Effects of System Characteristics on Users' Self-Disclosure in Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites (SNSs) (e.g., Facebook) are increasingly used in people's daily life and business worlds. With SNSs, people's social networks are expanded by connecting to others with shared interests or values based on other users' self-disclosed personal information. Business organizations can mine the personal information embedded in SNSs to identify potential customers to generate revenues. However, the benefits of SNSs cannot be completely achieved if their users do not disclose enough personal information. In this research, we relate users' self-disclosure intentions and self-disclosure behaviors to certain characteristics of SNSs based on Technology Acceptance Model. Our research model is empirically tested through an online survey of 113 users in the context of Renren, the most popular SNS in China, and we find that users' perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of a SNS closely associate with their self-disclosure intentions, which further leads to users' actual self-disclosure behaviors.