Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Commerce and Business Management [Under UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Awards of M.Phil./ Ph.D
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"A STUDY OF INFLUENCES OF CONSUMER PRODUCTS' ADVERTIS ING THROUGH SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES ON BUYING BEHAVIOR" Thesis Submitted to The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda For The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy ( Ph.D. ) [Commerce and Business Management] [Under UGC (Minimum Standards and procedure for Awards of M.Phil./ Ph.D. Degree) Regulation, 2009] By Ms. Krupa J. Rao Assistant Professor Department of Commerce and Business Management Faculty of Commerce The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara Under the Guidance of Dr. Umesh R. Dangarwala M.Com. (Bus. Admn.), M.Com. (Acct.), FCA, AICWA, M. Phil., Ph. D. Head and Associate Professor Department of Commerce and Business Management Faculty of Commerce The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara-390002, Gujarat (India) May, 2014 CHAPTER – 1 SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES SCENARIO 1.1 PREAMBLE: Internet, 'network of networks' may very well be termed as one of mankind's finest inventions and 'Internet of Things' (IOT) could be pitted as the optimal enablement of this invention, owning to its scale and utility. The scenario outlined earlier will soon be real as the internet is becoming accessible at one's fingertips and over diverse devices. The ABI Research data states that there are more than 10 billion wirelessly connected devices in the market today; with over 30 billion devices expected by 2020. Internet is visibly making every object or machine around us smarter, right from connected toothbrush, sports gear with embedded sensors and smart refrigerators. Social Networking Sites like, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Google Plus, etc., now a days, have become an integral part of life of every individual. The young generation of India, which constitutes majority portion of Indian population, is termed as major market force by Indian as well as Global Business houses. The young generation is techno savvy and is dependent on various technological devices for availing information inputs for all aspects related to the life. The out performance of advertisement on various Social Networking Sites in terms of meeting advertising objectives of creating awareness, interest and converting the potential buyers into actual buyers has compelled all business tycoons to re-plan and re-design their advertising strategy including advertising outlays. Social media marketing seeks to engage customers where they naturally spend their time. Social business picks up on what customers are talking about and connects this back into business where it can be processed to create the next round of customer experiences. No more sweeping consumer’s problems under the rug in the Customer Care department – active social listening, 1 understanding consumer sentiment, and having a social policy are baseline of smart business practices in the twenty first century. Business decisions take into account customer intelligence to generate customer driven and collaboratively designed products that are simply more successful and profitable. The tools, platforms, and technologies like social networking sites are used to operationalize and capture collaborative activities. That’s the whole notion of social business. Now a days the business is the Social Stallion, kicking down the walls between the marketer and the customer which used to separate the business from their customers. Social technologies, on a mass scale, connect people in ways that facilitate sharing information, thereby reducing the opportunities for marketplace exploitation. The Social Web exposes the good, the bad, and the ugly, simultaneously raising up what works and putting down what doesn’t, without any regard for the interests of any specific party. This new social connectivity applies between a business and its customers (B2C), between other businesses (B2B), between customers themselves, as is the case in support communities and similar social applications, and just as well between employees. Information that previously was available to only a selected or privileged class of individuals is now open to all. 1.2 CONCEPT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES: Abbreviated as SNS, a social networking site is the phrase used to describe any Web site that enables users to create public profiles within that Web site and form relationships with other users of the same Web site who access their profile. Social networking sites can be used to describe community-based Web sites, online discussion forums, chat-rooms, groups and other social spaces online. There are hundreds of Social Networking Sites – places on the Internet where people meet in cyberspace to chat, socialize, debate, and network. Some examples include Google Plus, Twitter, and Facebook. Regardless of the language, culture, or the nation where the Social Networking Site originates, 2 all of them share the same feature of helping people connect with others who have similar interests. Social Networking Sites are immensely popular with teenagers and young adults. These sites have become the in-place to meet people and begin to explore something more than chatting online. On these sites, the young person begins by describing his or her likes and dislikes in movies, television programs, books, and music. They give general information on age, sex, and city of residence. Each visitor has a screen name that protects their identity, which can be used as the demographic database for the marketer. Social networking is the practice of expansion of one's business and/or social contacts by making connections through individuals. While social networking has gone on almost as long as societies themselves have existed, the unparalleled potential of the Internet to promote such connections is only now being fully recognized and exploited, through Web-based groups established for that purpose. Based on the six degrees of separation concept (the idea that any two people on the planet could make contact through a chain of no more than five intermediaries), social networking establishes interconnected Internet communities (sometimes known as personal networks) that help people make contacts that would be good for them to know, but that they would be unlikely to have met otherwise. In general, here's how it works: an individual joins one of the sites and invite people to join as well. Those people invite their contacts to join, who in turn invite their contacts to join, and the process repeats for each person. In theory, any individual can make contact through anyone they have a connection to; to any of the people that person has a connection to, and so on. 1 1.2.1 SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES: A DEFINITION A social networking website is an online platform that allows users to create a public profile and interact with other users on the website. Social networking websites usually have a new user input a list of people with whom they share a 3 connection and then allow the people on the list to confirm or deny the connection. After connections are established, the new user can search the networks of his connections to make more connections. A social networking site may also be known as a social website or a social networking website. Social networking sites have different rules for establishing connections, but they often allow users to view the connections of a confirmed connection and even suggest further connections based on a person’s established network. Some social networking websites like LinkedIn are used for establishing professional connections, while sites like Facebook straddle the line between private and professional. There are also many networks that are built for a specific user base, such as cultural or political groups within a given area or even traders in financial markets Social networking websites are easy to confuse with social media sites. A social networking site is any site that has a public or semi-public profile page, including dating sites, fan sites and so on. 2 Social networking sites are defined as web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site. While the term "social network site" is used to describe this phenomenon, the term "social networking sites" also appears in public discourse, and the two terms are often used interchangeably. 3 1.2.2 SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES: FEATURES What makes social network sites unique is not that they allow individuals to meet strangers, but rather that they enable users to articulate and make visible their social networks. This can result in connections between individuals that would not otherwise be made, but that is often not the goal, and these meetings are frequently between "latent ties" who share some offline connection. On many of the large SNSs, participants are not necessarily "networking" or 4 looking to meet new people; instead, they are primarily communicating with people who are already a part of their extended social network. To emphasize this articulated social network as a critical organizing feature of these sites, we label them "social network sites."While SNSs have implemented a wide variety of technical features, their backbone consists of visible profiles that display an articulated list of Friends who are also users of the system. Profiles are unique pages where one can "type oneself into being". After joining an SNS, an individual is asked to fill out forms containing a series of questions. The profile is generated using the answers to these questions, which typically include descriptors such as age, location, interests, and an "about me" section. Most sites also encourage users to upload a profile photo. Some sites allow users to enhance their profiles by adding multimedia content or modifying their profile's look and feel. Others, such as Facebook, allow users to add modules ("Applications") that enhance their profile.