Companies and the ''Social Media Revolution''. The use of Web 2.0 tools for interaction with users.

Abstract Web 2.0 tools are becoming more and more popular and companies are facing a sort of “social media revolution”. In this work we develop and test hypothesis related to users’ involvement in brand on-line communities. Using feedbacks from 166 on-line community members we perform a regression analysis showing that perceived behavioural control and repeat patronage positively affect the intention to perform community behaviour and the intention to perform a loyal behaviour. We made also a comparison between on-line communities created by companies and on-line communities created by users which opens the discussion for the managerial implications. 1. Introduction 1.1 Background The recent diffusion of technology and connection devices among the population has positively affected the accessibility to the web. Today the researchers estimate a penetration of 70% in the United States while in Africa and Asia the penetration rate is around 10% but it is growing fast (IP address location on ipligence.com). The web is nowadays accessible to everybody and everywhere on the planet. The world of technology in business is one of the key issues for companies which know that large investments in the most advanced IT instruments are still useless without the proper managerial competences. Technologies are constantly under evolution and managers and companies must adapt their strategies day by day to gain always the maximum benefit for their businesses. In this work we will investigate Web 2.0 tools. Their rising importance is worldwide recognized. “Web 2.0 tools are beginning to change the shape of scientific debate” titles the Economist on its scientific publication “Intelligent life” of September 2008 and few months before he published a report about companies and Internet called “Serious business, Web 2.0 goes corporate”. 5