Users’ intentions towards perceived risks on Internet SNS -base on Facebook and Wretch

With the rapid growth of the Internet over the past few years, people are relying more and more on the services it provides, such as online shopping, online chatting or online delivery. People can easily communicate or exchange information with friends online without any physical boundaries, and because of the convenience of the Internet, more and more Internet SNS are being launched to attract young people, and these have become one of the most popular pastimes of the current generation. Internet SNS provide instant communication and information sharing to users, and they are not only prevalent in western countries (Facebook and MySpace), but also in eastern countries (Wretch and Xiaonei). However, some potential problems are hidden behind the usage, and Internet SNS users have already found some of these during the past few years. In terms of cultural differences, users may have different perceptions of the online risks they perceive, such as financial and time risks. Besides, the other important factor influencing the SNS usage is the privacy issue, which has an impact on people’s subsequent trust in Internet SNS. The literature review in this research offers theories claimed by different authors, and shares their findings about this subject, and the data is collected by means of interviewing 15 participants from the UK and Taiwan. The results indicate that the usage of users is truly influenced by their level of perception of online risks, and cultural values also have a slight influence on users’ different perceptions. It is hoped that the exploration in this study will be helpful for the future design of Internet SNS