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Opportunities for Entrepreneurial Development and Growth through Online Communities, Collaboration, and Value Creating and Co-Creating Activities

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Entrepreneurial Challenges in the 21st Century

Abstract

Thanks to exponential growth in computing power, network capability and reach, parallel to the declining costs of communications and storage, the internet has evolved from a network of websites (Hamill, 1997) presenting information into a thriving global giant computer everyone can program in a participatory way (Tapscott and Williams, 2008). This evolution underlines the transition from what was labeled as the Web 1.0 era into the Web 2.0 era, with the resulting emergence of social media. While the two terms (Web 2.0 and social media) are often used interchangeably, according to Kaplan and Haenlein (2010), Web 2.0 reflects the ideological and technological foundations for using the Web as “a platform whereby content and applications are continuously modified by users in a participatory and collaborative way” (p. 61), and social media as the “group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation of User Generated Content” (p. 61).

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Authors
  1. Rotem Shneor
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  2. Bjørn-Tore Flåten
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nicosia, Cyprus

    Hans Ruediger Kaufmann

  2. International Business School, Vilnius University, Lithuania

    Hans Ruediger Kaufmann

  3. University of Newcastle, Australia

    S M Riad Shams

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© 2015 Rotem Shneor and Bjørn-Tore Flåten

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Shneor, R., Flåten, BT. (2015). Opportunities for Entrepreneurial Development and Growth through Online Communities, Collaboration, and Value Creating and Co-Creating Activities. In: Kaufmann, H.R., Shams, S.M.R. (eds) Entrepreneurial Challenges in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137479761_11

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