Chenyan Xu , Sherry Ryan University of North Texas Michael Magro Shenandoah University

1. Why Do People Stick with a Specific Social Networking Site? An Integrated Relationship and Uses Gratification Perspective Chenyan Xu, Sherry Ryan University of North Texas Michael Magro Shenandoah University Chao Wen Eastern Illinois University

2. Overview of SNSs • Since its inception in 2003, SNSs have been growing exponentially as a whole. • Well-known SNSs include Facebook, Bebo, Google Plus, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Renren and so on. • As of early 2011, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have passed a milestone of 500 million (Zuckerberg 2010), 100 million (LinkedIn Press Release 2011), and 200 million member users respectively (Shiel 2011).

3. Business Values of SNSs • First, SNSs, on their own, can be profitable business entities that generate profits for stakeholders

4. Business Values of SNSs • Second, SNSs can be used by Dot-com companies • Third, SNSs provide new opportunities for traditional organizations (Li and Bernoff 2008): • optimize internal operations • enhance communications with external customers, partners, and suppliers

5. Tragedy of MySpace • Before 2008, MySpace had more than 100 million users; • By the end of 2010, this figure, fell sharply down to 54.4 million (New York Times 2011). • Business value was reduced from 580 million to less than 200 million (Pulley 2011).

6. Necessity of SNS Post-adoption Research • The fall of MySpace emphasizes Bhattacherjee (2001b p351-352)’s argument that “long-term success of an IS and its eventual success depend on its continued use rather than first-time use.” • This particularly true for SNSs due to its user-generated-content nature.

7. Status-quo of SNS Post-adoption Research • Prior SNS studies, however, primarily focused on the initial adoption of SNSs. A handful of research has addressed the post-adoption of SNSs (Hu and Kettinger 2008, Jin et al. 2009, Shi et al. 2009, Shi et al. 2010, Kim 2010). • A common theme under prior SNS continuance studies is that they draw upon Bhattacherjee (2001)’s Expectation-Confirmation Model (ECM).

8. Status-quo of SNS Post-adoption Research • ECM draws a clear distinction between IS initial acceptance and continuance behaviors. It posits that: • Users’ IS continuance intention is determined by their satisfaction with initial IS use and perceived usefulness of post IS use; • Satisfaction is the result of perceived usefulness and users’ confirmation of expectation from prior IS use; • Perceived usefulness is influenced by user’s confirmation level.

9. Issues of ECM • Does satisfaction really predict? • According to the 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index, Facebook scored low in terms of user satisfaction (Gaudin 2010). • The leading SNS had a satisfaction rating of 64 of 100, only one point higher than the dying MySpace.

10. Puzzling questions • Why people turn to and stick with a SNS even when they feel unsatisfied with the site? • Why some SNSs bloom (like Facebook) with unsatisfied users, and why others don’t (like MySpace)? • Does satisfaction really matter? • Is satisfaction sufficient to predict user SNS stickiness (or continuance to use)? • Are there any other factors or theories missing?

11. Theoretical Foundation • Uses and Gratifications Theory (U&G) • Li et al. (2006)’s Commitment-Trust Model of Website Stickiness (CTM)

12. Commitment-Trust Model of Website Stickiness Li et al.’s CTM (2006) has its roots in Commitment-Trust Theory, widely used in relationship marketing literature. CTM particularly fits SNSs.

13. Li et al.’s CTM of Website Stickiness

14. U&G Theory • Origin of U&G • Communication • Basic assumptions • Individuals play active roles in selecting different types of media to use, to gratify various socio-psychological needs (gratifications) • Media differ in their abilities to accommodate users’ needs

15. Application of U&G • U&G has been employed to investigate the use of new media such as electronic bulletin boards, blogs, Internet, ICQ and so on. • U&G has been employed to examine a variety of SNSs (e.g., Ancuand Cozma 2009, Foster, Anthony and Bettina 2010, Park, Kee and Valenzuela 2009, Leung 2009, Raacke and Bonds-Raacke 2008, Cheung, Chiu and Lee 2011, B. Kim 2010, Sheldon 2008, Courtois, et al. 2009, Xu et al. 2012)

16. Gratifications associated with U&G These studies identified a list of gratifications, including affection, immediate access, coordination, leisure, escape, information seeking, sociability, self-expression and so forth.

17. Integration U&G into CTM To adapt the Commitment-Trust Theory to the online context, CTM uses satisfaction as the proxy to reflect the benefits received during relationship exchange. Conventional IT adoption models simply treats IT as a black box and fails to answer a basic question –“what actually makes a system useful” (Benbasat and Barki 2007, p. 212) U&G has been suggested as an alternative approach to address the forgoing issue (Guo2010; Xu et al. 2012).

18. Integrated Model

19. Specifications of the SNS Gratifications We searched two academic databases–Business Source Complete and ScienceDirect using keywords: • U&G & social network • U&G & Facebook • U&G & virtual community • U&G & online community/communities • U&G & message board(s) • U&G & blog • U&G & instant message/messaging Results

20. Future Research Plans • Pilot study to distill specific gratification dimensions associated with SNSs usage. • A structural equation modeling analysis using PLS to test the research model.

21. Q&A Thank you!