Definitional semantic networks can be used to meaningfully categorize objects or processes. For example, in UMLS, medically relevant knowledge about the human body is structured 1 Gómez-Pérez, Asunción; Fernández-López, Mariano; Corcho, Oscar (2004):Ontological engineering. With examples from the areas of knowledge management, ecommerce and the Semantic Web. London, New York 2004. . In e-commerce, products and services can be organized in a similar way. E-cl@ss is a German project for developing a classification system for products and services based on semantic networks. Figure 1 shows an excerpt from a definitional semantic network by e-cl@ss in which electrical engineering products have been categorized in a hierarchy.

Assertive networks are used in the modeling of natural languages 2 Sowa, John F. (1992): Semantic Networks in Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence.edited by S. C. Shapiro, Wiley, New York, 1987; revised and extended for the secondedition. New York 1987. . This allows sentences or texts to be automatically analyzed and compared based on sentence structure with regard to relevant content 3 Netzer, O.; Feldman, R.; Goldenberg, J.; Fresko, M. (2012): Mine Your OwnBusiness: Market-Structure Surveillance Through Text Mining. In: Marketing Science31 (3), S. 521–543. . This allows, among other things, the semantic proximity4 Köhler, Andre(2010): Intelligent Data Interchange. InterventionsfreierGeschäftsdatenaustausch durch Wissensrepräntation und ontologisches Matching.Wiesbaden 2010. and the degree of agreement 5 Giunchiglia F., Mikalai Yatskevich, Enrico Giunchiglia (2005): Efficient SemanticMatching. In: Asunción Gómez-Pérez (Hg.): The semantic web. Research andapplications : proceedings. Berlin, New York 2005, S. 272–289. . The content of various texts can be determined. Statements on relevant topics can be extracted from the texts 3 Netzer, O.; Feldman, R.; Goldenberg, J.; Fresko, M. (2012): Mine Your OwnBusiness: Market-Structure Surveillance Through Text Mining. In: Marketing Science31 (3), S. 521–543. . Furthermore, it may even be possible to draw conclusions about, for example, the authors' origins.

The semantic connection of the terms is also used to support the algorithms of information retrieval and navigation on the Internet, for example in the Semantic Web7 Jurisica, Igor; Mylopoulos, John; Yu, Eric (2004): Ontologies for Knowledge Management: An Information Systems Perspective. In: Knowledge and Information Systems 6 (4), S. 380–401. o.O. 2004. .

The Semantic Web refers to the systematic classification, structuring, and linking of information on the internet. This aims to combat information asymmetry on the internet and potentially establish full competition in the markets.

In this process, information from different sources is combined in such a way that it can complement each other in a meaningful way 8 Yang, Kun (2006): A conceptual framework for semantic web-based ecommerce. o.O.2006. . For example, a product description from one source can be automatically enhanced with product information from other sources (manufacturers, review platforms, etc.). Furthermore, the use of Semantic Web standards and technologies should enable the linking and automatic exchange of organizational and external semantic networks and information resources of the Internet between markets 9 Meimaris, Marios; Vafopoulos, Michalis N. (2012): Knowledge-BasedSemantification of Business Communications in ERP Environments. In: SSRN Journal.o.O. 2012. .

The combination of information from multiple sources should contribute to the growing dynamism in the development of new product features and new categories of products 10 Hepp, Martin F. (2004): Product Representation in the Semantic Web. In: SSRNJournal. o.O. 2004. .

Furthermore, the Semantic Web aims to enable the building of trust in providers and respective services through the use of digital signatures, certificates and the combination of multiple knowledge sources via a so-called “trust layer”11 Antoniou, G.; van Harmelen, Frank (2008): A semantic Web primer. 2. Aufl.Cambridge 2008 .