Xiaoxiao Song

Supported by artificial intelligence and 5G techniques in mobile information systems, the rich communication services (RCS) are emerging as new media outlets and conversational agents for both institutional and individual users in China, which inherit the advantages of the short messaging service (SMS) with larger coverage and higher reach rate. The benefits can be fulfilled through media interactions between business and smart phone users. As a competitor of over-the-top services and social media apps, the adoption of RCS will play a vital role for mobile users. It is important to conduct quantitative research and reveal the behavioral intention to use (BIU) among RCS users. In this paper, we collect 195 valid respondents from university via an offline experiment and then build a structural equation model consisting of task characteristics (TAC), technology characteristics (TEC), task-technology fit (TTF), performance expectancy (PE), perceived risk (PR), perceived trust (PT), perceived convenience (PC) and satisfaction (SA). We find that SA, PC and PE have direct impact on BIU. TTF has indirect path connecting to BIU via PE and SA. The impacts of PT and PR on BIU are not significant. Performance results show that our proposed model could explain 49.2% and 63.1% of variance for SA and BIU, respectively. Through revealing the influencing factors of BIU, we can point out the user perception of the brand-new interactive channel and then provide the guidance for the large-scale commercialization of 5G RCS.

By iheriting online natural properties, anonymous social media (ASM) applications have become popular and have attracted large amounts of mobile users (e.g., the youth) who can construct new identities for role-play and show themselves in anonymous ways. In order to investigate the influencing factors toward usage intention (UI) and platform swinging (PS) behavior among anonymous social applications, we choose one of the most active ASM App “Soul” as the example in China and then conducte a semi-structured interview with 23 valid Soul users using qualitative methods. The results show that the factors, i.e., perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived privacy riskiness, perceived anonymity, subjective norms, emotional attachments, and perceived interactivity, indeed affect UI among Soul users via online communication. Moreover, we find that PS behavior is ubiquitous among interviewees and mainly depends on diversified needs, which consist of nine dimensions including different position and function among apps, usage comparison, friend migration, etc. Nearly 80% of interviewees believe that there exists a relationship between UI and PS, which can be described as a inverted U-shaped curve, i.e., the higher or lower UI, the less probability of PS. For the individuals’ social media usage behavior, a closed loop “Attitude–Intention–Behavior” is summarized. By conducting qualitative research, we intend to provide some insights and deepen the understanding of UI among ASM users in daily life.

Anonymity is an inherent attribute of the Internet. Depending on pseudonyms, cyber citizens can role play and present themselves by reconstructing a different identity. In order to satisfy the needs of anonymous self-expression, anonymous social applications have become popular worldwide. In this paper, we conduct a survey regarding user intention (UI) of “Soul”, which is a popular anonymous social media application in China, especially for the youth. For this purpose, we design an adapted technology acceptance model (TAM) consisting of seven influencing factors, i.e., perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived anonymity (PA), perceived privacy riskiness (PPR), subjective norms (SN), emotional attachments (EA) and perceived interactivity (PI). Both the measurement and structural models are tested via partial least squares structural equation model. The results show that PU, PEOU, PPR and PI have a significant relationship with UI. Therein, both SN and EA can impact PU, and meanwhile, the direct paths between PI → PEOU, PA → PPR also exist. Contrary to expectation, the effect of SN on UI is not directly significant. The proposed model is able to explain 64.1% of variance for UI among Soul users. The results suggest that the proposed constructs provide relatively good explanations for the continuous intention to use the Soul app.

Recently, the commercial potentials and practical values of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) have been witnessed for sustainable development of smart cities in the field of intelligent transportation. Driven by the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), vehicles gradually become mobile living spaces to satisfy diverse demands of occupants, where the media functionalities, scenario scopes, and user engagements can be all expended dramatically. In the era of 5G/B5G, the intelligent connected vehicles are considered as super media because of the improved In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI). In this paper, relying on the advanced communication and intelligent techniques, we investigate the IoV-based vehicle-mounted media scenarios and construct IVI solutions for the MaaS. Firstly, we propose the characteristics of vehicle-mounted media scenarios and present the IVI evolution from the aspects of hearing, vision and multi-sensory media services. Secondly, we point out the main features and limitations of IoV-based IVI in 3G/4G. Finally, exploring the potential of super media, both the linkage display and IVI collaborative modes in vehicle-centric media scenarios are introduced as IVI solutions for the MaaS in 5G-V2X and beyond, which intend to further improve the audio-visual experiences of occupants and observers in urban environments.