Along with the popularity and commercial success of social networking sites and other forms of social media, the
term social commerce was conceived in 2005, representing an emerging (and evolving) phenomenon [Rubel, 2005;
Beisel, 2006; Stephen and Toubia, 2010]. For discussion purposes, here we briefly define social commerce as a
form of commerce that is mediated by social media and is converging both online and offline environments. Social
commerce involves using social media that support social interactions and user contributions to assist activities in
the buying and selling of products and services online and offline. It represents potential merchandizing
opportunities that combine shopping and social networking activities through social media. Benefiting from the
advantages of interactive information technology infrastructure, social commerce is regarded as a new category of
e-commerce, or the birth of a “referral economy” [Harkin, 2007].