A study of developing an instrument for measuring the user satisfaction of Web 2.0 services - with emphasis on blogs and SNS -

Abstract

The Web 2.0 trend which began at the O`Reilly and MediaLive International conference in 2004 has clearly settled down and expanded across diverse web services. Though, current models for measuring website user satisfaction (WUS) are insufficient as they do not consider users as participants in web 2.0 services. This study develops a comprehensive model and instrument for measuring user satisfaction for blogs and social network services (SNS), which are representative services of the web 2.0 trend. The researchers summarize previous web user satisfaction researches and develop an item list. Based on this list, we empirically perform in-depth interviews with 20 people involved with web 2.0 services. Using CIT, we discover initial lists of blog and SNS user satisfaction. The procedures used in generating initial items, performing in-depth interviews and pilot studies to delete duplicate items are described. The researchers carefully examined reliability, validity, criterion-related validity by analyzing data from 190 respondents. Finally, we discover new emerging dimensions in blog and SNS user satisfaction. These blog and SNS user satisfaction instruments can be applied in the process of examining and estimating user satisfaction in web 2.0 services by other researchers and practitioners in the future.