No Cue, No Clue? Understanding Information Interaction in Social Bookmarking Services

Social book marking services allow users sharing similar interests to save and exchange web content they find useful or relevant. Book marking is especially important for content not located by the top ranked web pages or easily explored with a traditional search engine. This study investigated the effects that the major context of use (work vs. non-work) has had on experiences with the social book marking service. A within-subject experiment was conducted with 77 subjects. Each took part in both work and non-work information tasks by interacting with six navigation aids. The MANOVA analysis results showed that the contexts of use, work versus non-work, have a significant effect on user information interaction experiences. Moreover, user expertise for work-related tasks has a significant impact on the user perceptions of navigation aids as helpful way finding cues. Understanding how users interact with various way finding cues can enlighten design considerations for refining social navigation functions. For social book marking service providers, the findings of this study offer new insights into user-centered design from an information interaction perspective.