International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking (IJVCSN) - Current IssueInternational Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking (IJVCSN)https://www.igi-global.com/journal/international-journal-virtual-communities-social/1121IGI GlobalenInternational Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking (IJVCSN)1942-90101942-9029© 2018 IGI Globalecontent@igi-global.comInternational Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking (IJVCSN)https://coverimages.igi-global.com/cover-images/covers/ijvcsn.pnghttps://www.igi-global.com/journal/international-journal-virtual-communities-social/1121Artificial Neural Network Research in Online Social Networkshttps://www.igi-global.com/article/artificial-neural-network-research-in-online-social-networks/235457Artificial neural networks are a machine learning method ideal for solving classification and prediction problems using Big Data. Online social networks and virtual communities provide a plethora of data. Artificial neural networks have been used to determine the emotional meaning of virtual community posts, determine age and sex of users, classify types of messages, and make recommendations for additional content. This article reviews and examines the utilization of artificial neural networks in online social network and virtual community research. An artificial neural network to predict the maintenance of online social network “friends” is developed to demonstrate the applicability of artificial neural networks for virtual community research.10.4018/IJVCSN.2018100101International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking (IJVCSN), Volume: 10, Issue: 4 (2018) Pages: 1-15Walczak, StevenSocial ComputingMedia & CommunicationsSocial Networking2018-10-01T04:00:00Z1041152018-10-01T04:00:00ZEnsuring Privacy of Participants Recruited via Social Mediahttps://www.igi-global.com/article/ensuring-privacy-of-participants-recruited-via-social-media/235458Researchers worldwide are increasingly looking to recruit research participants via social media (particularly @Facebook and @Twitter) because they appear to offer access to a wider range of research participants and afford inherently convenient tools for recruitment. In Australia, the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research, together with the federal Privacy law and a number of state-based privacy statutes, provide support and guidance for this novel approach. This article offers a preliminary analysis and discussion of this trend from an Australian perspective, illustrated by an enquiry into the ethical challenges posed by social media-based recruitment, conducted in an Australian university in 2015. Leximancer™ was used as an analytical tool and the content from social media sites used for a small number of research studies conducted up to 2015, taken in conjunction with the various national human research ethics guidelines, offered a means of understanding how ethical challenges of privacy and anonymity can be addressed for responsible social media-based research.10.4018/IJVCSN.2018100102International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking (IJVCSN), Volume: 10, Issue: 4 (2018) Pages: 16-32Unnithan, ChandanaSwatman, Paula M.Kelder, Jo-AnneSocial ComputingMedia & CommunicationsSocial Networking2018-10-01T04:00:00Z10416322018-10-01T04:00:00ZVirtual Communities and Social Networking in Franchisinghttps://www.igi-global.com/article/virtual-communities-and-social-networking-in-franchising/235459Franchising has been a popular approach to growing a business. Its popularity continues to increase, as we witness an emergence of a new business model Netchising or Online-to-Offline, combining the Internet for global demand-and-supply, virtual communities, and social networking processes and the international franchising arrangement for local responsiveness. In this article, we show that building up a good “family” relationship between the franchisor and the franchisee is the real essence of franchising, and proven working knowledge is the foundation of the “family” relationship. Specifically, we discuss the process of how to make big data and business analytics meaningful for virtual communities and social networking in franchising. The process consists of business challenges, data foundation, analytics implementation, insights, execution and measurements, distributed knowledge, and innovation.10.4018/IJVCSN.2018100103International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking (IJVCSN), Volume: 10, Issue: 4 (2018) Pages: 33-44Chen, Ye-ShoSocial ComputingMedia & CommunicationsSocial Networking2018-10-01T04:00:00Z10433442018-10-01T04:00:00ZInformation and Its Conceptual Perspectiveshttps://www.igi-global.com/article/information-and-its-conceptual-perspectives/235460Information has attributes/positivist concepts that some authors use to better understand it. Others are critical about information subjectivism. This article discusses conceptual perspectives of information. The aim is to study the concepts of information from some areas of knowledge of the social sciences, cognitive and business looking to propose a concept of information in the field of information science. The methodology of the study is formed by bibliographical research. It is concluded that the concept of information is still in full development. The concept of information depends on the perception of information. Although this is not something that shocks, raises some interesting questions and research opportunities. For example, as we get the information.10.4018/IJVCSN.2018100104International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking (IJVCSN), Volume: 10, Issue: 4 (2018) Pages: 45-59Rascão, JoséSocial ComputingMedia & CommunicationsSocial Networking2018-10-01T04:00:00Z10445592018-10-01T04:00:00Z