Knowledge Sharing and Management via Online Social Networks: A Prototype for Older People in Thailand Nattavee Utakrit Department of Information Technology Management, Faculty of Information Technology, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand Email: nattaveeu@kmutnb.ac.th Nittaya Utakrit Department of Office Automation Design and Business Management, Faculty of Architecture and Design, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand Email: nittayas@kmutnb.ac.th Abstract—Knowledge sharing via online social networks may not just be for younger people or people who are still working. This study shows that a prototype of an online social network for older people in Thailand can be of importance for people at this age. The study used qualitative research methods to investigate attitudes of older Thai people who live in the capital city and its surrounding towards social networks and knowledge sharing. This particular online social network prototype was designed, developed and tested by researchers then by experts before conducting the experimental tests with the real sample groups of older people. The researchers conducted the second experimental tests as a follow up study. From the results of UAT (User Acceptance Test) it can be implied that this online social network successfully met the needs of older Thai people in this area. Index Terms—online social network, Thailand, older people, CoPs, edutainment, qualitative method, UAT I. INTRODUCTION Information and Communication Technology (ICT) today plays a significant role to the human society. One of the benefits is that ICT helps people to transfer, disseminate and share data, information, and knowledge to others quickly, easily, and widely. One of the most popular channels that people use to do that is the Internet [1]. Thailand is one of the developing countries in South East Asia. In 2013, National Statistical Office, Thailand, reported that from 63.5 million which is the majority of Thai people, only 18.3 million used the Internet [2]. 70.7% of these people liked to use the Internet to share information and knowledge via online social networks which has become a very popular activity on the Internet [2]. Social networks provide a platform for people to talk, share and make friends. Especially, people who are in the same age group or have similar interests in particular issues, for Manuscript received January 20, 2014; revised April 18, 2014. instance Facebook fan pages. But not only Facebook, there are also a lot of other social networks available for people to communicate over. In Thailand for example, the Website “GotoKnow.com”, this is one of the most popular online social networks for people who are of working age. “Pantip.com” is another famous online social network for everyone who wants to share and talk about issues covering many different categories. Results from research [3] shows that Thai senior educators who are willing to keep working believed their current skills and abilities can continue to be used and support their work in their professional life and that ICT will benefit both themselves and society. Many researches’ have confirmed that older people agree and realize the significance and benefits of this technology too [4]-[8]. Nevertheless, online social networks have some limitations for older Thai people. The structure of Thai society is a hierarchical one where older individuals enjoy more status and seniority than younger ones and thus many senior citizens may find their skills more sought after than in a western society. Naturally, people in this group are usually not familiar with new technology. However, because of their age and the fact that they feel out-of-date, as they retired before the new technology came in, it may be hard for them to learn how to use this particular technology by themselves. The purpose of this research is to develop a prototype of a knowledge sharing and management system via an online social network for older people in Thailand. Research questions stemming from this purpose are 1) what are their attitudes about using social networks for knowledge sharing; 2) what appropriate social network do they need. II. LITERATURE REVIEW AND SIMILAR STUDIES In recent years, there has been a lot of literature and similar studies carried out that relate to this work and supports the initial idea, statement of problems, research 74 Journal of Advanced Management Science Vol. 3, No. 1, March 2015 ©2015 Engineering and Technology Publishing doi: 10.12720/joams.3.1.74-80