Empirical Studies On Uising Motivations Of User Of Social Networking Service

AS a means of communication, Social Networking Serivices has become one ofthe most most popular applications for many Internet users. But inadequateunderstanding of using motivation of SNS users tends to a unclear goal, not accuratelyunderstanding the demands of user and poor users experience, and thus SNS companiescould not be further to reach a consensus with users to improve their internet product.This is why the study raise these question: What are the motivations of SNS users?Willcontrol variables such as use of time, platform and demographic factors affect themotivations? bbWhich using motivations affected the intensity of usages of SNS users?Which using motivations affected the number of friends of SNS users? The threequestion that the thesis involved was resolved.Based on a survey of412SNS(Social Networking Services) users from20majorprovinces in China, this study uses a Uses and Gratifications theory to examine themotivation factors of SNS user for using Renren.com and Tencent Community. Usingexploratory factor analysis of the survey data, the results indicate that SNS user ismotivated by communication, Ease to Use, Social support, Information access andsharing, Entertainment, Self-presentation. While the explosive growth of social networkis a common phenomenon, the ways people use it and their reasons for doing so maydiffer depending on their use of time, platform and demographic factors. This study isalso an attempt to examine how control variables such as use of time, platform anddemographic factors shape the use of communication technology by examining themotives for and patterns of using social network among people. By multivariate analysisof variance,the results showed that platform,age and sex had significantly impact on theusing motivations of SNS users. By studing the relationship between motivations andthe intensity of using, the results showed that communication, ease to use, Informationaccess and sharing, entertainment had significantly impact on the intensity of usages ofSNS users; communication, Information access and sharing had significantly impact onthe number of friends of SNS user. A total of6different motivations were identified;that all give insight into the personal incentives that drive people to use SNSs and thuscontribute to social networking operators÷s understanding of how to develop successfulsocial networking products.