Title: User acceptance of social networking websites in India: Orkut vs. Facebook

Authors: Anandan Pillai

Addresses: FPM Office, Management Development Institute, Mehrauli Road, Sukhrali, Gurgaon 122 007/02, Haryana, India

Abstract: Social media penetration is revolutionising the business context, next to the internet revolution. Social networking website (SNW), which is a part of social media domain, is gaining prominence among not only individual users but also among marketers present in the emerging economies. Orkut was the first SNW that became popular in India, followed by the recent entry of Facebook in India. This research paper analyses and compares the impact of ease of use, trust and playfulness on the individual user's intention to use these fiercely competing SNWs in India. It was found that perceived playfulness was the key predictor in either cases, and perceived trust was not a significant predictor in case of Facebook while it was significant in case of Orkut.

Keywords: social media penetration; internet; world wide web; networks; websites; India; Facebook; social networking services; Orkut; user acceptance; perceived playfulness; perceived trust; PEOU; perceived ease-of-use; intention to use; marketers; emerging economies; individual users; key predictors; significant predictors; Indian culture; business management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2012.047412

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2012 Vol.5 No.4, pp.405 - 414

Published online: 20 Dec 2014 *

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