Designing for Social Commerce Experience as Cultural Consumption

Social commerce websites are facing a challenge of how to use social media effectively in reaching their users in this globalization age. In this paper I look at two successful cases of social commerce websites, TaoBao of China and Etsy of the U.S. and argue that the design of a social commerce website should implement effective local SNS features to connect with and engage its users, mediate their identities, and empower them in this rising participatory culture.