Comparing the web and mobile platforms of a social Q&A service from the user’s perspective
Purpose:As an increasing number of users have acquired information across the web and mobile platforms for social question and answering (Q&A), it is of interest to explore whether there are differences in social Q&A usages between the two platforms. The purpose of this paper is to compare w...
Saved in:
Main Authors: | , , |
---|---|
Other Authors: | |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90252 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/48463 |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
Institution: | Nanyang Technological University |
Language: | English |
id |
sg-ntu-dr.10356-90252 |
---|---|
record_format |
dspace |
spelling |
sg-ntu-dr.10356-902522020-03-07T12:15:50Z Comparing the web and mobile platforms of a social Q&A service from the user’s perspective Chua, Alton Yeow Kuan Deng, Shengli Chen, Xiaoyu Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Mobile Service DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication Social Q&A Purpose:As an increasing number of users have acquired information across the web and mobile platforms for social question and answering (Q&A), it is of interest to explore whether there are differences in social Q&A usages between the two platforms. The purpose of this paper is to compare web and mobile platforms of a social Q&A service from the user’s perspective in terms of three dimensions, namely, demographics, individual-based constructs, and information-based constructs. Design/methodology/approach:Because Zhihu.com is one of the most popular social Q&A sites in China, the authors used online questionnaires to investigate its users’ perceptions of these three dimensions. From January to March 2016, the authors obtained 278 valid responses in total through snowball and convenient sampling. Collected data are analyzed through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Findings:The results indicate that there exist significant differences between web users and mobile users on Zhihu.com in terms of gender, affinity, and information seeking. More specifically, compared to the male users, more female users rely on the mobile platform to access the information service; mobile users perceive higher affinity with Zhihu.com than web users; and mobile users perceive higher information-seeking intention than web users do. Originality/value:Regarding the theoretical aspect, this study proposes a conceptual framework for comparison between the web and mobile platforms of social Q&A from the user’s perspective. Regarding the practical aspect, the comparative results of this study could give social Q&A service providers useful information about users’ differences between web and mobile platforms of social Q&A services. Accepted version 2019-05-29T08:42:22Z 2019-12-06T17:44:04Z 2019-05-29T08:42:22Z 2019-12-06T17:44:04Z 2018 Journal Article Chen, X., Chua, A. Y. K., & Deng, S. (2018). Comparing the web and mobile platforms of a social Q&A service from the user’s perspective. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 70(2), 176-191. doi:10.1108/AJIM-06-2017-0149 2050-3806 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90252 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/48463 10.1108/AJIM-06-2017-0149 en Aslib Journal of Information Management © 2018 Emerald Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. This paper was published in Aslib Journal of Information Management and is made available with permission of Emerald Publishing Limited. 41 p. application/pdf |
institution |
Nanyang Technological University |
building |
NTU Library |
country |
Singapore |
collection |
DR-NTU |
language |
English |
topic |
Mobile Service DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication Social Q&A |
spellingShingle |
Mobile Service DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication Social Q&A Chua, Alton Yeow Kuan Deng, Shengli Chen, Xiaoyu Comparing the web and mobile platforms of a social Q&A service from the user’s perspective |
description |
Purpose:As an increasing number of users have acquired information across the web and mobile platforms for social question and answering (Q&A), it is of interest to explore whether there are differences in social Q&A usages between the two platforms. The purpose of this paper is to compare web and mobile platforms of a social Q&A service from the user’s perspective in terms of three dimensions, namely, demographics, individual-based constructs, and information-based constructs. Design/methodology/approach:Because Zhihu.com is one of the most popular social Q&A sites in China, the authors used online questionnaires to investigate its users’ perceptions of these three dimensions. From January to March 2016, the authors obtained 278 valid responses in total through snowball and convenient sampling. Collected data are analyzed through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Findings:The results indicate that there exist significant differences between web users and mobile users on Zhihu.com in terms of gender, affinity, and information seeking. More specifically, compared to the male users, more female users rely on the mobile platform to access the information service; mobile users perceive higher affinity with Zhihu.com than web users; and mobile users perceive higher information-seeking intention than web users do. Originality/value:Regarding the theoretical aspect, this study proposes a conceptual framework for comparison between the web and mobile platforms of social Q&A from the user’s perspective. Regarding the practical aspect, the comparative results of this study could give social Q&A service providers useful information about users’ differences between web and mobile platforms of social Q&A services. |
author2 |
Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information |
author_facet |
Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Chua, Alton Yeow Kuan Deng, Shengli Chen, Xiaoyu |
format |
Article |
author |
Chua, Alton Yeow Kuan Deng, Shengli Chen, Xiaoyu |
author_sort |
Chua, Alton Yeow Kuan |
title |
Comparing the web and mobile platforms of a social Q&A service from the user’s perspective |
title_short |
Comparing the web and mobile platforms of a social Q&A service from the user’s perspective |
title_full |
Comparing the web and mobile platforms of a social Q&A service from the user’s perspective |
title_fullStr |
Comparing the web and mobile platforms of a social Q&A service from the user’s perspective |
title_full_unstemmed |
Comparing the web and mobile platforms of a social Q&A service from the user’s perspective |
title_sort |
comparing the web and mobile platforms of a social q&a service from the user’s perspective |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90252 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/48463 |
_version_ |
1681046659954376704 |