Web 2.0 enabled business models: An empirical investigation on the BlaBlaCar.it case

Web 2.0 technologies are allowing companies not only to interact with communities, enhancing loyalty-based transactions, but also to reach new market segments, previously unreachable by traditional technologies. Facebook, eBay, LinkedIn are considered Web 2.0-based companies able to connect multiple users and generate revenues with ads or offering freemium services. However, there are other companies that use Web 2.0 technologies not as an end by itself, but as a mean through which it is possible to re-invent or extend a traditional business, in some cases monetizing a previously non-monetized market. This paper introduces the concept of Web 2.0-enabled business model defined as a new business model where Web 2.0 is used to construct a social network that connects buyers with sellers. Complementary to extant research that often cites outstanding companies whose business model has integrated Web 2.0 technologies, this paper first provides a descriptive case study on how a start-up company, BlaBlaCar, has introduced a Web 2.0-enabled business model, reaching a new market segment (“hitch-hikers 2.0”) that was previously underserved and then adds empirical results about which Web 2.0 factors are perceived as crucial by the platform’s customers.