Web 2.0 Goes Mobile

Abstract

Mobile social networking sites have become one of the fastest growing Web 2.0 services worldwide both in developing and developed countries and have a major interest for the information systems research community. This chapter aims to give managers and students insight into the mobile social networking industry and the different drivers and barriers to mobile social networking sites adoption. The chapter’s specific goals are to: (i) Identify consumer segments more likely to adopt mobile social networking services; (ii) Analyze the perceived benefits and barriers that encourage/discourage the adoption of mobile social networking services; (iii) Provide empirical research on the Spanish market that analyses the influence of uses and gratifications in attitude and usage behavior of mobile social networks; (iv) Provide future trends on the mobile social networking services industry and use the study’s findings to develop strategies for managers of developing countries on how to maximize the rate of mobile social networking adoption. The chapter is divided into three parts. In the first section, the authors include the literature review on key drivers of consumer adoption of mobile social networks and present a conceptual model, focusing on the rationale of the constructs used. In the second part, methodology design using a sample of 220 Spanish teenagers is presented and validated. Finally, the results are presented and implications for developing countries are discussed.