Individual user satisfaction with Sina Weibo: an exploratory study

This study explores the extent of individual users' satisfaction with Sina Weibo from the perspective of network internalities and network externalities. Based on the literature review, 21 items were operationalised on top of a question measuring overall user satisfaction for a questionnaire survey. Data were collected from 240 respondents from the 16 districts and 2 counties in Beijing. Generally, the findings suggest that individual users are more satisfied with network internalities than network externalities and that 19 of 21 items show significant correlation with user satisfaction. Based on the comparison between mean rankings and correlation coefficient strengths of all the items, practical and research implications are provided, along with future research directions.

[1]  Joseph N. Khamalah,et al.  MACHINE AND PERSON INTERACTIVITY: THE DRIVING FORCES BEHIND INFLUENCES ON CONSUMERS' WILLINGNESS TO PURCHASE ONLINE , 2010 .

[2]  John G. Lynch,et al.  Interactive Home Shopping: Consumer, Retailer, and Manufacturer Incentives to Participate in Electronic Marketplaces , 1997 .

[3]  Yaobin Lu,et al.  Enhancing perceived interactivity through network externalities: An empirical study on micro-blogging service satisfaction and continuance intention , 2012, Decis. Support Syst..

[4]  Fang Wu,et al.  Social Networks that Matter: Twitter Under the Microscope , 2008, First Monday.

[5]  Florian Probst,et al.  Valuation of online social networks taking into account users’ interconnectedness , 2010, Information Systems and e-Business Management.

[6]  Dong-Hee Shin,et al.  Measuring the quality of smartphones: development of a customer satisfaction index for smart services , 2014, Int. J. Mob. Commun..

[7]  Craig M. Reddock,et al.  The Relationship of Reliability and Validity of Personality Tests to Frame-of-Reference Instructions and Within-Person Inconsistency , 2011 .

[8]  Jing Gao,et al.  Research on Customer Perceived Value Dimension of Network Externalities of Information Product , 2013 .

[9]  María Sicilia,et al.  EFFECTS OF INTERACTIVITY IN A WEB SITE: The Moderating Effect of Need for Cognition , 2005 .

[10]  ThaeMin Lee,et al.  THE IMPACT OF PERCEPTIONS OF INTERACTIVITY ON CUSTOMER TRUST AND TRANSACTION INTENTIONS IN MOBILE COMMERCE , 2005 .

[11]  Samer Faraj,et al.  Why Should I Share? Examining Social Capital and Knowledge Contribution in Electronic Networks of Practice , 2005, MIS Q..

[12]  Jang-Sun Hwang,et al.  Measures of Perceived Interactivity: An Exploration of the Role of Direction of Communication, User Control, and Time in Shaping Perceptions of Interactivity , 2002 .

[13]  Mark E. J. Newman,et al.  The Structure and Function of Complex Networks , 2003, SIAM Rev..

[14]  C. Fornell,et al.  Customer Satisfaction and Shareholder Value , 2004 .

[15]  Rolph E. Anderson,et al.  Multivariate Data Analysis (7th ed. , 2009 .

[16]  J. Leckenby,et al.  The role of perceived interactivity in interactive ad processing , 2000 .

[17]  Chuan-Fong Shih.  Conceptualizing consumer experiences in cyberspace , 1998 .

[18]  Hsi-Peng Lu,et al.  Why people use social networking sites: An empirical study integrating network externalities and motivation theory , 2011, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[19]  Qun Cao,et al.  An empirical study on continual usage intention of microblogging: the case of Sina , 2012 .

[20]  Martin Bichler,et al.  Identification of influencers - Measuring influence in customer networks , 2008, Decis. Support Syst..

[21]  Louisa Ha,et al.  Interactivity reexamined: A baseline analysis of early business web sites , 1998 .

[22]  Chih-Chien Wang,et al.  Extending the technology acceptance model to mobile telecommunication innovation: The existence of network externalities , 2008 .

[23]  W. Russell Neuman,et al.  The future of the mass audience , 1991 .

[24]  Chen Huang,et al.  Microblogging after a major disaster in China: a case study of the 2010 Yushu earthquake , 2011, CSCW.

[25]  D. Watts.  The “New” Science of Networks , 2004 .

[26]  Hock-Hai Teo,et al.  An empirical study of the effects of interactivity on web user attitude , 2003 .

[27]  C. Ledford,et al.  Microblog use and student engagement in the large-classroom setting. , 2015, Family medicine.

[28]  Virgílio A. F. Almeida,et al.  Characterizing user behavior in online social networks , 2009, IMC '09.

[29]  Leysia Palen,et al.  Microblogging during two natural hazards events: what twitter may contribute to situational awareness , 2010, CHI.

[30]  Claudia Canali,et al.  A quantitative methodology based on component analysis to identify key users in social networks , 2012, Int. J. Soc. Netw. Min..

[31]  Timothy W. Finin,et al.  Why we twitter: understanding microblogging usage and communities , 2007, WebKDD/SNA-KDD '07.

[32]  Anol Bhattacherjee,et al.  Elucidating Individual Intention to Use Interactive Information Technologies: The Role of Network Externalities , 2008, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[33]  Chin-Lung Hsu,et al.  Acceptance of blog usage: The roles of technology acceptance, social influence and knowledge sharing motivation , 2008, Inf. Manag..

[34]  Lu Liu,et al.  Determinants of information retweeting in microblogging , 2012, Internet Res..

[35]  Hui Wang,et al.  Understanding human dynamics in microblog posting activities , 2013 .

[36]  Belinda Shipps,et al.  Social Networks, Interactivity and Satisfaction: Assessing Socio-Technical Behavioral Factors as an Extension to Technology Acceptance , 2013, J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res..

[37]  Huy Le,et al.  Beyond alpha: an empirical examination of the effects of different sources of measurement error on reliability estimates for measures of individual differences constructs. , 2003, Psychological methods.

[38]  C. Kemerer,et al.  Network Externalities in Microcomputer Software: An Econometric Analysis of the Spreadsheet Market , 2014 .

[39]  Scott B. Wilson,et al.  Spike detection: a review and comparison of algorithms , 2002, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[40]  Ryan T. Wright,et al.  Shut-up I Don't Care: Understanding the Role of Relevance and Interactivity on Customer Attitudes Toward Repetitive Online Advertising , 2008 .

[41]  Malcolm R. Parks.  Personal Relationships and Personal Networks , 2007 .

[42]  Ling-Ling Wu,et al.  The Match between Information Control and Motivation in the Online Context , 2012 .

[43]  Pengyi Zhang,et al.  Information seeking through microblog questions: The impact of social capital and relationships , 2012, ASIST.

[44]  Laks V. S. Lakshmanan,et al.  Learning influence probabilities in social networks , 2010, WSDM '10.

[45]  Wei Chen,et al.  Short Text Feature Selection for Micro-Blog Mining , 2010, 2010 International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Software Engineering.

[46]  Rajan Varadarajan,et al.  Interactivity in the electronic marketplace: An exposition of the concept and implications for research , 2005 .

[47]  Keng-Boon Ooi,et al.  Influence of gender and English proficiency on Facebook mobile adoption , 2011, Int. J. Mob. Commun..

[48]  Stefan Stieger,et al.  Let's Go Formative: Continuous Student Ratings with Web 2.0 Application Twitter , 2009, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[49]  Hao Tu,et al.  Sina Microblog: An Information-Driven Online Social Network , 2011, 2011 International Conference on Cyberworlds.

[50]  Carmen Holotescu,et al.  Using microblogging to deliver online courses. Case-study: Cirip.ro , 2009 .

[51]  Qiang Yan,et al.  Social network based microblog user behavior analysis , 2013 .

[52]  Tongyu Zhu,et al.  A Prerecognition Model for Hot Topic Discovery Based on Microblogging Data , 2014, TheScientificWorldJournal.

[53]  Yong Yu,et al.  A comparative study of users' microblogging behavior on sina weibo and twitter , 2012, UMAP.

[54]  Norah E. Dunbar,et al.  Testing the Interactivity Model: Communication Processes, Partner Assessments, and the Quality of Collaborative Work , 1999, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[55]  Danah Boyd,et al.  Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[56]  Lada A. Adamic,et al.  How to search a social network , 2005, Soc. Networks.

[57]  Namkee Park,et al.  Digital divide in social networking sites , 2013, Int. J. Mob. Commun..

[58]  I. Ajzen.  Perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, locus of control, and the theory of planned behavior. , 2002 .

[59]  Harri Oinas-Kukkonen,et al.  Social Networks and Information Systems: Ongoing and Future Research Streams , 2010, J. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[60]  Srinivas Peeta,et al.  Integrating social network analysis with analytic network process for international development project selection , 2015, Expert Syst. Appl..

[61]  Ho Keung Tsoi.  Analysis of User Tags in Social Music Sites: Implications for Cultural Differences , 2011 .

[62]  Yung-Ming Li,et al.  Discovering influencers for marketing in the blogosphere , 2011, Inf. Sci..

[63]  Bin Wu,et al.  Analyzing, Modeling, and Simulation for Human Dynamics in Social Network , 2012 .