[Air-l] social networking websites research/grad student questions

[Maciej Kos]

Dear All,

Last year I graduated from Master's program in economics with minor in 
e-business. I wrote my thesis on "virtual communities as a new channel 
of Internet marketing communications". I wanted to pursue (I still do) a 
career in research so it was clear to me, I should apply to PhD program 
in economics, especially that I was offered a faculty position at my 
home economics/e-business department. My research interests are: virtual 
communities, WEB 2.0, Internet marketing. My Ph D's preliminary working 
title is "Social networking websites (Web 2.0) as a new way of 
organizing and evaluating information on the web. What is a lesson to 
learnt for on line marketeers?". I would like to describe what Web 2.0 
is, how it is affecting the way we look for information, evaluate it and 
how it's affecting our buying behaviors.

I spent last few months on digging through research papers related to 
this topic. I was also trying to find a thesis supervisor. These two 
things led me to a belief that perhaps my interests are more of 
information studies, rather than business ones. I have a really hard 
time finding anyone at my university with expertise in virtual 
communities, etc.

1) If you were in my shoes, would you choose:
a) Information studies program or
b) Marketing program?

2) Which program is easier to get it:
a) Information studies program or
b) Marketing program?

3) Do you know of anybody, whose expertise would benefit my research? I 
am considering going to a different university for some time as a 
visiting scholar (Europe/USA).
4) Which places (universities/programs) would you recommend as best ones 
to do an  interdisciplinary research into the Internet?

5) Do Information and Business PhDs' salaries differ significantly:
a) inside academia
b) outside of academia

There is nobody at my university to mentor me or to supervise my 
dissertation, so I feel a little lost. Your help would be very much 
appreciated.

Best Regards,
M.K.