Abstract
Virtual community (VC) has become a common practice among Internet users to promote information sharing and collaboration. As so, any individual can establish his/her own community under given agenda or issue for information sharing. However, the effectiveness of VC practices; in particular, the influencing factors on the perceived value of VC members are still under investigated. More empirically studies are needed as to how to manage and guide the VC activities. Based on the ego-center social network model, this study examines the factors affecting the intention of using VC via word of mouth promotion. The perceived usefulness、perceived ease of use and image are considers as the de factors in the model. In addition, the word of mouth promotion is regarded as a social norm influencing the participation of VC practice. 347 persons resulted from a snowball sampling participated in the study. The results of the data analysis are: 1. Assisted by word-of-mouth promotion, people are more willing to use the VC. 2. The strength of the relationship between the promoter and user significantly influences the intention to use VC, but the influence of the types of relationship is insignificant. 3. There is no direct influence between strength of the relationship and the intention to use. The intention of use is mainly affected by the enhancement of image and the perceived usefulness. 4. Under the weak relationship between promoter and user, there is no significant impact towards the change of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, image and the intention of using VC.