Social networking sites (SNS) is an image-oriented sharing platform and can form social relationships among users. This allows individuals to create and share the contents which include their stories, ideas, reviews, opinions, and evaluations, etc. Consumers who sympathize with and trust these contents will follow them and form the relationships. Contents created and shared by individual users is more effective than advertisements delivered by brands in generating electronic word of mouth (e-WOM). Accordingly, opinion leaders and influencers who influence potential customers based on their opinions and style related contents have emerged in various fields such as health, fitness, fashion, beauty, food, and high-tech.

The study aims to assess the use of social networking sites among Educational Technology (Edtech) students of Philippine Normal University Visayas. Descriptive method was used. A total of 95 respondents participated, 27 were males and 68 were females. The statistics used were: frequency, percentage weighted mean, and rank. The top three uses of social networking in the personal life of the respondents according to rank are: 1) to connect with people, 2) to do research, and 3) to e-mail people. With regard to its use in their academic life, the top three are: 1) to do research, 2) to e-mail, and 3) to connect with people. The social networking sites which ranked number one as being used by the respondents are Google for research, Yahoo for e-mail, Facebook for connecting with people and OLX for purchasing. The study disclosed that the respondents “agree” with the benefits of social networking. It was concluded based on the findings of the study that there are social networking sites used to a high extent by the respondents. However, they are limited only to Facebook, Google and Yahoo. The foremost use of social networking is for researching, chatting and messaging and uploading and downloading. Furthermore, it was concluded that the respondents are aware that social networking has both benefits and risks. The researcher recommends the following: the students should be given trainings and workshops on the effective use of social networking; the teachers should monitor the social networking done by their students for purposes of proper guidance and information.

As social media penetrates more deeply into people’s everyday lives, social commerce (a type of commerce that combines SNS features and possibility for commercial transactions) has enjoyed unprecedented growth. Shopping on Facebook is a representative example of social commerce platform that allows consumers to interact with other users, exchange information and purchase products without leaving a Facebook page. Social commerce presents great opportunities for marketers in terms of leveraging social aspects of shopping experience. It also offers a large potential for Korean companies to reach various target markets, as well as establish their presence abroad. Yet, acceptance of social commerce as a legitimate shopping channel has been slow, and consumers are still hesitant to shop via Facebook. This study draws on uses and gratification theory and the concept of perceived risk to examine how different motives for SNS use and the associated types of perceived risks can affect the purchase intention on the platform. Empirical data from 288 young users of Facebook were analyzed. Findings identified two main motives for SNS use: information-related motive and communication-related motive. Information-related motive significantly affected the intention to shop on Facebook, whereas communication- related motive did not have any significant influence. Risks associated with shopping via Facebook included delivery risk, security risk, social risk and economic risk. Overall, consumers perceived a higher level of security and social risk associated with shopping on Facebook. However, only social risk had a significant negative influence on the purchase intention. Awareness and previous experience of buying via social commerce platform positively affected consumers’ purchase intention.

In an increasingly globalized world, consumers are continuously exposed to global products in their domestic markets. As a result, companies are seeking ways to adapt their business in order to target the global consumer segment, which is favorably disposed to global market offerings (Papadopoulos & Martin Martin, 2011). Research on conceptualizing consumers’ positive dispositions towards global products is burgeoning, with a number of researchers focusing on the role of global/local consumer identities (i.e. Tu, Khare, & Zhang, 2012). Global identity implies that a person identifies with the entire human kind and feels as a resident of the entire world (Cannon & Yaprak, 2002), and consequently has a more positive view toward globalization and shows more interest into global events (Guo, 2013). Local identity, on the contrary, derives from the overall awareness of belonging to a community that shares the same national values and cultural norms (Thompson, 2001). Empirical evidence shows that global and local identities positively influence the evaluations and willingness to purchase global and local brands, respectively (Verlegh, 2007; Zhang & Khare, 2009). Despite the growing academic focus on consumers’ location-based identities (i.e. global/local) and their impact on consumer decision making, research on this topic is mainly focusing on tangible products, ignoring how digitalization has transformed the international marketing landscape. Drawing on social identity theory and the existing literature with regards to how global/local identity is influencing consumers’ disposition towards global products, this paper considers the case of global digital products. In particular, we aim to investigate whether global and local consumer identities influence the usage of two of the most famous global Social Network Sites (SNSs), namely Facebook and Instagram. Combining existing literature on global consumer culture and marketing of SNSs, we develop and empirically test a set of hypotheses with two samples of Facebook and Instagram users from Austria and Thailand. The choice of these specific countries allows us to explore whether consumers with global or local identities behave similarly in marketplaces characterized by completely different settings regarding the availability and use of SNSs.

Research Background Electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) is becoming an important marketing tools in social media era. Consumes are accustomed to sharing information with others in social networking sites (SNSs), such as, Facebook, Twitter, etc. e-WOM is defined as “any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet” (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh, & Gremler, 2004, p. 39). As referred by Cheung and Thadani (2012), e-WOM adoption is one of the most important response variables in e-WOM research. The information adoption model is widely used in prior studies and showed that e-WOM credibility and information usefulness have a direct positive effect on e-WOM adoption (Cheung, Luo, Sia, & Chen, 2009; Liu & Zhang, 2010). e-WOM credibility is related to the communicator’s expertise and trustworthiness, information usefulness is related to the contents-related characteristics (such as positive or negative view and volume, etc.). Moreover, receiver’s prior knowledge and involvement to the product/service are proved to have a moderate effect on the e-WOM adoption (Doh & Hwang, 2009; Park & Kim, 2009). Existing e-WOM adoption researches are overly depend on information adoption model and only focusing on the communicator and contents role but neglect the receiver’s role. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between receiver’s attachment styles and e-WOM adoption response. We assumed that receiver’s psychology characteristics will have an important effect on their e-WOM adoption in SNSs, it is the precondition for consider the communicator and content. Thus, attachment theory is used in this study to examine what kind of individuals will adopt the e-WOM information in SNSs. Relevant Theory Attachment theory is used in this study. Attachment theory attempts to explain the affectionate bonds formed between infants and their primary caregivers (Bowlby, 1969) and transfers to other interpersonal relationships later in life (Ainswworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). The early relationship between infants and caregivers can help a child develop an internal working model, which can guide the child’s thoughts, behaviors, and affect other relationships (Weimer, Kerns, & Oldenburg, 2004). These relationships not only include romantic relationships and friendships (Bowlby, 1969) but also include the attachment to possessions, brands, sports teams, and business partners (Grinstein & Nisan, 2009; Kleine, Kleine III, & Allen, 1995). Attachment styles can be formed from two dimensions: attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998). The avoidance dimension refers to the degree that an individual’s view of others is positive or negative, whereas the anxiety dimension refers to the degree that an individual’s view of self is positive or negative. Avoidance dimension is related to the degree that individuals have a need for self-reliance, fear depending on others, distrust partners, and tend to keep emotional and cognitive distance away from partners (Brennan et al., 1998; Collins & Read, 1990).

In today’s digital world the role of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication has been recognized as an invaluable tool in the integrated marketing communications and promotion activities of a wide range of products and services. In particular eWOM has been identified as a critical component of tourism and entertainment marketing such as that used to promote theme park amusement services. This paper examines the effects of social media (SM) relationship variables (Social identity, information, interaction, structure) have on eWOM communication, with mediators of social networks (Perceived usefulness - PU, perceived ease of use - PEOU and actual use -AU) acting as transmitters of those effects. Although previous studies have strongly supported the importance of social identity and personal interaction in enhancing eWOM communication through social networks, they have not been tested as a specific model that is relevant to the theme park industry. This research therefore incorporates those three mediators to enhance the explanatory value of a proposed model. The findings confirm the mediating role of technology acceptance model (TAM) factors, i.e. PU, PEOU and AU, for predicting theme park visitors’ use of eWOM. It is shown that all four exogenous SM relationship variables exert a positive indirect effect on eWOM communication by operating through PU and AU, but not PEOU. Practically, the study features the role of a set of factors that support theme park visitors’ tendency to communicate their experiences to their online network and describes a model which could offer theme park and amusement venue operators a competitive edge over other direct competitors as well as other forms of entertainment.

With the increasing trend of popularity of websites and social networking sites, it is quite evident that companies need to take cautionary measures in protecting the reputations with respect to company and brands. In this process, every company should indulge in enhancing their company and brand image through websites and social networking sites that fortify the bonding nature among them. The always-on nature of websites and social networking sites has contributed to their phenomenal marketing power and altered the balance of power between consumers and firms. Websites and social networks are used by hundreds of millions of people to communicate about a huge range of topics, including personal interests, activities, social events and even public issues. The paper explores a case study of the Ritz- Carlton hotel for their marketing strategy and organizational use of their website and social media in communicating with their customers. Even for the normal luxury traveler who would not have previously used the Internet to research a hotel or make a reservation, ritzcarlton.com is making it possible for them to do so in a sense of the luxury and typical Ritz-Carlton style. It seems to be a staple of the company for years to come.

The paper examines the antecedents of acceptance of social networking sites in retail franchise and restaurant businesses. The success of retail franchise and restaurant business operators via social networking sites depends not only on organizational benefits but also on their behavioral intentions of using it. Three hundred and twenty four samples collected from South Korean retail franchise and restaurant employees are analyzed using factor analysis, structural equation model techniques and one-way analysis of variance. The results of the study identify the three constructs of organizational benefits, perceived tangible assets and perceived intangible assets as for important antecedents to accept social networking sites for their business use. Moreover, higher position employees tend to have more favorable perception of tangible assets and acceptance of social networking sites for their business use.