Paper Type
Complete Research Paper
Description
For many years, online shopping has been a solitary activity. Social co-browsing is an emerging technology which enables two or more users to share the same view in the browser in real-time. Co-browsing enhances online shopping sites with a multi-player mode and enables new forms of communication between online shoppers. In this paper, we study the impact of social presence in social co-browsing on key attributes of user engagement. We extend a measurement model for user engagement with social presence and conduct an online experiment on Amazon´s Mechanical Turk. Two subjects are either paired in text chat session or social co-browsing session. Additionally, a control group is engaged in solitary online shopping experience. User engagement attributes, social presence, and perceived usefulness are measured using a survey. Our data analysis suggests that users who perceive a higher psychological presence are significantly more engaged in the online shopping activity. In particular, social presence in co-browsing leads to a more rewarding experience than in the case of a chat-only approach. \ \ Keywords: Collaborative Systems, User Engagement, Social Presence, E-Commerce. \
SOCIAL CO-BROWSING IN ONLINE SHOPPING: THE IMPACT OF REAL-TIME COLLABORATION ON USER ENGAGEMENT
For many years, online shopping has been a solitary activity. Social co-browsing is an emerging technology which enables two or more users to share the same view in the browser in real-time. Co-browsing enhances online shopping sites with a multi-player mode and enables new forms of communication between online shoppers. In this paper, we study the impact of social presence in social co-browsing on key attributes of user engagement. We extend a measurement model for user engagement with social presence and conduct an online experiment on Amazon´s Mechanical Turk. Two subjects are either paired in text chat session or social co-browsing session. Additionally, a control group is engaged in solitary online shopping experience. User engagement attributes, social presence, and perceived usefulness are measured using a survey. Our data analysis suggests that users who perceive a higher psychological presence are significantly more engaged in the online shopping activity. In particular, social presence in co-browsing leads to a more rewarding experience than in the case of a chat-only approach. \ \ Keywords: Collaborative Systems, User Engagement, Social Presence, E-Commerce. \