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The purpose of this article is to outline a conceptual framework on mobile applications that support social interactions among users to warrant commercial viability of such applications.

We build on the social network paradigm to propose an activity-based view on mobile application usage, and theoretically link the pertinent features of mobile social networking applications (MSNAs) to a set of measurement metrics concerning their commercial viability.

The conceptual framework formulated highlights how MSNAs can be systematically designed and deployed to ensure their commercial viability.

A pertinent set of features that support social networking among the users, and their plausible mechanisms in facilitating the commercial viability of MSNAs, are explicated. This facilitates future research endeavours in systematically investigating the emerging form of mobile applications. The limitation lies in a lack of empirical data to validate the formulated propositions, which is beyond the scope of this paper and is directed for future research.

A coherent set of measurement metrics are put forward for practitioners to measure the commercial viability of an MSNA. Also theoretically based insights are derived for how they can better derive commercial values from the emerging form of mobile applications.

Most relevant previous research has focused either on the MSNAs’ technical design aspects or user behavioural issues. This research ties up the themes on technical design, user behaviour and business consideration in formulating a research framework for assessing the commercial viability of MSNAs.

The sharp increase in interest in social networks among marketing scholars and practitioners has coincided with the rapid proliferation of social networks among broader populations. Considering the substantial body of research that has emerged, it is an opportune time to reflect on the state of social network research (SNR) in marketing. Therefore, this chapter reviews recent marketing research, organized according to substantive areas of interest, followed by a discussion of critical dimensions of SNR for researchers, including network actor characteristics, modes, boundaries, impacts, and mechanisms, as well as the relevant level of analysis. By documenting how SNR can inform marketing decisions and influence marketing outcomes, this study also establishes recommendations for research to advance the state of SNR in marketing. A 2 × 2 classification schema reveals four categories that might guide scholars' choices of research designs, theories, constructs, and measures for SNR.

Currently there is no analysis of the development of disaster risk management literature in the construction and built environment context, the changes in its research paradigms over time and the role of different key players in the advance of its current body of knowledge. This study aims to address that gap by investigating the longitudinal data of disaster risk management literature published over the past three decades.

A social network analysis approach is used in this study to show the overall development of the field and specifically the impact of research collaborations between different organisations and countries on research productivity.

The results indicate that the focus of disaster risk management research in the built environment context is heavily biased towards reactive strategies (response and recovery) over proactive strategies (mitigation and preparedness). The findings also demonstrate that collaboration between disaster risk management researchers has a significant influence on their research productivity.

The findings from this study should be of value to researchers, policymakers and academic strategists. This study for the first time shows the ability of the social networks paradigm to reveal frailties in research connections in the field of disaster risk management in construction and built environment and highlights where networking strategies are needed.

Social networking platforms such as Facebook have infiltrated the lives of many students, and as such it is natural to consider how they can be effectively used to enhance learning. This chapter provides a comprehensive review of social networking in education from a design perspective. Social networking is defined based on Boyd & Ellison’s seminal definition of connected profiles, and is distinguished from social media for the purposes of investigation. Facebook, Edmodo, and other social networking platforms are briefly described, before summarizing the wide variety of social networking usage reported in the research literature. The various benefits of social networking in education are distilled from the literature, including their capacity to facilitate community building, collaboration, reflection, and expedient access to learning. Issues surrounding the educational use of social networking are also organized into themes, for instance privacy concerns, distraction, cyber-safety, and technical constraints. The implications of findings from the social networking literature are synthesized into learning design and implementation recommendations. The chapter concludes with a discussion of open questions and areas for further investigation.

The purpose of this study is to address a recent call for additional research on electronic word‐of‐mouth (eWOM). In response to this call, this study draws on the social network paradigm and the uses and gratification theory (UGT) to propose and empirically test a conceptual framework of key drivers of two types of eWOM, namely in‐group and out‐of‐group.

The proposed model, which examines the impact of usage motivations on eWOM in‐group and eWOM out‐of‐group, is tested in a sample of 302 internet users in Portugal.

Results from the survey show that the different drivers (i.e. mood‐enhancement, escapism, experiential learning and social interaction) vary in terms of their impact on the two different types of eWOM. Surprisingly, while results show a positive relationship between experiential learning and eWOM out‐of‐group, no relationship is found between experiential learning and eWOM in‐group.

This is the first study investigating the drivers of both eWOM in‐group and eWOM out‐of‐group. Additional research in this area will contribute to the development of a general theory of eWOM.

By understanding the drivers of different eWOM types, this study provides guidance to marketing managers on how to allocate resources more efficiently in order to achieve the company's strategic objectives.

No published study has investigated the determinants of these two types of eWOM. This is the first study offering empirical considerations of how the various drivers differentially impact eWOM in‐group and eWOM out‐of‐group.

The purpose of this paper is to bring a more individual focus to social networks in theorizing the social process of knowledge sharing.

The theoretical model proposes that political skill will shape an individual's social network. Further, political skill within a network will influence the degree of complex knowledge sharing, which likely happens through the mechanism of affective- and cognitive-based trust.

Theoretical implications and future research directions are discussed.

Knowledge sharing is an inherently social process and as such occurs within the context of social networks in an organization. However, research to date has not fully explored the details of how and why complex knowledge sharing happens within a social network. Generally, theory on social networks has focused on structural qualities of a network, rather than the individual characteristics of the members of that network. This paper brings a more individual focus to social networks in theorizing the social process of knowledge sharing.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study from which a framework for the purposeful building of knowledge communities by means of social media is formulated.

The approach first takes the form of a literature review. Based on a review of literature as well as on various data sets and surveys within the case study organisation, a social media tool is developed and implemented as a platform to build a knowledge community.

That there is a need for more information by means of practical experimentation in the current literature. In addition to this, eight steering points for constructing a framework of best practice in the purposeful creation of knowledge communities are submitted.

The above‐mentioned points are still undergoing field evaluation and further analytics is been undertaken.

The paper provides detail into a social media campaign. Further corporations will be able to build on the findings to construct a framework for the purposeful creation of communities facilitated by social media technologies.

Web‐based social networks (WBSNs) are today one of the most relevant phenomena related to the advent of Web 2.0. The purpose of this paper is to discuss main security and privacy requirements arising in WBSNs, with a particular focus on access control, and to survey the main research activities carried out in the field. The social networking paradigm is today used not only for recreational purposes; it is also used at the enterprise level as a means to facilitate knowledge sharing and information dissemination both at the internet and at the intranet level. As a result of the widespread use of WBSN services, millions of individuals can today easily share personal and confidential information with an incredible amount of (possible unknown) other users. Clearly, this huge amount of information and the ease with which it can be shared and disseminated pose serious security and privacy concerns.

The paper discusses the main requirements related to access control and privacy enforcement in WBSNs. It presents the protection functionalities provided by today WBSNs and examines the main research proposals defined so far, in view of the identified requirements.

The area of access control and privacy for WBSNs is new and, therefore, many research issues still remain open. The paper provides an overview of some of these new issues.

The paper provides a useful discussion of the main security and privacy requirements arising in WBSNs, with a particular focus on access control. It also surveys the main research activities carried out in the field.

This paper aims to analyze the exchange and reciprocal mechanism behind individual knowledge transfer activities as well as their impact on the individual knowledge transfer networks.

The author conducted theoretical and simulation research. Agent‐based technology is employed to construct an agent dynamics agent‐based model that simulates and explains how an individual initiates the evolution of a knowledge network through knowledge transfer activities.

The results demonstrate that the two mechanisms can improve the knowledge levels of the network members; the exchange mechanism is more efficient as it can improve the values of both sides. Individual knowledge transfer networks evolve from random networks to small‐world networks.

The research model must include more variables. Computer simulation research will be cross‐confirmed by other research methods in future studies.

Individual knowledge transfer networks form and subsequently evolve as a result of social interaction. The research findings will contribute to the policy making for knowledge management in organizations.

Little has been published about the dynamics of individual knowledge transfer networks. The author believes that the paper is the first to analyze the internal mechanisms behind individual knowledge transfer activities and test them with agent‐based technologies.