YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME:EXPLORING MYSPACE USERS' AD FRIENDSHIPS Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors MCDANELL, LAUREN Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 02/10/2021 17:18:13 Item License http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/190690 You’ve Got a Friend in Me: Exploring MySpace Users’ Ad Friendships LAUREN MCDANELL 2008 Honors Thesis * The University of Arizona Eller College of Management Marketing Department The article explores the online social network friendships between people and advertisements on MySpace. The research includes how people represent themselves on MySpace, how they view MySpace friendships, their motivations and expectations for brand friendships on the site, and their attitudes toward ads on MySpace. Future marketing and managerial implications are discussed at the end of the report. INTRODUCTION Marketers have always had a presence on Online social networks such as MySpace MySpace, which is the reason that the site and Facebook have gained mass popularity can invest heavily in technology and allow in recent years. The first of these social users to post a virtually unlimited amount of networks was Friendster, which formally content without charging their account began the social networking era in August holders. As MySpace has evolved with time, 2002 with its site launch.1 Today, MySpace so have the marketers and their is the largest social network on the Internet advertisements. What began with banner ads and studies show that 72 million people use and on-site promotions has turned into the site and its 2007 profits were estimated highly sophisticated profiles of brands that at $200 million. Social networks are have their own MySpace accounts. These collections of personal websites, or brand profiles span from movie or television “profiles,” where users can post information characters, such as Disney’s pirate of the about themselves for other users to see. Caribbean, Captain Jack Sparrow, to These profiles are searchable within the inanimate objects like PepsiCo’s Aquafina, networks and users can make “friends” with and merchandise lines such as Nike Soccer. other users by inviting them to be a part of their personal social network. A user’s The idea of personifying a brand is not a friends are featured in a special, searchable new one. The process of assigning human section of their profile, called their Friend qualities to an inanimate object, anthropo- Space, and other users can browse the list. morphizing, has been studied in depth by The original purpose of MySpace was to researchers such as Susan Fournier. In her create a platform for Web users to connect article, Fournier argues that as a result of with old or current friends and create new marketer’s efforts and their own contact with a brand, the consumer perceives a ones. 2 brand as a behavioral entity. The behavior * Thesis advised by Dr. Kim Nelson, The University of Arizona 2 of the brand indicates its personality to the detail, including the strong use of Levy’s consumer and a relationship is born. In autodriving research technique. possessing a personality, the brand becomes like a human and an active participant in a After the methodology, the researcher will consumer/brand relationship. Some of the report the findings found in the in-depth things marketers need to consider in the interviews related to the following online social network marketplace are what questions: (1) How do consumers create and motivations and expectations the consumers view MySpace profiles? (2) What do have for asking brands to be their “friends,” MySpace users think about online and the way that other people in the social friendships? (3) What are consumers’ network perceive the people that become motivations for becoming friends with ads friends with the brand. on MySpace? (4) What do consumers expect will result from their friendship with ads? A brand becoming part of a consumer’s and, (5) How important is the idea of identity on MySpace has large implications projecting a self-identity to other members for the company. On one hand, the person on MySpace? The discussion section will literally becomes a direct, free advertisement outline six guidelines for marketers derived for the company to others on the site. On the from the findings related to MySpace users’ other hand, the ways others perceive the relationships with ads, address future trends person or the type of person that would in social networking, and recommendations include the brand in their identity could have for further research. negative effects. The marketer loses control of the brand when consumers decide to take CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 3 it into their own hands. The relationship between the consumer and the brand may Because the relationship between people and also suffer greatly if the brand friend is advertisements on MySpace is called a unable to fulfill the consumer’s expectations friendship, the literature on friendships, 4 in the mutual friendship. including the nature of online friendships and the phenomenon of anthropomorphism The purpose of this report is to investigate friendships, sets a foundation for consumers’ motivations and expectations for understanding the motivations and including ads in their “social network” on expectations people have for being friends MySpace. The researcher will use MySpace with ads. users’ responses to research-based interview questions regarding online profiles, Friendship relationships, and brand friendships to uncover these consumer ideas. Friendship relationships in research are usually characterized by their tie strength, This article begins with a grounding in prior ranging from strong to weak. Marsden found research. Using literature on friendship, that the best predictor of tie strength is the personal relationships with brands, and “closeness,” or intimacy level in a brands and the consumer’s self identity, a relationship that indicates a high level of conceptual framework for the research was self-disclosure and mutual trust.5 Research developed. Then, the methodology of the on online friendship social ties has been data collection and analysis are outlined in divided. Early researchers on computer mediated social ties were skeptical of 3 closeness within friendships because of the person. The study results indicate that the lack of social cues in that setting which most influential factors driving a person to make the environment more conducive to form an e-relationship are (1) the person’s weak ties.6, 7 More recent research has found experience and exposure to the Internet and that anonymity, isolation, and searchable (2) the social networking programs and its profiles that enable users to find others with features. Therefore, it may be the case that similar interests, have led to less discretion the longest-standing members of MySpace in revealing personal information and thus, have the most friends in their social stronger ties among online social network, and consequently, the greatest networkers.8 In addition, the researchers number of brand friends. If this is the case, found that study participants identified their the motivations for friendships may differ online relationships as having a lower across consumers that have varying lengths quality than their offline relationships with of membership with MySpace. others.9 Friendships that people form with brands are Peter et al. studied the formulation process related to the idea of anthropomorphism, of adolescents’ online relationships, which was defined earlier as the behavior of including introversion/extroversion, online humans to attribute human characteristics to self-disclosure, motive for social nonhuman entities. Kennedy asserts that compensation, and frequency of online anthropomorphism is a part of human communication as predictors of motivation. nature, stating that the practice is “built-in to The report presents a model of adolescent the human repertoire.”11 Burghardt goes as friendship formulation that shows how an far as to say that anthrophomorphism is an individual’s personality characteristics, unavoidable “inherent human propensity.”12 motives, and Internet use frequency all effect the online friendship formulation. Literature on consumers’ personal Results from the study showed that relationships with brands will expand the introverts are just as likely to form online knowledge on their motivations and relationships as extraverts, and that they are expectations for their MySpace relation- more likely to represent their real life (RL) ships. identities in their online communication, which leads to stronger ties. Extroverted Personal Relationships with Brands adolescents in the study self-disclosed more information and spent more time 10 There has been some recent research on the communicating online. The introvert/ ways that people think about brands as extrovert factor may have an effect on the having human characteristics and online friendships that people form with ads subsequently form relationships with brands on MySpace as well. that are similar to their human relationships. Fournier created a spectrum of types of Gennaro’s research on online relationships relationships that people have with