Continuance usage intention in microblogging services: The case of twitter

Abstract

The emergence of Web 2.0 has brought with it a plethora of social networking technologies. Among these, microblogging has emerged as a new and popular tool for short, frequent communication via Web postings. The most popular microblogging service, Twitter, has established a large user base, in spite of numerous criticisms. This study aims to examine why this is the case. In particular, the study develops a model of microblogging use continuance based on theories of continuance, habit and critical mass. The model is then tested by means of a Web survey of Twitter users (n=131) and structural equation modelling using the partial least squares technique. The results suggest that continued use intention is strongly determined by perceived usefulness, satisfaction and habit (R2=0.454) which together provide a strong explanation for Twitter user behaviour. Further, critical mass and frequency of prior behaviour, both influenced by social network size, are strong determinants of the habit construct. The paper rounds off with conclusions and implications for future research and practice in this very new area of inquiry.

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