Pictures tell a story: antecedents of rich-media curation in social network sites

摘要

This study explores a new aspect of online social networking, in which textual information has been largely replaced by the curation of rich-media content. We examine these 'curation-based' networks (CBN) and develop a theoretical model of the antecedents of intentions to curate rich-media content. Results from the empirical analysis of 449 users of Pinterest, a popular CBN, show that users undertake curation tasks to achieve objectives around the management, discovery, and presentation of rich-media content. The findings have implications for researchers and practitioners interested in the changing nature of online social networks and the role of rich-media in online communication.