Abstract

Social networking sites are prevalent hedonic platforms on the internet. Thus, investigating how familiarity, privacy concerns and trust affect interactions on social networking sites is important. This study surveyed college students who use Facebook, the Internet’s most used social networking site. Perceptions of familiarity, trust and privacy concerns, along with a willingness to share information and develop new relationships are discussed. This study also investigates the effects of switching cost as many other popular social networking sites exist and each user typically has more than one social networking site accounts. Analytical results indicated that familiarity positively and significantly affects Internet privacy concerns, trust in sites, trust in other site members and switching cost. Internet privacy concern positively and significantly affects trust in sites, trust in other members and information sharing. Both trust in sites and switching cost positively and significantly influence information sharing and development of new relationships. Trust in other members positively and significantly affect information sharing and has an insignificant relationship with development of new relationships. Finally, information sharing positively and insignificantly influence development of new relationships. Therefore, although users are very concerned about the privacy of their personal information, trust in sites, and other members, they are less than vigilant about safeguarding their personal information. While familiarity and switching cost are positive motivators for information sharing and development of new relationships, analytical results suggested that trust is not necessary in building new online relationships. Analytical results also demonstrated that trust and the willingness to share information on online sites do not automatically translate into new social interaction.

Key words: Familiar, privacy concern, trust, switching cost, social networking sites.