Global Diffusion of Online Social Network Services : A Cross-Country Study

This study examines online social media diffusion across different countries that will help to provide a picture of current global online social network services (SNSs). Analyzing country-level data drawn from 78 nations, we find that non-technological factors such as culture and language as well as technological factors including Internet penetration rate and smartphone adoption rate have significant effects on online social media diffusion. These findings, derived from a broad range of different countries, not only provide theoretical insights into understanding critical factors that enable successful global expansion of online social media services but also help practitioners plan their marketing strategies more effectively in a global context.