How Do Social Networking Sites Users Become Loyal? A Social Exchange Perspective

Since its emergence as a new electronic communication media supported by Web 2.0, social media has become a popular means of communication among the public. Among different types of social media that depend on user-generated content (UGC), social networking sites (SNS) are becoming the best-known communication mode. While many researchers have examined significant factors affecting SNS users’ behaviors and their impact on SNS usage, the current research extends the traditional concept of IS loyalty and examines factors impacting SNS users’ creation of SNS loyalty through a lens of social exchange theory (SET) and satisfaction. A total of 291 college students participated in an empirical test. The findings indicate that SET has an effect on creation of loyalty in the context of Facebook, which is currently the most popular SNS. Implications of these findings and limitations of the research are discussed