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Mobile social media (MSM), an interaction, exchange of information and creation of user-generated content, mediated by mobile devices, is becoming the locomotive that drives forward evolution of the online world. Fewer academic studies have touched upon the MSM subject, with all the papers being of a conceptual nature to provide recommendations to business-to-business (B2B) firms. This paper aims to explore how B2B firms use MSM in reality.

This paper adopts the grounded theory approach to analyse interviews conducted in 26 B2B firms representing the UK advertising and marketing sector. Interviewees represent key decision-makers who understand the aspects of mobile technology use in their firms. Eighteen firms stressed the importance of social media as a trigger to adopt mobile devices. Follow-up data collection in these 18 firms focus on strategic orientation, processes, routines and skills required for using MSM.

This paper found that marketing and advertising firms use MSM for branding, sensing market, managing relationships and developing content. MSM is treated by businesses as a strategic firm-specific capability that drives firms’ competitiveness, where imitation of such capability by competitors is limited because MSM skills are specific to individuals within organisations and MSM routines are manifested as a result of firm-specific MSM skills’ interactions.

This study is amongst the first to provide insights into B2B firms’ practices of using MSM. Additionally, the research is novel because it discovers that MSM capability is developed as a result of the overlap between individuals’ and organisational knowledge and memory, contradicting existing theory on the subject.

Usage patterns of mobile phones in Israel position them as instruments of great importance and as everyday, multipurpose, and interpersonal devices. This study utilizes a critical perspective of the “uses and gratifications” approach to explore the usage of and gratification sought from smartphone usage of millennials. Sixty personal in-depth interviews were conducted during 2013 with millennials (undergraduate students) with the primary goal of exploring millennials’ perceptions of smartphone usages, as well as their personal experiences with smartphones and the role of smartphones in their lives. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze students’ reflections on the roles of smartphones in their lives. Participants have expressed a great bonding with their smartphone and relationships that can be described in term of "love and hate.” The thematic analysis highlighted the addictive elements of using their smartphone, that is, using it more frequently and under undesired circumstances than one would like to, and even becoming anxious about losing the device or even getting too far away from it. Other leading themes included the influence of external pressures to use smartphones, the varied usefulness that smartphones serve in participants’ lives, and a strong sense of "Fear of missing out" as an explanation for their extensive use of their smartphones. The findings of this chapter indicate that smartphones have become an indispensable medium among young adults, used due to practical, as well as to emotional reasons; inner, as well as external impulses.

A variety of alternate technology-enhanced teaching approaches are now available to university students to broaden their learning experiences and complement conventional face-to-face teaching. This paper aims to outline a study conducted at an English Medium Instruction (EMI) University in the Arabian Gulf where students were studying media. The study explored an innovative teaching approach that sought to enhance the students’ interaction with mobile phone applications as part of their learning experiences during the course.

The focus of the study was on enhancing the students’ English writing skills such as vocabulary, spelling and grammar and on improving their technical skills such as in video production. The study collected both quantitative and qualitative data.

The results indicated that mobile phone applications were helpful in improving students’ journalistic writing skills where they had a good level of proficiency in English, more so than students with poor English who are more dependent on traditional learning methods. Students also benefitted from mobile phone video production workshops that were intensive and creative. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that courses and labs in media courses have skilled technicians that can train students in creative mobile phone video production while faculty members need to be trained and proactively encouraged to use mobile phones for teaching and learning purposes.

wBased on the results of this study, it is recommended that courses and labs in media courses have skilled technicians that can train students in creative mobile phone video production while faculty members need to be trained and proactively encouraged to use mobile phones for teaching and learning purposes.

The phenomenon of mobile social networking site (SNS) addiction has become increasingly severe nowadays and brings adverse outcomes to users’ daily life and work efficiency. However, there are relatively few research probes into the formation process of mobile SNS addiction behavior, and how demographic factors (e.g. gender and age) influence users’ addiction behavior. Adopting the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) framework, this study examines the effects of three types of technological functions (enjoyment, sociability and information value) on flow in relation to mobile SNS addiction. The authors further proposed gender and age as moderators, which play important roles in influencing the formation of mobile SNS addiction behavior.

This study examines the formation of mobile SNS addiction with a particular focus on the WeChat app. The authors use a field survey study conducted in China with 351 subjects of WeChat app users to examine thestudy model.

The results demonstrate that addictive behavior is determined by users’ flow states of using mobile SNS. The flow states, in turn, are influenced by three types of technological functions (enjoyment, sociability and information value). In addition, gender and age act as vital moderators in the model.

First, the authors empirically examine the formation of SNS addiction on the mobile device by adopting the S–O–R framework, which may enrich the addiction literature. Second, the authors reveal the moderating roles of age and gender in affecting the formation process of addiction behavior further. The findings of this research deepen our understanding of users’ addiction behavior. Third, the findings also offer rich insights to prevent mobile SNS addiction.

The aim of this research is to advance the understanding of multi-channel behaviour in terms of different generational cohorts' usage and spending patterns.

Building on previous studies on multi-channel behaviour, differences in shopping channel usage and purchase amounts were investigated between baby boomers, Gen X, xennials and millennials.

There were significant differences found between the generations in terms of multi-channel behaviour regarding purchasing frequency and average purchase amounts via a) mobile phone, b) tablet, c) computer, d) social media and e) brick-and-mortar. Fewer differences were found amongst the generational cohorts in terms of amount spent per channel.

The research was successful in analysing variances in multi-channel behaviour amongst the baby boomer, Generation X, xennial and millennial cohorts, while updating the body of literature to consider generational channel usage of mobile and social media in multi-channel retailing.

Marketers should consider xennials’ channel behaviour and focus on converting sales through integrated programmes based on their channel usage. Retailers should also consider millennials' heavy engagement with social media in their lives but spend lower amounts via the medium, which may be an opportunity to use this medium as a viable stand-alone channel in targeting millennials' shopping dollars.

This study updates the body of research on multi-channel behaviour by considering generation as a factor in channel usage and spend amount.

This study examines the direct and indirect effect mechanisms of how using smartphones for social media is associated with college students' civic engagement via levels of communication network heterogeneity and social capital. In addition, this study tests whether such indirect effects mechanisms are moderated by the need to belong.

The study analyzes data from an online survey (N = 580) conducted at a public university. The PROCESS macro is used to examine the mediation association between mobile social media use, communication network heterogeneity, social capital, and civic engagement and the moderated mediation conditional upon need to belong.

College students who often use smartphones for social media were more likely to communicate with people who have different socio-demographic characteristics and different opinions. There was also a positive mediation mechanism between smartphone use for social media, network heterogeneity, social capital and civic engagement, which means that college students who often use mobile social media are more likely to communicate with heterogeneous others and develop a sense of social capital, which in turn led to greater levels of civic engagement. Importantly, these indirect effects of smartphone use for social media on civic engagement were stronger for those with greater levels of need to belong.

The findings of the current study are significant given that little is known about how young adults' mobile social media use is associated with communication network heterogeneity and civic engagement in their everyday life. The research expands the research agenda by investigating the most popular interactive communication media platforms.

Knowledge transfer which refers to the communication of knowledge from a source so that it is learned and applied by a recipient has long been a challenge for knowledge management. The purpose of this study is to understand influencing factors of transactive memory system (TMS) and knowledge transfer.

Drawing on the theories of communication visibility, social distance and flow, this study develops a research model. Then, data are collected from users of the social media mobile App. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is employed to analyze data.

TMS is a valid second-order construct in the social media mobile app context, which is more reflected by credibility. Meanwhile, communication visibility and social distance each have positive effects on TMS which further has a positive effect on knowledge transfer. Flow has a positive effect on knowledge transfer.

Developers of the mobile App should carefully consider the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in supporting TMS and knowledge transfer. They should consider recommendation algorithm so that the benefit of communication visibility can be retained. They should design the feature to classify users based on similarity so as to stimulate users' feeling of close social distance. They should keep on improving features based on users' holistic experience.

This study incorporates the perspectives of communication visibility, social distance and flow to understand TMS and knowledge transfer, presenting a new lens for research.