How important is the “social” in social networking? A perceived value empirical investigation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a value-based empirical investigation of the adoption of Twitter social networking application. The unprecedented popularity of social networking applications in a short time period warrants exploring theory-based reasons of their success. Design/methodology/approach – A cross-sectional survey-based study to elicit user views on Twitter was conducted with participants recruited through the web site of a North-American university. Findings – All facets of perceived value considered in the study (utilitarian, hedonic and social) had a significant and relatively strong influence on consumer intent to use Twitter. Quite surprisingly for a social networking application, though, the social value facet had comparatively the weakest contribution in the use equation. Research limitations/implications – User value perception might have been influenced by the features of the actual social networking application under scrutiny (i.e. Twitter in this case). Practical implications – To maximize the chances of success of new social networking applications, developers and marketers of these media should focus on the hedonic and utilitarian sides of their perceived value. Social implications – Additional efforts are necessary to better understand the reasons and factors leading to a comparatively lower social value perception of a social networking application, compared to its hedonic and utilitarian values. Originality/value – Overall, the study opens the door for investigating user perceptions on popular social networking applications in an effort to understand the unparalleled success of these services in a short time period.