Social commerce is emerging as an important platform in e-commerce, primarily due to the increased popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, Linkedln, and Twitter. To understand the user's social sharing and social shopping intention in social networking Web sites, we conducted an empirical study on a popular microblog to investigate how social factors such as social support and relationship quality affect the user's intention of future participation in social commerce. The results indicate that both factors play a critical role. Social support and Web site quality positively influence the user's intention to use social commerce and to continue using a social networking site. These effects are found to be mediated by the quality of the relationship between the user and the social networking Web site. Our findings not only help researchers interpret why social commerce has become popular, but also assist practitioners in developing better social commerce strategy.

http://www.ecrc.nsysu.edu.tw/liang/paper/2/70%20What%20Drives%20Social%20Commerce%20(IJEC%202011).pdf

What Drives Social Commerce: The Role of Social Support and Relationship Quality

The role of social support on relationship quality and social commerce

Social commerce: The transfer of power from sellers to buyers

Effect of social commerce factors on user purchase behavior

Over the past few decades, the widespread phenomenon of Internet abuse has gained attention from the public, academia, and the media. In a departure from this negative viewpoint, however, researchers and educators have devoted considerable effort in attempting to understand the influence of online communication on people's psychological well-being. This study focuses specifically on Facebook, and proposes a research model to examine the relationships among Facebook use, online social support, general social support, and psychological well-being. Our results show that using Facebook helped college students to obtain online social support, and that online social support is an extension of general social support. However, although general social support contributes to well-being, online social support appears to have little direct effect on well-being. The relationship between online social support and well-being is mediated through the factor of general social support.

Can Facebook Use Induce Well-Being?

People with a physical disability are a population who for a number of reasons may be vulnerable to social isolation. Research into Internet-based support sites has found that social support and an online sense of community can be developed through computer mediated communication channels. This study aims to gain an understanding of the benefits that membership of disability-specific online communities may have for people with a physical disability. An online survey was administered to a sample of users of such sites (N = 160). Results indicated that users did receive moral support and personal advice through participating in such online communities. Further, results indicated that online social support and feeling a sense of community online were positively associated with participants' well-being in the areas of personal relations and personal growth. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Online we are all able bodied: Online psychological sense of community and social support found through membership of disability‐specific websites promotes well‐being for people living with a physical disability

Jana Stafurik

Papers

Online we are all able bodied: Online psychological sense of community and social support found through membership of disability‐specific websites promotes well‐being for people living with a physical disability