《Exploring virtual worlds_success factors in virtual world marketing》.pdf

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at /0025-1747.htm Exploring virtual worlds: success Exploring virtual worlds factors in virtual world marketing Henrikki Tikkanen, Joel Hietanen, Tuomas Henttonen and Joonas Rokka 1357 Helsinki School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland Received October 2008 Revised February 2009 Accepted March 2009 Abstract Purpose – Drawing from recent work on online social networking and communities of consumption, the purpose of this paper is to explore, identify, and postulate key factors facilitating the growth and success of marketing in virtual worlds. Design/methodology/approach – An empirical study was conducted employing netnographic evidence from three different virtual worlds and related user-generated blog discussions. Findings – The findings suggest mechanisms which enable virtual worlds to gain and maintain the interest of their users and therefore underlie successful marketer practices. Research limitations/implications – This is an exploratory study based on qualitative and ethnographic online research methods, and therefore the results are of a descriptive nature. The study was conducted to initiate the academic discourse about marketing in virtu