Henry Ford said that you could have a Model T in any color you wanted, as long as it was black. The fuel that drives the Internet revolution today is the ability to segment markets down to the level of one person, based on information profiles gathered about the user and thus, mass marketing on an individualized basis. Amazon automatically analyzes past purchases to make recommendations for future purchases that are personalized to each buyer. You can also personalize your own purchases on the Internet. For example, you can shop for the Saturn automobile of your dreams on the Internet.
Virtual communities thrive on information.
By definition, a virtual community must both bring a critical mass of members together and provide useful resources to those members. In order to accomplish this, virtual communities must gather information about their members, either through profiles their members voluntarily provide or through tracking with cookies where their members go online. This information allows virtual communities to better target their members and therefore to develop more precisely relevant products. A fourth characteristic of electronic commerce is information access. The Internet can put customers and vendors on a level playing field.