INTRODUCTIONInformation behaviour is a term used to describe the various ways in which people interact with information and utilise it (Bates, 2005). Information behaviour refers to human behaviour in relation to information, and the explicit, implicit and tacit mental states related to information. The information behaviour literature identifies several discrete information behaviours, such as the recognition of information needs (Belkin, 2008), information seeking (Chatman, 1991), information use (Bartlett & Toms, 2005), berry-picking (Bates, 1990), and information foraging (Pirolli & Card, 1999). Much of information behaviour research has focused on individuals' day-to-day information needs rather than information behaviours for professional purposes in online space. In the information age, the use of microblogs has significantly transformed the way people seek and use information (Power, 2015). The microblogging phenomenon has also influenced information behaviours, but this influence has not yet been considered in relation to the existing information behaviour models. In the digital age, professionals use information that is available on the Internet creatively, and share it as posts on social media. The audience who can access and read these posts are much wider than the audience of traditional word-of-mouth information sharing or dissemination (Hughes, Rowe, Batey, & Lee, 2012). However, not all professionals use social media in the same way. Social media relationships differ between strong-ties and weak-ties type users. Strong-ties type users consider their online social networks to be as "real" and interactive as their offline interactions; for the weak-ties users, "the online network can be something qualitatively different, where privacy is virtually non-existent" (Skageby, 2012, p. 332). In both cases, their networks are carefully selected. In the weak-ties framework, an individual's network comprises weak-ties (acquaintances) and strong-ties (close family and friends). One advantage of the weak-ties framework is that weak-ties are more useful sources of new information, because individuals with strong-ties usually possess the same information as other members of the network. Hence, weak-ties type users have a wider network, but not much personal interaction or participation in that network. Skageby (2012) has conducted ethnographic studies of Facebook, Flickr and a music-sharing site; however, the users examined in that study were not part of a professional network. It would be useful to explore, as this current study does, whether information technology (IT) professionals, who can be assumed to be more familiar with the privacy and security implications of social media, have similar perceptions when using Twitter.The literature confirms that online spaces enable online collaboration, facilitate social interaction and attract wider audiences as well as participants worldwide. Microblogs support online collaboration that is independent of time and place (Ebner, Lienhardt, Rohs, & Meyer, 2010). This is because microblogs are perceived as places, comparable to physical spaces, that engender a sense of belonging that enable IT professionals to create communities of practice. This is consistent with extant research findings that Twitter is a flexible and powerful electronic form of word-of-mouth communication channel for sharing and disseminating information (Jansen, Zhang, Sobel, & Chowdury, 2009). It allows users to repurpose the tool to suit their needs (Straumsheim, 2014). The flexibility and usability of Twitter encourage IT professionals to use it for professional purposes. Twitter has helped IT professionals to share their knowledge and create communities of practice much more easily compared to offline information grounds. An information ground refers to a public (and physical) social setting where people go to carry out everyday life activities such as eating and hairdressing, but ultimately end up engaging in seeking and sharing of information (Fisher, Landry, & Naumer, 2007). …