed text and graphical information about geographics regions and locations around the world.

• SOCIAL NETWORKS

• SEARCH ENGINES

• UTILITY PLATFORMS

• MAPS

Answer explanation

Websites or applications that provide navigation of detailed text and graphical information about geographics regions and locations around the world.

What type of Types of online systems & platforms is being defined by the given statement?

Platforms offer a useful service to the users and generate data through usage of the platform service.

• DATA HARVESTING PLATFORMS

• NEWS AGGREGATORS

• MUSIC & VIDEO SHARING

• CONTENT CROWDSOURCING PLATFORMS

Answer explanation

Such platforms offer a useful service to the users and generate data through usage of the platform service. In fact, the agreement to contribute data is a requirement to join the platform. The data collected from all users of the platform is fed back to the service making it more useful for users.

What type of Types of online systems & platforms is being defined by the given statement?

Web-based services that collect web content news stories and other information and publish it in one location for easy viewing

• DATA HARVESTING PLATFORMS

• NEWS AGGREGATORS

• MUSIC & VIDEO SHARING

• CONTENT CROWDSOURCING PLATFORMS

Answer explanation

NEWS AGGREGATOR: News aggregators are client software or web applications which aggregate syndicated web content such as online newspapers, blogs, podcasts, and video blogs (vlogs) in one location for easy viewing.

Online platform or software device that collects news stories and other information as that information is published and organizes the information in a specific manner. This is accomplished in several ways. Some aggregators are curated by people to whom certain types of information is of particular import and others use HTML (hypertext mark-up language) coding on the websites of news-gathering organizations to create RSS (really simple syndication) feeds and other public notifications of instant updates to news content regarding a specific subject.