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This study argues for the necessity of applying offline contexts to social networking site research and the importance of distinguishing the relationship types of users' counterparts when studying Facebook users' behaviors. In an attempt to examine the relationship among users' behaviors, their counterparts' relationship types, and the users' perceived acquaintanceships after using Facebook, this study first investigated users' frequently used tools when interacting with different types of friends. Users tended to use less time- and effort-consuming and less privacy-concerned tools with newly acquired friends. This study further examined users' behaviors in terms of their closeness and intimacy and their perceived acquaintanceships toward four different types of friends. The study found that users gained more perceived acquaintanceships from less close friends with whom users have more frequent interaction but less intimate behaviors. As for closer friends, users tended to use more intimate activities to interact with them. However, these activities did not necessarily occur more frequently than the activities they employed with their less close friends. It was found that perceived acquaintanceships with closer friends were significantly lower than those with less close friends. This implies that Facebook is a mechanism for new friends, rather than close friends, to become more acquainted.

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to disprove the common assumptions of research into privacy concerns from an adversarial paradigm, which does not work in the context of the internet. These assumptions usually claim that internet users who have higher privacy concerns will disclose less information, and that data subjects are always adversarial to data users without considering social contexts.Design/methodology/approachThe study surveyed 400 respondents from China, The Netherlands, Taiwan and the USA. It examined not only their privacy concerns, but also their actual practices, in order to identify any similarities between concerns and practices.FindingsThis study proved that internet users' privacy concerns do not reflect their privacy practices and showed how social contexts (Web category) influence users' privacy practices. Respondents from China, The Netherlands, Taiwan and the USA perceive Website categories in different ways, reflecting the influences of political systems, cultural background and economic development.Research limitations/implicationsThis study maintains that future research on online privacy should take contexts or situations into account. To confirm this, additional research should be undertaken on how social contexts in other countries affect users' privacy concerns and practices. Investigators should also study what makes users more likely to disclose information.Originality/valueThis study suggests that legislation provides the basic protection, while self‐regulation supplies the detailed principles of online privacy. Privacy education teaches users how to create their “zone of privacy” and how to be responsible for their online practices, in order to build an abuse‐free information environment on the internet.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine village heads’ information seeking and decision making in 2014 Kaohsiung Blast and to analyze if the current disaster trainings help those leaders to enhance disaster risk deduction in an unprecedented disaster. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts after-action review and information seeking and decision making literature both from communication research and disaster research. Document analysis, and in-depth interviews with 13 village heads, 1 district officer, and 15 residents from the affected areas are conducted. Findings This study finds that the village heads have received trainings of regular types of disasters; however, most of them act like lay people in Kaohsiung Blast. In the beginning of the gas leaking, village heads slack off when first respondents arrive. After the Blast, most of them wait for authority orders and cannot launch minimum self-help and community help which they learned from the trainings. Practical implications This study confirms that the leadership research should take different categories and levels of leaders into consideration to distinguish public leaders from non-public leaders, professional disaster risk reduction leaders from non-professional leaders, and higher authorities from basic levels of government. The findings from this study provide a basis for the rational design of the job descriptions of village leaders. Originality/value This study is the first empirical research to investigate first-level but non-professional disaster management staffs’ information seeking and decision making after an unprecedented disaster in Taiwan.

Drawing on Brown and Levinson's (1987) politeness theory, this study investigates the communicative interaction behaviors of physicians, patients, and patients' parents in pediatrics in Taiwan. Thirty outpatients and six senior physicians from three different levels of hospital participated in the study. The analysis results indicate that most of the communicative politeness strategies used in pediatrics are bald-on-record, direct, and non-redressed. In addition, physicians adopt a higher percentage of bald-on-record and negative politeness strategies than patients. In contrast, patients' parents use more positive politeness and off-record strategies. These results indicate that while physicians display lower levels of politeness and often communicate directly, patients' parents express more supportive opinions and adopt more indirect communication strategies. The results reveal a preference for efficiency in pediatric clinics, with physicians adopting a dominant role in the communication process. These results also demonstrate an inherently asymmetric power balance between physician and patient. Our findings indicate the presence of several commonly seen politeness strategies and dialogue patterns that encourage greater self-awareness and self-observation for physicians and patients, leading to more effective communication in the clinical context. Finally, also discussed are the possible influences of Chinese culture such as face work, harmony, and power.