Conceptualization of Online Social Networks Success Factors from User and Policymaker Perspective, an Analytical Study

Users and policymakers as the key stakeholders of these networks play crucial roles in the development and success of these networking tools. Hence¡ understanding these networks success factors from each of these stakeholders can form a conceptual framework for designing more successful social networks. Despite the existence of the wealthy body of the literature on the topic of social network success and the important roles of users and policymakers¡ the problem is that little has been done on studying the factors that affect the success of social networks from a user and policymaker perspective and also the connection between these two perspectives. Conducting an analytical review of related research studies¡ this study identified 89 success factors and then categorized them into six main conceptual categories that contribute to the success of the social networks. The emergent patterns from this analytical review of the literature establish a conceptual framework for understanding factors that would affect the successful design¡ implementation¡ and management of the social networks. This can be of value to social networks founders¡ designers¡ and managers who aim to initiate or evaluate their social networks. The conceptual framework proposed in this study also can be of value to the researchers who aim to conduct empirical studies to understand conceptions of social networks in real life contexts from the perspectives of those who design and use social networks.