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The motivation for this investigation is to apply social networking features to a semantic network portal, which supports the efforts in enterprise training units to up‐skill the employee in the company, and facilitates the creation and reuse of knowledge in online communities.

The paper provides an overview of an emerging area for work‐related research in the field of knowledge management and collaborative online communities.

The growing number of social network online communities requires a systematic assessment of the application and design of social network technologies, which makes this study relevant and timely.

This paper gives guidance in an emerging research area with major implications for online communities and human resources management.

Fulfils a need, since a lack of literature in the field is apparent.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how women working in science, engineering and technology use online networking, for career and professional development purposes.

A combined qualitative and quantitative approach is taken, using interviews for the first phase of the research and online surveys for the second. The findings are discussed and presented with reference to theories on career development and in the context of recent work on women's networks and online social networking.

The paper defines a typology of online networks and identifies the motives women have for engaging with the different types. The data imply that women are successfully using online networks to find support, advice and collaboration from women working in similar environments. However, the data only identify a few examples where the use of online networks has led to a specific new job opportunity.

The findings are limited by the samples used, as they were self‐selected. In the first phase of the research, the sample was biased in favour of those using information and communication technologies. In the second phase, women using some form of online network were purposefully targeted in order to understand the motives and benefits associated with these activities.

The paper provides new insights into how professional women are networking online. It extends recent work into women's networks and networking strategies and presents a timely exploration into how these are being affected by the growth of online social networking.

Online gaming offers avenue to connect with others producing social capital especially for individuals lacking in-real-life (IRL) social support; however, there is concerns related to mental health and depressive symptoms (DS). Virtually mediated social connections are particularly important during times of social distancing. This paper aims to investigate discussant networks established through an online gaming site and their possible association with DS and social support.

Participants (n = 40) recruited from an online gaming site reported DS, online and IRL social support, and site members with whom they discussed important life matters. Participants also reported topics of conversation discussed and reason for communication. Quadratic assignment procedure multiple regression was used to determined significant associations between network structure, DS and social support.

DS were significantly associated with online (ß = 0.39) and IRL social support (ß = −0.44). Online social support was significantly associated with network structural factors. Topics reported by members most often were bridging capital topics while topics reported by members in most recent conversation were bonding capital topics. Members mentioned bonding social capital concepts as motivation for conversation.

Building online relationships to provide bonding social capital could supply buffering effects for those feeling socially isolated during social distancing.

This paper is among the first to approach online gaming communication through social network analysis and qualitative analysis mixed method approach.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the practices that owners of public profiles in social networking sites can leverage to actively build online reputation and to evaluate the impact of the adoption of such practices on the initial formation of trust toward these individuals when they are presented as new virtual work partners.

A theoretical model was developed and an experiment with 233 participants was utilized to assess the model using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results suggest that individuals can build their online reputations in public profiles of social networking sites via a series of practices of self-disclosure of information and that the adoption of these practices has significant effects on the initial formation of trust toward the profile owner in virtual work contexts. Categorization mechanisms such as stereotyping, unit grouping and reputation categorization have been found to contribute to the initial formation of trust, both from an affect and cognition-based perspectives.

Little is known about the information disclosure practices in public profiles of social networking sites that new work partners can adopt to facilitate the formation of trust between them before they start working together. This study has contributed to the existing body of literature by clarifying these practices and the relative importance of online reputation to the initial formation of trust during the outset of a new virtual work relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on college students, users of online social networks, as main sources of information that helps advertisers understand the ways in which advertisements are perceived online.

Results were reached through qualitative research. Personal in‐depth interviews, utilizing Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET), were conducted among 20 college students. Interviews consisted of using screenshots of advertisements in online social networks to uncover respondents' reactions.

It was generally concluded that the users of online social networks do not dislike advertisements, but they simply do not notice them. Other content found in online social networks mitigates the attractiveness of the advertisements. Hence, the respondents reported that the brand recognition in online social networks was found to be much lower than the one created through other media channels.

Advertising in online social networks is a major unexplored advertising area. Interactivity on the internet shifts the ways in which users perceive advertising, and whether they perceive it at all. The paper discusses content that catches users' attention and its relation to advertisements.

Through literature review it has been revealed that no similar research exists. The findings of this research will aid advertisers in recognizing the possibility of advertising to the online social networks' population, taking into consideration different needs, and preferences of such users.

The increased popularity in using online social networks by recruiters has received much positive attention, particularly in the popular press. Using social network theory this paper aims to examine how the structure and governance mechanisms of these networks can assist this process. The authors ask: how do recruiters use online social networks to effectively attract and screen prospective job applicants?

The semi‐structured interview approach is used to gather data from 25 recruitment specialists.

The connector role is identified as a specific attraction mechanism recruiters use to create numerous weak ties, where some are so weak they barely constitute ties at all. The authors then identify branding, transparency and data specificity as three mechanisms recruiters use to strengthen these ties when performing the attracting and screening functions.

This is the first paper to analyse online recruitment, using social network theory, and hence it has important implications for both academic and practitioner audiences involved in recruitment.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of online identity orientation and online friendship homophily on online socializing, online information search and ethnic guests’ hospitality experiences.

The study uses structural equation modeling to test a conceptual model developed after reviewing hospitality literature. Data is collected from a sample of 514 Turkish-Dutch ethnic guests living in the Netherlands using a self-administered questionnaire.

The results show that online identity orientations aligned with minority and majority cultures impact online friendship homophily and online socializing, which subsequently impact online information search and hospitality experiences of ethnic guests.

On the whole, ethnic communities have considerable spending power. The findings point to heritage and mainstream cultural socialization accounting for travel and hospitality experiences within an ethnic minority group. The findings supply relevant information for hospitality sectors on services to endorse or promote to guests from ethnic communities.

The study examines the simultaneous effects of online identity orientations and online friendship homophily on online socialization and hospitality experiences of ethnic guests. It highlights the role of culture in explaining the use of social networking sites and its potential impact on hospitality-related behaviors and experiences of ethnic guest consumers.

This viewpoint essay seeks to argue that young people's online social networking can serve as sites for and supports for student learning in ways not currently assessed.

The two themes presented are based on a select review of the research literature as well as the author's explorations of young people's online social networking practices within MySpace and Facebook, two naturally occurring, youth‐initiated sites, as well as in an online social networking application designed for environmental science education and civic action.

Two themes are presented: (1) social network sites can serve as direct and indirect supports for learning, such as providing an emotional outlet for school‐related stress, validation of creative work, peer‐alumni support for school‐life transitions, and help with school‐related tasks; and (2) online social networking can stimulate social and civic benefits, online and offline, which has implications for education.

Currently, social media are largely blocked in schools due to privacy, security, and copyright concerns. In the USA, the National Educational Technology Plan published in November 2010, and recent educational standards, both assume 24/7 access and use of newer web technologies for learning and advocate appropriation of technologies students already use, and prefer to use, for educational purposes. Consideration of how social media, such as social network sites, currently support informal learning may advance one's ability to construct effective social media‐enabled environments for more formal learning purposes.

This paper presents concrete examples of how social network sites, typically seen as a distraction, might be re‐envisioned as supports for revised student learning outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine online community loyalty through an extension of the theory of planned behaviour by incorporating motivational drivers of enjoyment and compatibility and the moderating role of consumer traits.

Data were collected using an online survey of 382 Facebook users in Malaysia. Structural equation modelling was used to assess the hypothesised relationships.

Findings reveal that individuals’ attitude towards social network usage is associated with three factors: social influence, compatibility and enjoyment; attitude and usage behaviour are the determinants of online community loyalty. In addition, moderating effects are found in innovativeness and social network user experience.

Generalisation of the results to other contexts or populations should be made with caution given the study's focus on Facebook and its use of non-probability sampling. Future research can cross-validate or extend the theoretical model across different samples and/or virtual community settings.

This study highlights the importance of designing online brand community web sites which are not only appealing and enjoyable but also acts as an outlet for its members to build upon their experiences and showcase their innovativeness.

This research contributes to a better understanding of how personal factors can either strengthen or attenuate a member's loyalty to his or her online community. The research framework developed in this study can serve as a springboard for future research to examine other virtual community engagement such as blogging, online advertising and online public relation activities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how source, network, relationship, and message/content factors affect how consumers respond to a word‐of‐mouth (WOM) communication in an online social network.

Hypotheses were addressed using two online surveys. The first of these examined persuasive WOM communications on Facebook, the second investigated WOM communication on Twitter.

It was found that closeness to the source of a persuasive communication may have less of an impact on message acceptance in online social networks compared to traditional WOM. The number of persons in a product network, as well as whether those members of a product network are also members of one's friend network, are important factors that determine message acceptance.

The paper demonstrates differences between online versus traditional WOM, and has important implications for marketing practitioners.