Evaluating key factors affecting knowledge exchange in social media community

¹ Department of Film and TV Technology, Fuzhou University of International Studies and Trade, China
² Department of Fine Art and Design, Fuzhou University of International Studies and Trade, China

^a Corresponding author: sphill200406@163.com

Abstract

Today, social media opens up multiple options to add a new channel to learn and obtain knowledge. In particular, social media allows users to learn formal and informal social settings. Users can find like-minded people or community and organize knowledge exchange for educational or other purposes. This paper takes the theory of social network and social capital as the core factors to explore social media community members how to use social media platform to exchange knowledge. The paper uses social network and social capital as predictors of knowledge exchange so that we can use social media as a way to advance knowledge exchange ceaselessly. Therefore, there were 263 members of well-known social media community of knowledge exchange filling out the questionnaires completely, and then evaluated with structural equation modeling, and confirmatory factor analysis was also applied, using SmartPLS 2.0, to test if the empirical data conform to the proposed model. However, results also imply that social capital and social network distinctly play the important part of affecting knowledge exchange and communication about social issues on social media community goes hand in hand with knowledge exchange. Finally, this article proposes implications for theory and practice on the current and future research.