Details

Track Chairs:

Marios Koufaris, Baruch College,  Marios.Koufaris@baruch.cuny.edu
Nanda Kumar, Baruch College, Nanda.Kumar@baruch.cuny.edu

Track Description:

As the quantity of data captured about and shared by individuals has exploded over the last decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in information technologies - such as social networking platforms, collaborative filtering and reputation management systems - that facilitate social interaction among individuals. With the recognition that Social Computing straddles research at the intersection of social behavior and computing technologies, we would like to encourage papers that approach this topic from a plurality of research methods and perspectives. This track welcomes submissions that explore how these Social Computing technologies have transformed how people work, communicate, and play together.

Mini-Tracks:


Social Shopping: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Gabrielle Peko, The University of Auckland, g.peko@auckland.ac.nz
David Sundaram, The University of Auckland, d.sundaram@acukland.ac.nz

Decision making (DM) is something that we all do in our daily lives. Regardless of whether the decision is big or small, the decision made will have an impact on our lives. Many of us have encountered struggles when making shopping decisions, having many questions in mind and often seeking answers via various channels. The increased usage of technology today can lead us to using the internet for information, opinions, and the viewing of discussions to make shopping decisions easier. How shopping DM is conducted with the support of online social networks (OSN) has not been explored sufficiently in research. Although the usage of OSN is growing rapidly, there is a poor understanding of how OSNs can provide support, influence and manipulate purchase decisions in general. The objective of this mini-track is to obtain insights and develop theoretical understanding on topics and issues related to the influence of OSN on consumption orientated shopping decisions. We welcome conceptual, theoretical, and empirical papers that enrich our understanding of OSN and how they support and influence shopping decisions. All methodological approaches are welcome.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

  • Group shopping sites
  • Shopping communities
  • Shopping Marketplaces
  • Shared Shopping
  • Social Shopping Extensions
  • Social Shopping Incentives
  • Social Shopping Tools and Technologies
  • Recommendation engines
  • Influence and persuasion
  • Fraud and deception
  • Decision making processes using Shopping Social Networks
  • Social networks and e-commerce decision-support systems.
  • Compulsive shopping
  • Social shopping peer pressure


Social Media Analytics

Dorit Nevo, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, nevod@rpi.edu
Yingda Lu, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, luy6@rpi.edu

As social media becomes a standard communication and collaboration platform, large amounts of data are generated and publically available on various platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs, wikis and more. As with other forms of big data a key question to address is how this data can be used to learn about individual and social behaviors, how predictions can be made on various indicators based on social media data, and how can we apply these data to impact platform design and organizational performance. For this new mini track on social media analytics we are interested in high quality empirical and conceptual work that addresses these and other related questions.


Social Media within the Organization

Kevin Craig, City University of New York, kcraig@baruch.cuny.edu
Shadi Shuraida, City University of New York, Shadi.Shuraida@baruch.cuny.edu

Social media technologies such as wikis, forums, blogs, podcasts and online social networks have changed the communication landscape into one based on user-generated content. Because it is changing the way that people create, store and share information, social media is a topic of great importance to future IS research.

Currently, social media research has focused on activity on public sites such as Twitter and Facebook. However, some firms have tried to capitalize on the power of social media by incorporating social media technologies into their internal networks. Because social media has the potential to improve work routines and to even change culture within the organization, industry is interested in the operational and strategic issues involved in its implementation.

The advantages afforded by social media within the organization will not be realized without overcoming challenges. Organizations must evaluate their existing business practices and consider significant changes needed to implement social media successfully. The field of IS research must build a rich understanding of both the opportunities and the challenges presented by social media within the organization. We ask for empirical, theoretical, and conceptual works of any and all methodological approaches.

SUGGESTED TOPICS

  •  Organizational identification
  •  Organizational citizenship behavior
  •  Knowledge management
  •  Workflow in intranet-based social media
  •  Leader emergence
  •  Multi-national project management


Echo-Boomers: Growing Up with Social Networking Sites

Young Anna Lee, Fordham University, eyolee@fordham.edu
David Xu, Wichita State University, david.xu@wichita.edu
Ben Liu, City University of Hong Kong, ben.liu@cityu.edu.hk
Hyunjeong Kang, Hongik University, hjkang@hongik.ac.kr

The current young adults (age 17-24) constitute an important group in the American population. They belong to “echo-boomers (age 17-31),” the children of baby-boomers. The echo-boomers account for 25% of the US population, the largest population in the US history since the baby boomers (Mature Market). They are on the way to become the most educated generation in the US history: In 2009, 56% of eco-boomers have college degrees or higher (Pew Research, 2009), and this percentage will become higher as more echo-boomers will reach the college age. Also, this cohort is a generation of heavy users of social network websites (SNS): 75% of echo-boomers use some forms of SNS (Pew Research). The echo-boomers constitute the earliest generation that spends much of their adolescence patronizing SNS. Facebook, the representative of SNS, began its exponential growth among the general public around 2006-2008, the time period that coincides with many of echo-boomers’ adolescence. Adolescence is where one forms his or her self-concept, which in turn affects life choices, interpersonal relationship developments, and professional successes throughout life. The objective of this mini-track is to develop theoretical insight and understanding on topics and issues that address the impact of SNS on the development of young adults’ self-concept. The discussion from this mini-track will provide insights into future cohorts who are expected to grow up with social technologies. We welcome theoretical and empirical papers that enrich our understanding of the social and psychological issues of online social networks. All methodological approaches are welcome.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

1. Identity development and SNS
2. Life developmental tasks and SNS
3. SNS use across age cohorts (adolescents, young and mature adults, seniors)
4. Processes whereby SNS transform the way people work, communicate, and play
5. Impact of SNS on echo-boomers’ self-efficacy
6. Impact of SNS on echo-boomers’ interpersonal relationships
7. Impact of SNS on echo-boomers’ regulation of emotions
8. Impact of SNS on echo-boomers’ career decision-making
9. Self-presentation behaviors across socio-economic groups (including socially marginalized groups and visual minorities)
10. Privacy concerns of social presentation in SNS
11. Multiple identities of echo-boomers in social computing
12. Temporal states or static characteristics of social-selves in SNS
13. Utilization of social computing in workplaces
14. Risk and ethical issues in social presentation
15. Network effects of SNS in career development