Understanding Social Network Usage: Impact of Co-Presence, Intimacy, and Immediacy

Abstract

This study examines individuals’ intentions and behaviour on Social Networking Sites (SNSs). The study proposed model asserts that “Co-presence”, “Intimacy”, “Immediacy”, “Perceived Enjoyment”, and “Perceived ease of use” formed individuals' “Attitude” towards “behavioral intention” to use SNSs. The results support all formulated hypotheses. The proposed model in this study explains 69% of individual’s attitude or feelings towards adoption the SNSs, 59% of the variance in “Behavioral Intention” and 54% of the variance in “Usage Behaviour”. The present study has shown the importance of social presence’s factors, namely co-presence, intimacy, and immediacy, in explaining individuals’ intentions and behavior. The study findings confirmed that social presence positively influence SNS usage indirectly through user attitude, and as aforementioned that three factors, namely co-presence, intimacy, and immediacy are framing the construct of social presence. Thus, this study is the first empirical effort to examine the impact of co-presence, intimacy, and immediacy in determining intention or behaviour.