全球地理社群網站之創新經營模式 – 以銀髮族之旅遊需求為目標市場 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學科技管理研究所碩士論文學位. 全球地理社群網站之創新經營模式 – 以銀髮族之旅遊需. 立. 求為目標市場政治. 大. ‧ 國. 學. An Innovative Business Model on Worldwide Geographic Social Network – Based on the Initiative of Senior Travelling. ‧. Demand. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 指導教授：許牧彥研究生：洪杰琛. i n U. v. 博士撰. 中華民國一百年七月.

(2) ABSTRACT Aging becomes one of the urgent topics in Taiwan, therefore new product and services must be established in respond to this issue. In recent years, online social network have been one of the most accelerative business model spreading across internet. Facebook has been one of the most influential role model among all. An opportunity gap is identified within these two phenomenon. The present paper is to initiate an innovative business model on worldwide geographic social network – based on the target market of senior travelling demand. This innovative business. 政治大. model will be satisfying the discovered gap.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. The establishment of this innovation business model is based on the process of Innovation SCREW: (1) Search; (2) Combination; (3) Re-search, Re-Combination; (4). ‧. Experiment, Evaluation; (5) Work, Weigh. Through this framework, it brings to the. sit. y. Nat. possible establishment of this platform. In addition, by using of secondary datasets. io. n. al. er. that lead to comprehend further to consumer behavior and market demand.. Ch. i n U. v. As the result, based on this innovative platform, it is hoping to create a new. engchi. online worldwide geographic social network that can improve services on senior’s travelling demand.. Keywords: Aging, Older Adult, Internet, Online Social Network, Virtual Travel. ii .

(3) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Two years ago, I have never expected to enroll to such great school and enrolled into such great program, and that was a milestone. The memories of the first day in Technology and Innovation Management seems just like yesterday, life in TIM couldn’t be more refreshing and amazing. Throughout these two years, TIM has taught me be not afraid to fail, the gold belongs to the one who believe it existed. So does this thesis, many challenges has cease the continuum, but I couldn’t not have accomplish this milestone without many helps from the classmates and community,. 政治大 thank you to the bottom of 立 my heart.. therefore I would like to pay my gratitude to few of the remarkable individuals. I. ‧ 國. 學. First of all, to my advisor, Professor Hus Mu-Yen, who have always believed in me. ‧. and without his continuous support, and challenging my thoughts, my creativity. sit. y. Nat. wouldn’t put to the maximum. The creation and completion of this paper came from. io. er. his continuous encouragement. Thank you. Secondly, to all professors I have participated the classes with, each of your lessons have opens many of my. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. imaginations. Thank you. Thirdly, my friends and families, I couldn’t have. engchi. accomplished it without your loveable support. Lastly, to my dear classmates, having opportunity to get to know and work with all of you (class 97, 98 and 99) is best thing ever happened to me. Thank You.. Many things have happened in 2011, especially on one of the innovation genius I admired have left, Steve Jobs. I like to end this acknowledgement with what he have said that kept reminding me of how I am going to spent each of my day. “To live each day as your last, stay hungry, stay foolish”.. iii .

(4) CONTENTS Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................... 1 Section 1.1 Background and Motivations .............................................................. 1 Section 1.2 Goals and Ideas ................................................................................... 2 Section 1.3 Method and Procedure ........................................................................ 3 Section 1.4 Results and Visions ............................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 2 MARKET DEMAND ANALYSIS .......................................................... 6 Section 2.1 Consumption Trend of Population ...................................................... 6. 政治大 Section 2.3 Demand Analysis 立 of Objective Market............................................. 11 Section 2.2 Unsatisfied Need of User .................................................................... 9. ‧ 國. 學. CHAPTER 3 INNOVATION PROPOSAL ................................................................. 17 Section 3.1 Product Innovation Concept and Development Process ................... 17. ‧. Section 3.2 Product Innovation Content and Functions and Usage ..................... 20. sit. y. Nat. Section 3.3 Innovation Adoption and Usage........................................................ 29. io. er. CHAPTER 4 INDUSTRIAL COMPETITION ANALYSIS ....................................... 31 Section 4.1 Competitors Analysis ........................................................................ 31. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Section 4.2 Substitutions and Potential Entrants ................................................. 36. engchi. Section 4.3 Competitiveness Analysis ................................................................. 39 Section 4.4 Supplier Analysis .............................................................................. 41 CHAPTER 5 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES AND RESOURCES ........................ 42 Section 5.1 Patent Analysis .................................................................................. 42 Section 5.2 Trademark Analysis .......................................................................... 45 CHAPTER 6 STAKEHOLDERS ANALYSIS ............................................................ 48 Section 6.1 Cooperation Network and Strategic Alliance ................................... 48 Section 6.2 Stakeholder Analysis......................................................................... 48 CHAPTER 7 VALUE CAPTURE STRATEGIES....................................................... 51 iv .

(5) Section 7.1 Value Creation ................................................................................... 51 Section 7.2 Revenue Sources and Appropriation Mechanisms ........................... 54 Section 7.3 Pricing Strategies .............................................................................. 55 CHAPTER 8 BUSINESS STRATEGY AND OPERATION PLAN ........................... 56 Section 8.1 Market Development and Marketing Plan ........................................ 56 Section 8.2 Exit Strategy...................................................................................... 58 Chapter 9 Benefit Expectation ..................................................................................... 59 Chapter 10 Conclusions ............................................................................................... 61 Section 10.1 Conclusion and Suggestions ........................................................... 61. 政治大 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 64 立. Section 10.2 Research Limitations ...................................................................... 63. ‧ 國. 學. Google Map; local.google.com .................................................................................... 64 APPENDIX .................................................................................................................. 65. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. v . i n U. v.

(6) TABLE OF CONTENTS Table 3.1 Points and Title Reward System .................................................................. 23 Figure 3.4 User’s Motivation ....................................................................................... 25 Table 3.2 Function Specifications and Key Technology Source.................................. 27 Table 4.1 List of Indirect Competitors: Current Online Social Network – United States ...................................................................................................................................... 31 Table 4.2 SWOT Analysis ............................................................................................ 39 Table 4.3 Competitiveness Analysis – Comparison with travel social networking. 政治大 Table 5.1 Searched Patent Result 立 ................................................................................. 43 platform ........................................................................................................................ 40. ‧ 國. 學. Table 5.2 Possible Threats on Patent Infringement...................................................... 44 Table 6.1Stakeholders .................................................................................................. 48. ‧. Table 9.1 Benefit Expectation ...................................................................................... 59. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Table 9.2 One Year Expectation Benefits Projection ................................................... 59. Ch. engchi. vi . i n U. v.

(7) FIGURE OF CONTENTS Figure 1.1 Innovation Mechanism Concept Map .......................................................... 3 Figure 2.1. Taiwanese Average age, from 1906 - 2006 .................................................. 6 Figure 2.2. Population with under age 25, 1984 - 2006................................................. 7 Figure2.3 Total Population vs. Internet Population In Taiwan 2009 ........................... 11 Figure 2.4 Use of Internet Function in Taiwanese citizen between age 46 - 55 .......... 13 Figure 2.5 Four salient declining behavioral attributes ............................................... 13 Figure 2.6 Four salient inclining behavioral attributes ................................................ 14. 政治大 Figure 2.8 10 Year Taiwan 立 Inbound and Outbound Tourists ....................................... 16 Figure 2.7 Average Age Distribution Across Social Network Sites in United States .. 15. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 3.1 Innovation Proposal Framework ................................................................ 17 Figure 3.2 Operating Function Flowchart .................................................................... 24. ‧. Figure 3.3 Matching Operation Flowchart................................................................... 25. sit. y. Nat. Figure 3.5 User’s Mission Mode Interface and Function Layout ................................ 26. io. er. Figure 3.6 Funscouting Future Services Expansion .................................................... 30 Figure 4.1 Google Earth Viewing Functions ............................................................... 34. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Figure 5.1 Funscouting Logo ....................................................................................... 45. engchi. Figure 6.1 Stakeholder’s Analysis ............................................................................... 49. vii .

(8) Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Section 1.1 Background and Motivations. Aging, one of the biggest challenges around the world, with the birth rate declining while seniors’ population continuous to grow. Soon, many senior citizens will be retiring; many of their daily routine behaviors and actions will soon may be changed, they may requires to be establishes new routines and new activities that replaced their norm.. 政治大 Although there are many 立 leisure activities a retiree can do, many of these older. ‧ 國. 學. adults may have wealth and leisure time, but some of the activities are restrained by their health conditions, physical endurances and information availability. Nonetheless,. ‧. due to the technology improvements and internet expands, many of the physical. sit. y. Nat. contents and business formats have transformed and uploaded to a web based. io. er. platform, this new medium allows many of the content and know-hows to be updated more rapidly than before that can provides users a better, faster and easier accessing. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. method to retrieve information without physical limitation boundaries.. engchi. With the growing of internet, many new innovation business services have created on the web such as the online social network services, however many of these participants are dominated by the younger generations candidates and fails to target the older adults. Due to younger generation’s population born after the internet evolution, most of the users are educated in both computer and internet skills. Therefore, majority of the web content provider locked their target audiences on this population and neglected the older population while the population is aging. This research is hoping to see if there is a market demand on web-based platform and the 1 .

(9) possible entries barriers. Meanwhile this paper discovered that many of the adults rose in interest in content such as Finance, Leisure and Travel, Healthcare and News Media as aging. In a summary from above, as aging population increases, many of the online platforms are not designed for the older folks. This research’s goal is to establish an innovation travel social network platform from intergradation and combination of few current platforms and technologies to the current age group in 45 to 55, which in next ten years they will be retiring that group is named older adults, and hoping it will. 政治大. improve older adults’ interests on social network.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. Section 1.2 Goals and Ideas. ‧. The goal here is to develop a web base social network platform that is designed. er. io. sit. y. Nat. to improve older adults accessing information on internet.. The fundamental idea of the platform is inspired from the integrating functions. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. of Google Earth and Facebook. The expansion idea includes function of weather. engchi. stations and worldwide Tourism Bureau information from macro level of national events to micro level of local activities and some exclusive travel blogger’s insights, all up to date and completed travel events and information are organized on this platform, ultimately to promote people to embrace the beauty of nature and make friendship from travelling.. 2 .

(10) Section 1.3 Method and Procedure The proposal will follow the procedure chart as Figure 1.1 below and description as the following:. Innovation Limitation Condition Social Economic Condition. Political and Law Environment. Search Hardware Software Technical Knowledge. Work, Weight. 立. 政治大 Culture 文化. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Re-search, Re-Combination. Physical Condition. er. io. sit. y. Experiment, Evaluation. Nat. Mental Condition. Combination. Figure 1.1 Innovation Mechanism Concept Map. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Source: Innovation SCREW, Hsu Mu-Yen, 2010. Innovation Limitation Conditions: No matter how to break through the innovation content, it must have met the fundamental conditions that serves as the limitation barrier; they are Social Economic Condition, Political and Law Environment, Mental Condition and Physical Condition.. Innovation Mechanism: To initiate this mechanism, it requires to comply with Innovation SCREW steps, from Search, Combination, Re-search, Re-Combination, 3 .

(11) Experiment, Evaluation and Work, Weight, follow by innovation results; Hardware, Software, Personnel and Culture. Innovation SCREW serves as the rotation point for breaking in the barrier from the limitation conditions.. This innovation proposal will follow the Innovation SCREW framework, the formation process of the platform follow on the detail methodology as described below:. Search:. 政治大 To begin with, the initial 立 search will look into all suitable possibilities; this. ‧ 國. 學. determines the market potential. In addition, the discover and evaluate if there is a market demand.. ‧ er. io. sit. y. Nat. Combination Analysis:. After complete the search, the possible merging elements of each platform’s. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. characteristics and evaluates each Taiwanese demographic internet user’s behavior responds.. engchi. Re-Combination, Re-search. After analyzed the combination analysis, the proposal will be defocus each of the possible elements and establish new platform based on the re-combination procedure of search results.. Experiment, Evaluation 4 .

(12) To make sure the proposed ideas will be fully function and encountered the possible unmet challenges, the proposal will construct a sample platform for experimentation.. Work, Weigh. After experimentation, the proposal will promote a pre-beta test. Through this beta test, it allows the platform to be re-examined, adjusted and corrected the other possible issues by the users before it officially launches.. 立. Section 1.4 Results and Visions. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. At the beginning, the objective is collected all the worldwide tourism data as. ‧. well as individual travel blogs that adds richness of the content to the platform. This. sit. y. Nat. richness will attract users to browse on our website with infinite curiosities, and by. io. er. this motivation, that particular individual will willing to share or update his/her personal travel information to a specific destination. The ultimate result and vision is. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. creating a social network that allows users not only to share their personnel favorite. engchi. insight destination, as well as allowing all individuals on this platform to communicate with exchanging valuable information.. 5 .

(13) CHAPTER 2 MARKET DEMAND ANALYSIS Section 2.1 Consumption Trend of Population. The demographic is shifting; the birth rate has been decreasing while the average age has been increasing. According to the Humanities and Social Sciences Newsletter Quarterly Volume 10, 2nd Quarter report in Taiwan, as stated in Figure 2.1 illustrates the average Taiwanese age has been increasing since 1906, and Figure 2.2 illustrated the Taiwanese age of 25 and under population has been decreasing since 1984.. 政治大 the oldest medium population 立 around the world, their action against aging are a. Selecting Taiwan as the initial focus market due to one main characteristic, Japan has. ‧ 國. 學. representation for many countries. Likewise, Taiwanese population structure follows on a very similar pattern, therefore each new innovation product and services. ‧. developed will be assets for other aging countries.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat Average Age. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Year. Figure 2.1. Taiwanese Average age, from 1906 - 2006. 6 .

(14) Unite: Million People Year. Figure 2.2. Population with under age 25, 1984 - 2004. 政治大 Source: Figure 2.1 and 2.2 立 Chen (2009). ‧ 國. 學. Predictably, the average age will continue to rise due to continuous forecasts on. ‧. low birth rates. In other word, the market will be shifted with more senior population;. sit. y. Nat. this large amount of population will soon open up a new market that fosters the. io. er. economy. Due to this demographic change, companies soon or later have to make alterations to their product and service strategy that will be able to cope with this shift.. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Indeed, as human reached older age in a life cycle, they will be meeting many inevitable symptoms and mental and physical challenges that may terminate the older adult on motivating and trying on new things. Conspicuously, human have a symptoms such as trouble tendency in selecting information due to short-term memory or memory loss as aging (Hasher and Zacks, 1988) and Siedler and Stelmach (1996) states older adults often have decreased motor skills when compare with younger adults.. Further, since the proposed business closely relate to computer technology and 7 .

(15) internet, the challenge for senior citizens may be the increase anxious while using computer, due to less likely of training opportunities and with little amount of experiences(Zoltan & Chapanis, 1982; Schwartz, 1988; Kerrie Laguna and Renee L. Babcock, 1997). Therefore, computer challenge was problematic due to lack of training and experience; however that statement should not be issues due to current adults have longer computer experience and knowledge.. Although senior are bound with physical abilities, but not with social interactions, unless they have disabilities. Social interaction took place prior to internet existence,. 政治大 telephone communication,立 to a virtual network on internet. Internet is a protégé tool transformation from gathering at a community to social or to neighbors, moved on to. ‧ 國. 學. that brings communication closer and easier with lower costs and time savings. Internet communication opens many possibilities for business ideas, such as instant. ‧. messaging, free online voice calling, blogging and a web base social networking;. sit. y. Nat. where friends or unknown member connects or reconnect each other on a virtual. io. er. platform forming a community. Therefore, by creating a new platform that opens up a communication channel can assist closer relationship for senior.. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. When seniors retires, their time becomes less valuable; time becomes not a constraint or taken away from work, some of the seniors maximize their time spending on using the internet, Cheng Chin-Yao (2011) wrote an article regarding the current post-retiree lifestyle on internet intention and usage summarizes as seniors may not realized the change of the internet affecting on their life daily, however the analysis from these interviewer uses the internet mainly for communication, social networking, that nurture a retiree’s life. These sample interviewers has a common characteristics of higher educational background and interactive proactively; sharing, blogging and communicating either to family or other online users and created fans 8 .

(16) group. Likewise, the younger generation of senior have similar or higher educational background, therefore it is inevitable that computer becomes part of the routine.. Obviously, these senior uses computer because of they are late adaptors; where individuals adopt because of influence form commonality users. Further, the internet content provider must have captured the senior’s internet user behavior so that design easier interfaces, however, in contradiction, many of these online complex activities continuously dominated and in favor of the younger generations. Of course, online developers should provide products and services to where the maximum audiences are,. 政治大 group soon will have more立 time and possibly wealth. Therefore, this proposal will be. while neglecting this older adult group. Not to mention again that these older adult. ‧. ‧ 國. group.. 學. probing a new innovation travel social network platform that suitable the older adult. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Section 2.2 Users’ Unsatisfied Needs. As Figure 2.1 and 2.2 illustrated, since 1906 the average Taiwanese age has been. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. increasing, and the population of age under 25 has been decreasing since 1984. The. engchi. situation threatens greatly to Taiwanese government as the result they consistently promoting packaging for increasing birth rates, according to Ministry of Interior 2010 reported; the Taiwanese birth rate reached all-time low 0.721%, approximately hundred and sixty thousand babies. If the problem persists, presumably in the next 10 years there will be a demographic leap, by that time, new services must create to fulfill, therefore, this is why the seniors has the huge market potential for business users.. Thus, the question should ask is what services should provide to this group of 9 .

(17) older adult after they retire. Unquestionably, there are many possibilities and opportunities; this proposal intending on focusing on an innovation social network platform for Taiwanese citizen. To begin with, it is necessary to identify the Taiwanese internet user behavior. The following data are collected from Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC), TWNIC is a non-profit organization that offers complete national network information and which will be scrutinized and analyzed and the result data lays the foundation for this business proposal.. To make sure the data is applicable, a 4 year consisted behavioral data period. 政治大 TWNIC inquires their data立 is by adopting Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing. from TWNIC are collected between the years of 2004 to 2008. The research method. ‧ 國. 學. (CATI) system proceeds on phone interviews, and their primary exploration includes network behavior for both personal and family’s users, the analysis will be discussed.. ‧. sit. y. Nat. Indeed, the market is driven by number of population, in addition to determining. io. er. Taiwanese user’s behavior, it is also necessary to determine if there is a market potential. To illustrate this, Figure 2.3 shows the online user population versus total. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. population in 2009. The result data is calculated from the appraised internet user. engchi. percentage on TWNIC, and multiply the current total population in Taiwan where is found in Department of Household Registration Affairs, MOI.. Figure 2.3 has contrast out the decreasing of internet population as aging, according to the Department of Household Registration Affairs, MOI the total population in 2009 in age group of 45 – 54 is approximately 3.66 million people and compared with the internet population is approximately 2.16 million people. Which meant there are nearly about 40 percent of this age population in this age group that are not connected, and yet 60 percent are. In addition, 45-54 internet users shares 10 .

(18) approximately 17.02% of entire internet population. See Appendix I for full numeric detail.. 40% 17%. 立. 60% 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Figure2.3 Total Population vs. Internet Population In Taiwan 2009. ‧. Source: Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC) and Ministry of Interior (MOI). n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. 2009. Section 2.3 Demand Analysis of Objective Market. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Given the internet demographic in Taiwan, the other measurement is the internet behavior and usage of these older adults. . The behavior data are collected under the section are the Internet Links user’s Click, the interpretation of the click action defines the behaviors of what interest to them while browsing on a webpage. This section organizes in the following categories includes; portal sites, search engines, government organization, news media, financial & banking, culture art, school research, educational learning, medical & healthcare, parenting, individual websites, gaming sites, adult entertainment, e-shopping sites, entertainment, leisure and travel, job search, net chatting, internet radio, beauty and health, fortuneteller, information 11 .

(19) technology, software downloads, social groups, uncertain, and other. Until 2008, online album and personnel blog were added on to the list. The demographic are divided in age of 16 to 25, 21 to 25, 26 to 35, 36 to 45 and 55 and above. The result data are the overall average of each behavior, this illustrate the consistency of user’s on each behavior as aging.. The analyzed result illustrates the most salient results on Figure 2.5. The Figure 2.5 illustrates categories that have sign of decreasing as aging; they are gaming sites, net chatting, individual websites and blogs. The possible interpretation of this. 政治大 contradiction, Figure 2.4 illustrate 立 the internet function older adult uses, and function declination can be that these available contents are not suitable for seniors. In a. ‧ 國. 學. such as instant messaging and chat rooms holds a high percentage, which means the there is a high possibility that the online content fail to design suitable for them.. ‧. Further, Figure 2.6 illustrates the categories that have sign of increasing as aging; they. sit. y. Nat. are articles with financial and banking, news media, life and leisure travel and. io. n. al. er. medical and healthcare.. Ch. i n U. v. In other word, older adult are decrease of interest in browsing onto those site due. engchi. to unsuitable or unattractive content, therefore they choose to browse something else that benefits them. Therefore, the creation of this innovation platform will consists the analyzed result that meet the unmet satisfaction.. 12 .

(20) 政治大. Figure 2.44 Use of Inteernet Functtion in Taiw wanese citizeen between age 46 – 55 5. 學. ‧ 國. 立. Souurce: Taiwann Network Information I n Center (TW WNIC). ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 2.5 5 Four saliennt declining g behaviorall attributes. 13 .

(21) Source: Taaiwan Netw ork Informaation Centerr (TWNIC). 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 2.6 6 Four salieent inclining g behaviorall attributes. er. io. sit. y. ‧. Nat. Souurce: Taiwann Network Information I n Center (TW WNIC). al. Due to thhe proposed service plaatform has close relatiion to sociaal network, it is. n. v i n Cdem s the current c average age across all ssocial netw works manndatory to search hmographic engchi U. userrs as shownn on Figuree 2.7. As ppredictable, the most users u are wiithin the ag ge of 35-444 which weighs w apprroximately about 25% on entire social s netw work population, but surprisinglyy, the age 45-55 4 comee in second d place with h 19%. Anoother metho od to inteerpret this data d is, recaalling from the data ab bove the 45 5-55 age grroup of inteernet userr weigh about a 17.02 2% of enttire interneet users, and a withinn that 17.0 02%, apprroximately 19% of th hem uses soocial netwo orks, here is a great evident forr the posssible potenttial unconneected users.. 14 .

(22) 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Fiigure 2.7 Avverage Age Distributioon Across So ocial Netwo ork Sites in United Stattes. ‧. Nat. sit. y. Souurce: Brian Solis (Marrch 17, 201 0) Re: Thee Age of So ocial Netwoorks [web blog. al. er. io. messsage]. Retrrieve from. v. n. httpp://www.briaansolis.com m/2010/03/thhe-age-of-so ocial-netwo orks/. Ch. engchi. i n U. In order too reconcile if the traveelling platfo orm is suitab ble, the otheer measurem ment is thhe number of o outbound d travellers aand reasonss for those who w cannot... 15 .

(23) F Figure 2.8 10 Year Taiw wan Inbound d and Outbo ound Tourissts. 政治大. a Outbounnd Tourist Report R (10 Years), Y Taiw wanese Tou urism Souurce: Taiwann Inbound and. 立. Burreau, M.O.T T.C. Republiic of China 2011. ‧ 國. 學. The Figurre 2.8 illustrrates the booth Taiwan inbound i and d outboundd tourists forr the. ‧. pastt 10 years,, which thee populatioon exposes incrementaally in both th inbound and. sit. y. Nat. outbbound. In essence, th he physical travel cosst a lot of money; acccording to o the. io. er. statiistical repoort made by y Tourism Bureau, M.O.T.C M Rep public of C China regarrding Touurist Status in i Taiwan for fo 2009 statted “In 2009 9, nearly 7% % of the sam mple populaation. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. werre not able to t travel, du ue to the reeasons of su uch “Want to go but dooesn’t have free. engchi. timee” accountss 40%, “Wo ould love to go, but can n’t afford th he expense”” accounts 20%, 2 “Noot interestedd” accountss for 19%,, follow by y “Would like to go, but limited d by unhhealthy conddition” acco ounts for 155%... As forr “Not intereested” popuulation, they y are mosstly the student populaation of 122 to 19 and d 40 to 59 populations p s with careeer in low wer educateed service sector, m manufacturin ng sector, farmer, ffisherman, and unem mploymentt”. Thus thiss report willl solidify th he innovatio on proposal which estab blish a viirtual platfoorm that red duces the hiigh travellin ng cost, no boundariess limitation, and certtainly, beneffitted for tho ose affectedd by unhealtthy conditio on.. 16 .

(24) CHAPTER 3 INNOVATION PROPOSAL Section 3.1 Product Innovation Concept and Development Process Innovation Online Travel Social Network Platform Mechanism Social Economic Condition: Aging population continuous rising, demographic unbalance. Political and Law Environment: Senior service promotion is at the immature stage. stage,. Search : Establish a social network travel platform. Hardware Given Computer Hardware Internet access, and installed Google Earth Plug-in and Facebook Account Software A geographical social networking platform, allows user to browse worldwide events. 立. 政治大. Technical Knowledge Facilitators require to educate the users about the operation function. ‧ 國. 學. y. sit. n. al. er. io Mental Condition: Senior facing challenge adopting new method of the online social networking. ‧. Culture Develop a positive文化 platform where users enjoy helping and sharing with others.. Nat. Work, Weight: Pre-Beta test, to fix BUG with users’ feedback. Ready to launch. Combination: Analyze the possible solution for the platform. Ch. n U engchi. iv. Experiment, Evaluation: Creating a sample platform for tests.. Re-search, Re-Combination: Defocus each platform’s unique element and re-combining it.. Physical Condition: Broadband Internet services are not stable and require individual sign-up.. Figure 3.1 Innovation Proposal Framework Source: Innovation SCREW, Hsu Mu-Yen, 2010, Secondary Data Compilation. 17 .

(25) Figure 3.1 is the brief description of innovation concept and the following are the detail description.. Innovation Principle and Initiatives 1. Physical Condition: Broadband and high speed internet are not stable and not available to all seniors, in a nursing home, the individual require signing up on their own. However, in year 2011, Taipei City government promotes free wireless service within metropolitan that available to all nations. 2. Mental Condition: Seniors are used to the traditional social networking, while the. 政治大 Social Economic Condition: 立 Aging population continue to grow, government new online social network is a new channel for communication and interaction.. 3.. ‧ 國. 學. requires complementary measures in respond. According to Ministry of Economic Affairs under Department of Industrial Technology has created a U-Care Flagship. sit. y. Nat. io. n. al. er. Innovation Mechanism 1. Innovation Driver. ‧. Proposal, it is mainly addressing healthcare issue for aging.. Ch. i n U. v. There are two major factors that derive and initiate the innovation driver, they are. engchi. environmental issue; aging society, and new online services popularity; and online social networking, and the combination of these two sets the foundation driver. 2. Innovation SCREW Key Spinning Point Within recent years, Taiwanese government actively promoting local tourism, meanwhile, this platform can enhance the countries’ recognition on a global perspective; therefore partnering up with government will create an win-win situations for both party. 3. Innovation Specific Key Result Many of the online social networks have been created, and each social network 18 .

(26) theme distinguishes from each other, many of the core concepts expands and replicate from the fundamental basis of social network core value; the community.. Development Process. The development process wasn’t that easy, it took two major adjustments before reaching this current stage, each stage establishes a milestone, and the following are the briefing of the innovation roadmap.. Version 1. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. After tour some of the nursing homes, one acknowledges there are two types of nursing home, a healthy condition one and the disable one; the one who requires. ‧. doctors onsite care. However, even on the healthy condition seniors, they still have. sit. y. Nat. both major and minor physical limitations. After some discussion with the volunteers. io. er. and the social workers, one understands the senior do participate the events host by the social workers. An interesting discovery that there are computer classes provided. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. to the senior and every class is full house, which was unexpectedly surprising.. engchi. Therefore, the inspiration came from creating a online community for seniors to play. Nonetheless, after completing some of the research, the similar product has already been launched, it is called Second Life. Therefore, the designing platform should be distinguishable, but the concept of online platform continue persist.. Version 2. The first version was unsuccessful, the revised version continue underlie on the online platform principles. To understand the user, one must tackle on the user’s 19 .

(27) behavior, thus one searched for the Taiwanese internet user’s behavior, and found the users in this group in accordance with the demand analysis.; news and media, healthcare system, financial banking and leisure and travelling. Selecting travelling due to rest of the categories does not tied with physical limitation, and as mentioned even a healthy senior may be confined by their physical strengths and durations. Thus, put to the test, although these candidates are confined, but it doesn’t mean they don’t want to explore the world, besides, these candidates are has time and possible wealth.. Rather many of the challenge destinations blocking ahead, they can still perform. 政治大 travel. Therefore, based on 立some of the given platforms, no platform yet has fully social network to understand a place with chats, photos and videos aside from actual. ‧ 國. 學. utilized the travelling and social networks. To make it exciting, the platform require younger generations to participate, the bottom line is what makes them connect, and. ‧. what makes younger generation attracts so that this platform is also benefit for them?. io. sit. y. Nat. Version 3 is on section 3.2 will describe the latest product development.. n. al. er. Section 3.2 Product Innovation Content and Functions and Usage. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The propose internet platform is named Funscouting, and the product detail and functions as follow:. FUNSCOUTING.COM. With aging population increases, Funscouting is an innovation social network travel service platform that is designed for older adults that allows them share, connect, read and request exciting destinations, memberships is free. This platform is open that allows users to social beyond their social groups than closed circles. 20 .

(28) Funscouting is a unique interactive web-platform that operates under a niche market; we strongly believe Funscouting will lead a brand new method of building interpersonal relationships while travel on a social networking basis.. Service. Funscouting is an interactive web-based travel social network that integrated with Facebook and Google Earth platforms. It allows user to explore the world and make new friendship and browse world photos and videos. To make it much more. 政治大 and rank titles, in addition 立 bonus points will be given with special participation. These exciting, when each member performs an activity the users earns with rewards points. ‧ 國. 學. collected points can redeem for future travelling services as well as it publish the user’s recognition.. ‧. sit. y. Nat. This platform is fun and unique, in the traditional social network such as. io. er. Facebook or LinkedIn, they allows people to connect to people they know or meeting new people based on a mutual interest such as professional interests. Often times the. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. users only network with the people they know in a circle. Funscouting would like to. engchi. challenge that barrier by expanding the networking platform on Google Earth platform. Currently, Google Earth allows users to browse the earth on what are available, however it neglect the niche demands where it is not common tourist attractions and yet networking platform. If the user is an enthusiastic traveller that are restricted by time, health, or money and would like to make new multi-culture friend, Funscouting will provide an ultimate experience and solution. Funscouting is a fusion of these which allows you to connect and make new friendship and not limited by the destination boundaries.. 21 .

(29) What makes this platform unique is that when it compares with the other social network platform, the others social networks are network connect individual user with someone that user may know or acquaintances, which this builds up a strong-tie from a weak-tie. Meanwhile, the proposed platform is the establishment of the weak-tie based on a common interest, and may be upgrade to strong-tie depends on the human interaction and relationship building.. In order to make it much easier for older adults to use, the platform is designed to be simple and easy, as well as free joining memberships. Funscouting. 政治大 for sign up. The users must立 log-in to our website in-order to get started. To make the. users can also log-in with their Facebook identifications, and if not; it takes easy step. ‧ 國. 學. page easier to use, everything will be display on the front page. In addition, the platform will be constructed in both English and Chinese languages.. ‧ y. sit er. io. . Nat. Service Highlight. Information on Worldwide Happening Events: Funscouting will collect the. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. information of worldwide events from macro scale of national events, to micro. engchi. scale of local event celebrations and travel blogs. Every happening event will update frequently. Users may use this function to learn different culture events and history. On each outdoor event, it will have a suggestion of level of challenge and suitability as guidelines. Additional information includes worldwide weather and latest news status of a country.. . Requesting Mission: Users may place a destination request anywhere around the world that they like to discover or travel to, Funscouting will assist in a matching as stated the matching operation flowchart in Figure 3.3 either with the school 22. .

(30) clubs, volunteers and scouts or friendly contact with local users. Mission acceptor can return with photo or video as a accomplishment. Figure 3.5 is the user interface on mission mode and function layout.. . Individual sharing and social networking platform: All users are able to share their favorite destination and insights, and past destination visited. Either uploading photo or video and some brief descriptions. In addition, users can chat publically with other users.. . 政治大 with two kinds of points, 立a social status points that high points earns title and a Reward Program: For every event contributed or participated; the users reward. ‧ 國. 學. redeemable points that can redeem for discounts on trips. Both social status points and redeemable points are one to one ratio. Further, Bonus points earn from the. ‧. uploaded file which be evaluated and the higher score feedback by others and/or. er. io. sit. y. Nat. assisting requesters, Table 3.1 is the reward system guideline.. Table 3.1 Points and Title Reward System. al. n. Points 0 ~ 50 points. Ch. i n U. Rank Title. e n gSeeds chi. 50 ~ 150 points. Grasses. 250 ~ 500 points. Flowers. 500 ~ 1000 points. Trees. 1000 ~ 2000 points. Forests. 2000 ~ 4000 points. Lands. 4000 ~ 8000 points. Ocean. 8000 +. The Earth. v. Figure 3.2 is the illustration of operation flowchart that describes all the 23 .

(31) Funnscouting’s coordinatin c g members and how th he services provided. p Mannagement: (M): ( User (U U): Provideer (P). 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. n. v i n COpe Figu ure 3.2 ction Flowcchart herating e n gFunc chi U. The platfo form driver is dependiing on the user’s motivation, Fiigure 3.5 is an t motivatiion on requeesting and accepting a missions. m Thhese motivattions illusstration of the eluccidate a positive p forrce and atttitude thatt will fostter Funscoouting platfform environment. The T requesster’s motivvation cam me from th he inbound and outbo ound % of the poopulation lim mited by thee time, weallth and physical travveller’s repoort, where 7% limiitations.. 24 .

(32) Mission Requestor: Older Adults Searching for activities, but don’t know where to go. Or they have been somewhere they liked to share . Funscouting – locate all the events, and . Event Hosting Or Accomplish Mission . analyze the up to . Content Provider . date traveling . Government . route and . Tourism Bureau . information . and Local Bureau . includes weathers, current travel condition news . Mission Acceptor: . and other local . Scouts, College Mountain Clubs who enjoys travel and would like to know some of the history about a particular place . 政治大. attractions . 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 3.3 Matching Operation Flowchart. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. Motivation on Requester: ‐ Physical Limitation ‐ Wealth Limitation ‐ Curiosity ‐ Fast and easy access ‐ Pre‐planning a Trip . engchi. i n U. v. Motivation on Acceptor: ‐ Enjoy Helping ‐ Title Driven ‐ Reward Driven ‐ Simple to use ‐ Ownership (Destination) . Figure 3.4 User’s Motivation. 25 .

(33) Rank . Users Log In . Friends . Users Profile . Messages . Delete Friend / Ending Friendship . Function Menu . All Missions . Just Browsing . n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat Set New Mission . ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Incomplete Mission . New Mission . Accepting Missions . Ch. engchi U. v ni. View Complete Missions . Uploading Accepted Missions . Automatically Connected . Figure 3.5 User’s Mission Mode Interface and Function Layout. 26 . Feedback/Comments. 立. 政治大.

(34) Table 3.2 Function Specifications and Key Technology Source Core Technologies. Function Specification. A. Virtual. Automatic locate users, and the Self-Developing. Extending. Travelling. Location Base nearby missions.. Operating. Service. Mechanism. Setting. Scheme. Location. Source. Users may set many desire locations. Uploading. Self-Developing. Users can upload photos and videos, Self-Developing. Location. and. pending. on. requester’s. acceptance to make completion. Regulation of When a user uploading a file that Self-Developing requester’s mission, 政治大 automatic connect the friendship, if. Making. Making. New complete. Mechanism. Friends. 立. are. irrelevant,. the. Users may report Fraudulence and Self-Developing. Friends. illegal activities from the particular. ‧. Deleting. io. sit. removed from the service. Points. Feedbacks and Comment will earn Self-Developing. al. n. Ranks. y. user, and the spammer will be. Service and Evaluation Mechanism. file. friendship will be decline. Nat. C. Reward. upload. 學. ‧ 國. Scheme. Scheme. bonus points. Ch. er. B. Friends. i n U. v. Ranks are categorized, only promote Self-Developing. engchi. if user succeed the minimal standard for each rank. D. Test. Seed Force. Coordinate School Mount Climbing Self-Developing. Operation. Clubs, and Non-profit organization. Phase. and local scouts who has passion to help and extremely adventurous. Further, the other seed force will be the senior citizen in nursing homes, who uses internet and experienced.. 27 .

(35) Screening Mechanism. The screening mechanism requires on two major categories on Funscouting; on users true identity and traveling blog articles.. . Users: In order to make sure the true identity of users coming into this platform and avoid online fraudulences, each joining member must enter their true identity. Users may enter their nick names for reveal, the true identity will be kept in private. The other type of screening is when users ready to make redemption, if. 政治大. the user identity does not match redemption identity; the user may not able to. 立. enjoy the discount services.. ‧ 國. 學. . Travel Blog Articles: At the beginning, Funcousting will gather all articles can be. ‧. found on internet regarding travel and tourism information. Due to mutual benefits. sit. y. Nat. on advertising, the platform copy incomplete paragraphs, the user requires to click. io. er. onto the hyperlink provided. When the platform expands on users, the number of article may increase significantly, Funscouting does not limit the right of freedom. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. of speech, however the articles disregard travel information are consider irrelevant and will be removed.. engchi. How Does it Work?. The types of user has been categorizes in three different attitudes, they are users who loves to share, and people who are full of curiosities and love to explore and the people want to know what is happening. For the people who love to share, they can share the places or the knowledge of the particular sites they have visited or attractions at their hometown, each piece of information the user have posted, they 28 .

(36) will receive a point. For people who are curious and love to explore, they may leverage the platform to explore the destinations, or learn the actual destination without actual travel, in addition, building interpersonal relationship with the people who has visited or locals, simply by posting a requesting mission. As for the rest of the users, they can browse the actions but with some information limitations, only the contributors have the full rights to browse all information. As the result, the users on the platform are those willing to contribute and create the positive mechanism that puzzling the world together.. 政治大. Section 3.3 Innovation Adoption and Usage. 立. ‧ 國. . 學. The basic hardware requirement for users to adoption and usage are: A laptop or desktop computer and which does not necessary to be one of the latest. ‧. one, the platform can be used under average netbook performance. Tablet PC does. y. sit. The platform is operating correctly under Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla. io. er. . Nat. have better sensation experience than regular personal computer.. Firefox and Google Chrome. Must installed Google Earth’s Plug-in in order to get. al. n. it fully functioning. . Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Internet access required, it is not require the ultimate package of internet speed to use this platform, but better reliable and faster internet speed is always a plus.. Section 3.4 Innovation Roadmaps. The platform may able to cooperate with many other services in the future, such as travelling agencies to expand on value added services, our platform will link with the alliance travel agencies, users may purchase airline ticket with the preplan route directly from our web game. Further, once the platform has been fully stabilizes, the 29 .

(37) next expansion will be focusing on the services that can satisfy the demand analysis, such as creating insurance package, world information, healthcare information as shown on Figure 3.6. .. Funscouting . Financial and Banking: . Medical and Healthcare: Medical Tourism Partnerships . 政治大 Travel 立 Insurance . ‧ 國. Service . 學. News Media: Provide worldwide travel information news . ‧. Figure 3.6 Funscouting Future Services Expansion. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 30 . i n U. v. Leisure and Travel: Travel Agencies.

(38) CHAPTER 4 INDUSTRIAL COMPETITION ANALYSIS Section 4.1 Competitors Analysis. Our service is unique compares with the current industry. With the on-going rivalries, our vision for our product will continue withstands. To analyze our competitive advantages and niche, the following will be the list of indirect and direct competitors shown on Table 4.1:. 政治大 States. Table 4.1 List of Indirect Competitors: Current Online Social Network – United. 立. ‧ 國. Bebo. Objective Description. Average Age. Bebo is a popular social networking site which connects you to. ‧. everyone and everything you care about. Classmates.com. Estimated. 學. Company Name. Designed. to. assist. members. in. finding. and. 44.9. Nat. y. friends. 28.4. al. It includes. er. io. college, work and the United States military.. sit. acquaintances from kindergarten, primary school, high school,. n. content such as high school yearbooks, movie trailers, music. Ch. tracks, and photographic images. Delicious. engchi. i n U. v. Social Bookmarking service, which means you can save all your. 41.3. bookmarks online, share them with other people, and see what other people are bookmarking Digg. Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from. 38.5. anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our community Facebook Inc.. Connect and share with the people in your life. 38.4. FriendFeed. Real-time feed aggregator that consolidates the updates from. 38.4. social. media. and. social. networking. websites,. social. bookmarking websites, blogs and micro-blogging updates, as well as any other type of RSS/ Atom feed 31 .

(39) Friendster. A global social network that emphasizes friendship and the. 33.4. discovery of new people. Hi5. Social gaming and entertainment for the worldwide market.. 33.5. hi5 is the world's leading social play network, focused on delivering a fun, interactive and immersive experience online to audiences around the world Last.fm. Last.fm is a music recommendation service. You use Last.fm by. 35.8. signing up and downloading The Scrobbler, which helps you discover more music based on the songs you play. LinkedIn. Professional Networking. 44.3. LiveJournal. A vibrant global social media platform where users share. 35.2. common passions and interests. Ning. 政治大 Music, movies, celebs, TV, and games made social. 立 An online service to create, customize, and share a social. Social entertainment destination powered by the passion of fans.. network.. Reddit. User-generated news links. Votes promote stories to the front. 37.4. Source for technology related news with a heavy slant towards. 40.4. 38.5. sit. y. Linux and Open Source issues.. A discovery engine that finds the best of the web, recommended. io. er. StumbleUpon. 37.8. Nat. ‧. page. Slashdot. 31.8. 學. ‧ 國. MySpace. just for you.. n. al. i n U. v. Twitter. Social networking and microblogging service utilising instant. 39.1. Tagged. Allows users to send messages, leave comments, browse. 34.4. C a web interface. messaging, SMS orh engchi. photos, watch videos, play games, give tags and chat. Xanga. A community where you can start your own free weblog, share. 32.3. photos and videos, and meet new friends too!. Source: Brian Solis (March 17, 2010) Re: The Age of Social Networks [web blog message]. Retrieve from http://www.briansolis.com/2010/03/the-age-of-social-networks/ and Secondary Data Compilation. The data from above illustrates a summary of major users on the virtual 32 .

(40) com mmunity, wiith a descrip ption for eaach of them,, each sociaal network bbuilds on-to op of a unnique themee, such on a basis of scchool, book kmark, enterrtainment, ttechnology etc., and therefore none n of theem are in tthe base off travelling,, however iindirectly, their t exisstence cannnot be evittable. In a perfect co ompetition market andd many on nline posssibilities, evvery social network hhas its own uniqueness attractingg their audience and change of strategies. s. Direect Competitors. 政治大 rivaalries Funscouting migh ht立 compete against with h.. Com mpetitor #1 Google Incc. – Google Map and Google G Earth h. 學. ‧ 國. Although Funscoutin ng is uniquee, however here are so ome of the possible direct d. ‧. Gooogle Inc, waas founded by b Larry Paage and Serg gey Brin wh hile they weere attending. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 33 . i n U. v.

(41) Figure 4.1 Google Earth Viewing Functions. Standford University, Google is currently a multinational public corporation, with revenue of more than 29 billion US dollar in 2010. Google owns many subsidiaries such as the famous YouTube, DoubleClick, On2 Technologies, Google Voice, Picnik, Aardvark, and AdMob. Product includes AdWords Editor Google Chrome, Google Desktop, Google Earth etc., Google, the software majestic company, their holistic developing strength is inevitable or more of non-compete per se.. 政治大 that match Funscouting’s direct 立 competition; they are the online platform base Google. There are two major services Google Inc. has developed and operate successfully. ‧ 國. 學. Map and an installation required program called Google Earth.. ‧. Google Map is one of the main rivalry that threatens Funscouting if they proceed. sit. y. Nat. to, Google Earth are divided in four main function, the basic layer is the map view; a. io. er. 2 dimensional map shows street address, follow by a much more detail satellite view; a realistic satellite image and bird-eye feature, in addition in 2006, Google uses many. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. satellite image that create a sketch of 3 dimensional imagery, such as Mount Everest. engchi. and recognizable skyscrapers and tourist attraction. In 2007, Google launched Google Street View; which provides various positions panoramic views along many streets in the world1. Google also create image on dot, which ties images, videos and Wikipedia articles on a particular spot on the map, typically, these spots are within tourist attractions, attraction such as spots near Taipei 101, Musee du Louvre in Paris, France and etc. Recently, in 2011, Google announced, now they bought the Street View idea into a store, business owners now can have their store in 3 dimensional, and shopper can visit or purchase products in store virtually. 1. . Wikipedia: Google Street View, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Street_View 34.

(42) Google Map is a main rivalry of the competition, however on the online platform, here are some of the distinguishable that can be identify on Google Map. Google Map is a mapping service platform, which contains detail information of local streets from street view, 3D images and detail information. Further, Map on the Dot connected closely with Google Picasa that allows users to share the photo they took. In essence Google Map is a direct threat to Funscouting in providing the detail information and imageries that allows users to view on.. On the other hand, Google Earth, an installation based program and is extremely. 政治大 function, and include photo 立function from Google Picasa. Google Picasa would. similar platform to Google Map, however, it does exclude the Google Street View. ‧ 國. 學. identify the GPS data photo collected on the camera; which to limit to those built-in GPS function cameras, and precisely placed the photo on the world. Further, the users. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Funscouting.. ‧. may browse the other photo provider’s work. Google Earth serves the core concept of. Nonetheless Funscouting requires Google Earth and Map in order to operate and. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. function. Funscouting sees the opportunity gap on Google Earth and Map. Rather. engchi. continuously embrace Google Inc.’s strength, there are weaknesses.. Both Google Earth and Map are not inter-connected; each of the platforms behaves on their own. First of all, as for Google Map, the Street View currently embraces approximately 40 States in United States, and the major cities around the world. They neglected the smaller cities, and completely dysfunctional if there are not on the road street. Secondly, the Google Earth requires installation, although it provides an easy function to locate and post photos only with those GPS data, but cannot identify the photo without the GPS. Lastly, these two interfaces do not 35 .

(43) connected nor do allow users to interact. Therefore, Fuscouting has identified a niche gap that meant to exist.. Funscouting offers more than intergrading function of both Google and Facebook services, the product distinguishes as following:. Funscouting provides. beyond services from Google Map and Google Earth to puzzle a complete globe together in a community. Further, we provide an interactive gaming service that allows each user to interact with each other on a theme of travelling.. 政治大 VirtualTourist.com is one 立of the largest travel information generated by the users. Competitor #2 Virtual Tourist. ‧ 國. 學. around the world. The company was acquired by TripAdvisor.com, and now owned by Expedia, Inc., here are some of the website’s highlights, there are approximately. ‧. 1.2 million registered members from more than 220 countries, 3.7 million photos, and. er. io. sit. y. Nat. 1.8 million travel tips and about 9 million unique users per month.. Based on the highlights, VirtualTourist provides abundance amount of. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. information for travellers, it have listed each destination’s pros and cons and tips. This. engchi. abundance of information is wonderful for travellers who plan to visit that destination in the future. VirtualTourist prompt to be the most competitive rival to the proposed platform.. Section 4.2 Substitutions and Potential Entrants. Indeed, many of the direct rivalries mentioned above may be the direct substitutions for Funscouting, and indirect competitors may offer similar functions if they would like to, in this competitive environment, any value added opportunities 36 .

(44) would encourage the competitors to join the market and compete a piece of pie. Therefore, rather evaluating who will be the potential entrants; because they would enter, it will be prudent and more importantly to focus on evaluation of the possible risks and the design counter-strike strategies.. a. Imitators Many of the world maps and photos are available on the market, many of the rivalries may leverage the available resources and performs similar task, or imitating similar functions as Funscouting.. 政治大 created autonomy for 立 connecting both domestic and international travellers to However, Funscouting is an exclusive platform; our unique requesting services. ‧ 國. 學. those who has limitations. Although the business model can be imitated, but the exchange trust, memberships cannot. Further, many of our complement activities. ‧. will enhance the quality of that network, where the competitors cannot duplicate. sit. y. Nat. easily or compete. Moreover, Funscouting will continue to improve the user. io. n. al. er. interface function that will continuously distinguishes from the rivalries. Ch. b. Internet Security (Hacker) and User Privacy. engchi. i n U. v. Due to increase of internet popularity, personal privacy database becomes assets; many of the web transaction portals require detail personal information. These valuable data becomes the target for the Hackers. Therefore, the required personal information from our platform consist of Users Name, Birthday that can be hide to other users, Sex, and both Current Location and Hometown Location. The location information will be kept in our server that will not be connected online.. 37 .

(45) c. Company Server and Maintenances Many unprecedented events may happen such as out of electricity and computer bug in a server and system corruption etc. Funscouting will perform weekly system maintenances that back up the system information. Further, Funscouting will be looking for international offices, where the systems will be running parallel incased any one of them shutdown unexpectedly.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 38 . i n U. v.

(46) Section 4.3 Competitiveness Analysis. 立. 政治大. W1 W2 O1 O2 O3 O4 Continuous promoting this platform through several of social networking channels, make competitions and reward prizes to attract users.. n. er. io. sit. y. ‧ 國. ‧. Nat. al. Threats (T). Ch. engchi. 39 . Weakness (W) W1. Funscouting is a newly developed company, and are not recognized yet. W2. Research & Development and Marketing Fund are not enough. 學. Opportunities (O). Table 4.2 SWOT Analysis Strengths (S) S1. The Funscouting management team formed in diversified talents includes computer programing and business management. S2. The Data collected are unique and solid and can be implanted to other uses. O1. Lack of social network S1 S2 O1 O2 O3 O4: platforms for older adults Released Funscouting; O2. Many of the older adults an online interactive would like to travel but who is travelling social limited due to phsyical network that users constraint may reward with O3. Internet technology and new travelling points. web 2.0 platform enhance the Establish friendship quality of online interactions, as on a global well as social network brought perspective and the friends closer, making new received the latest friends globally much easier. world happening evnets. T1. Product and Services may be S1 S2 T1 T2 imitated. Provide a better and T2. Users may require time to simpler user interface adopt the new user interface of and establish barriers this game platform. to entry. i n U. v. W1 W2 T1 T2 Continuous develop and expands new game idea onto this platform to enhance user’s experience and attractiveness.

(47) Table 4.3 Competitiveness Analysis – Comparison with travel social networking. Suitable Age. Social Network Travel Platform The creation of this platform inspires from older adults, however not be limited. It is suitable for all ages. World Traveling Information; world events, traveller’s blog , unique mission request and social network Not Recognize by the public. 政治大. 立. io. n. al. Ch. With more than 1.8 million travelling tips on more than 70000 locations worldwide.. ‧. Nat. Weaknesses. Largest Worldwide Mapping services, with street tour and 3D Mapping. 學. ‧ 國. Strengths. Online Online Worldwide Worldwide Tourist Information Mapping Service Targeted for all Suitable for all ages. age user, in 2010, the average users are age of 382. y. Sites Characteristics. Type. Virtual Tourist. sit. Subjects. Not all cities are covered yet; many smaller roads and cities are omitted.. Establish ment. Information available may be bias, with most information available only on the common recognizable locations 1999. er. Categori es. platform This Proposal Google Earth. engchi. i n U. v. Services. Established Date. 2011. 2005. Personal Service. Worldwide Travel Events, Personal Profile,. Browse the Custom personal world map homepage, upload with detail, information about provide recent travel. 2. Google Earth, 2011 http://earth.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=22370&topic=29299&answer=1 76324 40 .

(48) Destination Requests, interactions and exchange local information. travelling route experiences and navigation, as well as frequent updated on transportation information Able to meet N/A Able to meet new local members and ask members and share travelling where they can information share their local insights N/A Service Fee N/A Advertisement. Advertisement Advertisement. Community Interaction. Earning Methods. Direct Earning Indirect Earnings. 政治大. 立. ‧ 國. 學. Section 4.4 Supplier Analysis. ‧. y. Nat. The supplier are categorize into three aspect, the technology aspect, Information. n. er. io. al. sit. aspect, and travel service aspect.. Ch. i n U. v. On the technology perspective, although Google Earth is the direct competitor,. engchi. Google Earth is also the fundamental supplier to Funscouting platform. Google offers Application Interface Programing (API) which allows designers to expand the technology on top of it. In addition, the layout on Google Earth is user friendly, in addition, many touch screen function are available on computer, and therefore it makes the control gesture much easier. On the information perspective, besides the accessible public travel information, famous personnel travel blog are also key supplier. Lastly, the travel agencies are key supplier and alliance for the discount fare prices. Further, the aggregate data membership provided is considering the most valuable supplier of all. 41 .

(49) CHAPTER 5 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES AND RESOURCES Section 5.1 Patent Analysis. The patents analysis separated into two aspects. First is to identify the patents of competitors own and secondly, search patent under keywords of this proposal. The purpose for this analysis is to evaluate if the proposal have breached other’s intellectual property and the counter strategy if it breached. The search results were. 政治大. performed by Patent Guider 2008 software under patent application and issued on. 立. USPTO.. ‧ 國. 學. On the competitor search, the keywords used are Facebook, Google AND Earth,. ‧. and Expedia, due to VirtualTourist is the subsidiaries of Expedia. Although Facebook. sit. y. Nat. is not a listed direct competitor, however it is one of the comparable indirect. io. er. competitors. The reason Facebook is important factor attributable to Funscouting underlies on the formation of a community, and in addition, Funscouting requires. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Facebook identification for log-in procedure, therefore it is prudent to be cautious.. engchi. Beyond the competitors, the other keyword searched is Social Network AND World Map, due to the fundamental characteristic of Funscouting.. The analyze work will also be evaluated at the major international patent classification to determine the each competitors and the their future filing patent destination. Table 5.1 is an illustration of major patents and description on each keyword category. Thus far, Funscouting has infringed none of the patents filed from the competitors.. 42 .

(50) Keywords Facebook. Table 5.1 Searched Patent Result Application Issued Major Description IPC 35 items 11 items G06F ELECTRIC DIGITAL. DATA PROCESSING (computers in which a part of the computation is effected hydraulically or pneumatically G06D, optically G06E; computer systems based on specific computational models G06N; impedance networks using digital techniques H03H). Google AND 40 items Earth. 47 items G06F. 6 items. 政治大. 6 items. G06Q. 學. Expedia. ‧ 國. 立. ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computers in which a part of the computation is effected hydraulically or pneumatically G06D, optically G06E; computer systems based on specific computational models G06N; impedance networks using digital techniques H03H). ‧. DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS OR METHODS, SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORY OR FORECASTING PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORY OR FORECASTING PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Social 28 items Network AND World Map. Ch 0 item. engchi G06F. i n U. v. ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computers in which a part of the computation is effected hydraulically or pneumatically G06D, optically G06E; computer systems based on specific computational models G06N; impedance networks using digital techniques H03H). Source: Patent Guider 2008 and World Intellectual Property Organization and secondary data compilation. 43 .

(51) Majority of the patents applied and issued by the Facebook and Google are under category of G06F, and G06Q for Expedia. Interestingly, none of the Social Network AND World Map keyword has granted the patent yet, thus Funscouting will be filing under similar classification.. Even though Funscouting does not have an infringement, however Table 5.2 are some of the patents may affect future technical developments and profit development.. Table 5.2 Possible Threats on Patent Infringement Patent. Patent Name. Number. 立GOOGLE INC.(CA). Aspects of the invention pertain to matching a selected image/photograph against a database of reference images having location information. The image of interest may include some location information itself, such as latitude/longitude coordinates and orientation. However, the location information provided by a user's device may be inaccurate or incomplete. The image of interest is provided to a front end server, which selects one or more cells to match the image against. Each cell may have multiple images and an index. One or more cell match servers compare the image against specific cells based on information provided by the front end server. An index storage server maintains index data for the cells and provides them to the cell match servers. If a match is found, the front end server identifies the correct location and orientation of the received image, and may correct errors in an estimated location of the user device. Systems and methods for selecting advertisements for presentation in a map space are disclosed. Map requests are received, map spaces identified, advertisement bids are received for advertisement space within the map spaces, and advertisements are selected for presentation in the map space based on the advertisement bids. The advertisement bids can be selected through an auction. A method of providing geo-coded information to a user of a graphical computing device is disclosed. The method includes receiving information identifying a view to be displayed on the graphical computing device, querying a geo-coded database containing information associated with publicly supplied models located in a geography, for one or more models located in the view, and transmitting information identifying the one or more models located in the view. In a social networking system environment, users can give another user credits, a scarce commodity, as part of commenting on content posted by the. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 20090198607. ONLINE MAP ADVERTISING. GOOGLE INC.(CA). 20070282792. Identifying Geo-Located Objects. GOOGLE INC.(CA). 20110087526. Social Network Economy Using Gift Credits. Morgenstern; Jared(CA)| Seligstein; 44. . Abstract. 學. Matching An Approximately Located Query Image Against A Reference Image Set. ‧ 國. 20110135207. 政治大. Assignee. i n U. v.