CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction to the Research Study

―Communities already exists, instead, think about how you can help that community do
what they want to do‖ - Mark Zuckerberg, Founder &
CEO – Facebook.

People were communicating with each other even without a language in primitive
times. People are communicating now too, but there has been a massive change in ways
of communication through years. First, there were birds to send letters, human
messengers, and then there were telephone lines, pagers, mobile phones and lastly the
internet. According to Internet World Stats (2011),1 in the last 11 years Internet users
have grown up from 360 million in 2000 to 2267 million in 2011. Asia is the highest
among other world regions with 1016 million internet users (2011). Moreover,
focussing India alone, it has 121 million internet users in 2011, which was 5 million in
2000, against a population of 1189 million. It shows an internet penetration of 10.2%.
In addition, due to the internet revolution, today we have a new way to interact – i.e.
Social Media. Internet World Stat reports(2011) that among 121 million internet users
in India, there are 45 million Facebook users registered as on March 31, 2012. Latest
trend noticed these days is that people are asking each other for their Facebook IDs
rather than noting down cell numbers. This shows the intensity of people for using
social media websites. Hence, this enormous number of internet and social media users
in the world and in India has raised the importance and interest on the topic.

Social Media have become a more convenient way to interact among every age group.
IBM Institute for Business Value, in its study, mentions that ―The widespread social
networking phenomenon reflects shifts in two long-term communication trends: first, a
shift in communications patterns from point-to-point, two-way conversations, to many-
to-many, collaborative communications; and, second, a transition of control of the

1
Internet World Stats, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

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communications environment from telecommunications to open internet platform
providers.‖2

These new trends and changed face of communication among consumers have given
rise to new kind of opportunities for organizations to understand their customers and
even employees, connecting them and linking them to create a ―Social Business‖.
Companies have never before had the opportunity to talk to millions of customers, send
out messages, get fast feedback, and experiment with offers at relatively low costs. In
addition, never before have millions of consumers had the ability to talk to each other,
criticizing or recommending products — without the knowledge or input from a
company. According to Paul Gillin, ―Conventional marketing wisdom long held that a
‗dissatisfied customer tells ten people‘. But in the new age of social media, he or she
has the tools to tell ten million.‖3

Social media is a catalyst for information sharing and accelerates the entire process.
‗Across networks, a good or bad experience will be shared, potentially on a huge scale.
Between 700,000 and 1.3 million blog posts are made daily and, according to Google, a
new blog post is being created every second of every day‘ (James, 2009). 4 This new
environment has fundamentally changed the relationship between the brand and the
consumer. Concerning this changing relationship between brand and consumer, this
study is about how social media influences consumers of Gujarat.

1.2 Background to the Research

The area of this research study is very fresh to the Indian Environment. The topic of the
research - “Influence of Social Media: A Study of Consumers of Gujarat” explains
that this study is trying to find out the influence of Social Media on the Consumers of
Gujarat state. Hence it is important to look at what exactly the term ―Social Media‖ is,
why it is important to study its influence on people, and what the existing literature
explains about the correlation between social media and consumer behaviour.
Consumer Behaviour, by itself, is a wide area of study involving many stages of

2
Rob van den Dam, Ekow Nelson and Zygmunt Lozinski, “The Changing Face of Communication: Social
networking’s growing influence on telecom providers,” Executive Report by IBM Global Business
Services, IBM Institute for Business Value, U.S.A. June 2000, 1.
3
Paul Gillin, The new influencers: a marketer’s guide to the new social media. (Sanger, California, USA:
Quill Driver books/World Dancer Press, Inc., 2007).
4
Laura James, “Should you advertise on social networking websites?” Warc Ltd., 2009.

2
buying. Hence, it needs clarification about which stages and sections of consumer
buying behaviour is concerned for this research study.

1.2.1 Social Media

Various social media experts around the world defines the term Social Media and all
their definitions come to a consensus on the following points: It is –

 an online medium for social interactions, powered by internet.

 a two way conversation medium.

 a medium that allows creation and exchange of user generated content.5

 a medium that is based on web 2.0 technology of internet based services.

 are platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Social Gaming, Social

Bookmarking, etc.

The above sentences define social media very clearly. A medium that is widely used for
communication almost everywhere on this earth is clearly a subject of minute study. It
is so, because communication is an important facet of life. Social media is a shift in
how people discover, read and share news, information and content. ―It is a fusion of
sociology and technology, transforming monologue, one-to-many, into dialogue, many-
to-many.‖ 6 Social media, in the form of social networking services, has emerged as
particularly prevalent for online communication in recent years.7 Every day, millions of
people use the Internet in the form of social media for communication, collaboration,
sharing information, and entertainment purposes. Social media can be defined as ―the
democratization of content and the shift in the role people play in the process of reading
and disseminating information (and thus creating and sharing content).‖ 8 Andreas

5
Kaplan M. Andreas and Michael Haenlein, "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities
of Social Media," Business Horizons 53(1) (2010): 59–68.
6
Headspace, “Utilising Social media to educate, engage and empower young people,” National Youth
Mental Health Foundation Presentation by Karalee Evans [PowerPoint slides](2009): 3.
7
Danah M. Boyd and Nicole B. Ellison, “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship,”
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), (2007) article 11.
8
Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is
Reinventing the Aging Business of PR (FT Press, 2009)

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Kaplan and Michael Haenlein 9 defines social media as "a group of Internet-based
applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and
that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content." Social media are media
for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Web
2.0 is a platform on which social media is based.10 Antony Mayfield11 from iCrossing, a
digital marketing company, defines Social Media in his e-book ―What is Social
Media?‖ as a group of new kinds of online media, which share most or all of the
following characteristics:

 Participation: Social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone

who is interested. It blurs the line between media and audience.

 Openness: Most social media services are open to feedback and participation. They
encourage voting, comments and the sharing of information. There are rarely any
barriers to accessing and making use of content – password-protected content is
frowned on.

 Conversation: Whereas traditional media is about ―broadcast‖ (content transmitted

or distributed to an audience), social media is better seen as a two-way
conversation.

 Community: Social Media allows communities to form quickly and communicate

effectively. Communities share common interests, such as a love of photography, a
political issue or a favourite TV show.

 Connectedness: Most kinds of social media thrive on their connectedness, making

use of links to other sites, resources and people.

Social media is a software which helps people to exchange content with others online
(Demopoulos, 2006).12 Wikipedia defines social media as, web and mobile based online

9
Andreas and Haenlein, 59–68.
10
Lena Carlsson, Marketing and communications in social media: fruitful dialogues, stronger brand,
increased sales :-), (Sweden: Kreafon, 2009), quoted in Maria Johansson, “Social Media and Brand
Awareness – a case study in the fast moving consumer goods sector” (Bachelor thesis, Luleå University
of Technology, Sweden, 2010), 1.
11
Antony Mayfield, What is Social Media? (UK: iCrossing, 2008), 5.
12
Ted Demopoulos, What no one ever tells you about blogging and podcasting: Real life advice from 101
people who successfully leverage the power of blogosphere (Chicago: Dearborn Trade, 2006).

4
technologies, whose function is to turn communication into interactive dialogue among
organizations, communities, and individuals.13

From the above definitions by several authors, it is clear that social media basically is a
new age technology that includes various online tools that enable people communicate
easily through internet to share information and resources like words, pictures, videos
and audio. Social Media platforms include networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Orkut,
LinkedIn, MySpace, etc), Blogs, Podcasts, Video Sharing sites (YouTube, Ted, FlickR),
Mobile Applications, etc. Figure 1 (below) presents the bird‘s eye view of the social
media landscape.

Figure 1 Social Media Landscape by Brian Solis (Source: http://www.BrianSolis.com)

13
Wikipedia, s.v. “Social Media.”

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Social Media is not limited to Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn. It is much more than
social networking sites. It is about Social Conversations happening all over the internet
through various social technologies. Brian Solis14 (Figure 1) very well describes these
social technologies in his version known as ―The Conversation Prism‖. All these social
technologies are also known as social media platforms. Among many definitions of
social media, one definition reads; ‗Online tools that people use to share content,
insights, opinions, profiles, experiences, perspectives and media itself. Social media
facilitates conversations and online interaction between groups of people.‘15

Some have posed arguments about Social Media called as a ―Media‖. Bryan
Eisenberg 16 in his article ―Understanding and Aligning the Value of Social Media‖
wrote, ―The biggest problem I have with the term “social media” is that it isn‟t media
in the traditional sense. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and all the others I don‟t have the
word count to mention aren‟t media; they are platforms for interaction and networking.
All the traditional media — print, broadcast, search, and so on — provide platforms for
delivery of ads near and around relevant content. Social media are platforms for
interaction and relationships, not content and ads.‖ Ted McConnell, 17 General
Manager - Interactive Marketing and Innovation at Procter & Gamble Co., was quoted
in AdAge from a talk to the Digital Non-Conference, a program by Cincinnati‘s Digital
Hub Initiative presented by the Ad Club of Cincinnati: ―I think when we call it
„consumer-generated media,‟ we‟re being predatory,” he said. “Who said this is
media? Media is something you can buy and sell. Media contains inventory. Media
contains blank spaces. Consumers weren‟t trying to generate media. They were trying
to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. We hijack their own conversations,
their own thoughts and feelings, and try to monetize it. You can do really amazing
things. But I‟m not so sure I want to be targeted like that. I don‟t think everything every
consumer says to someone else and writes down is somehow monetizable by the media
industry.‖

14
Brian Solis, “Conversation Prism,” 2008, http://www.briansolis.com/2008/08/introducing-
conversation-prism.html
15
Brian Solis, “Defining Social Media,” 2007, http://www.briansolis.com/2007/06/defining-social-
media/
16
Bryan Eisenberg, “Understanding and Aligning the Value of Social Media,” Future Now, 07 Nov 2008,
http://www.grokdotcom.com/2008/11/07/understanding-and-aligning-the-value-of-social-media/
17
Ted McConnell, quoted in Jack Neff, “P&G Digital Guru Not Sure Marketers Belong on Facebook”
AdAge, 17 Nov 2008, http://adage.com/article/digital/p-g-s-mcconnell-marketers-belong-social-
networks/132606/

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The facility that differentiates these social media sites from standard email software is
that they allow people to upload and ‗insert content (not just share information) into a
shared community‘ (Powell, 2009).18

The truth we arrive at, is that social media adds value over other forms of online
communication when used for enabling content sharing in a networked space. This
ability to enable content sharing and interaction defines social media and separates it
from other communication platforms. This means that if brands are going to the get
value from social media, they must use it for what is does best; enabling and facilitating
the sharing of engaging content in the hope that it creates relevant conversations around
the brand or product. ‗Brands need to add value into an online community through
enabling the sharing of content, if it cannot do this it has little value, and will be
perceived as having little value‘ (Powell, 2009).19

Regards to this brief explanation of the term ‗social media‘, introduction to the research
topic becomes simple to understand. In simple words, it is the medium for
communication and interaction among people of various behaviours, demographics,
countries, environments and cultures. Social media is breaking all barriers of
communication. It gives freedom to connect with anyone on the earth who is present on
social media platform, be it an organisation or an individual. This connection plays a
very significant role for businesses, because they are keen on knowing their customers.
Hence, this study is about measuring the influence of Social Media on the consumers
with specific reference to one Indian state – Gujarat.

1.2.2 Consumer Behaviour

The term Consumer Behaviour as defined by Schiffman, Kanuk and Kumar in their
book is the behaviour that consumers display in searching for, purchasing, using,
evaluating, and disposing of products and services that they expect will satisfy their
needs. Consumer Behaviour focuses on how individuals make decisions to spend their
available resources (time, money, effort) on consumption-related items.20

18
Juliette Powell, 33 People in the Room, (Financial Times Press, 2009).
19
Juliette Powell, 33 People in the Room, (Financial Times Press, 2009).
20 th
Leon G. Schiffman, Leslie Lazar Kanuk and S. Ramesh Kumar, Consumer Behavior, 10 ed. (New Delhi,
India: Pearson Education, 2010), 2.

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According to Solomon,21 consumer behaviour is a study of the processes involved when
individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or
experiences to satisfy needs and desires. Solomon identifies the existence of a process,
process which normally implies a sequence of stages by which a consumer has to
overcome to purchase a good or service. This process goes from the recognition of a
need or problem until the outcome of the purchase; it is known as the decision-making
process (Swarbrooke and Horner).22

Consumer behaviour was relatively new field of study in the mid – to late – 1960s.
Because it had no history or body of research of its own, marketing theorists borrowed
heavily from concepts developed in other scientific disciplines, such as psychology (the
study of the individual), sociology (the study of groups), social psychology (the study of
how an individual operates in groups), anthropology (the influence of society on an
individual), and economics. This combination helped to form the basis of this new
marketing discipline. Many early theories concerning consumer behaviour were based
on economic theory, on the notion that individuals act rationally to maximise their
benefits (satisfaction) in the purchase of goods impulsively and to be influenced by not
only family and friends, by advertisers and role models, but also by mood, situation,
and emotion. All of these factors combine to form a comprehensive model of consumer
behaviour that reflects both the cognitive and emotional aspects of consumer decision
making.23

As seen from Schiffman & Kanuk‘s definition, consumer behaviour is a mixed

discipline, which is formed by concepts borrowed from many other disciplines. Hence,
several authors adopting various theories developed different models of consumer
behaviour. The first models of consumer behaviour were developed in the sixties
borrowing theories from other sciences such us psychology or sociology. Thereafter,
the classical models of Consumer behaviour were developed.

Concerning to the above discussion on two major concepts of this study, Social Media
and Consumer Behaviour, this section achieves its goal to establish basic understanding
21 rd
Michael. R. Solomon, Consumer Behavior, 3 ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1996), 33.
22 nd
John Swarbrooke and Susan Horner, Consumer Behaviour in Tourism, 2 ed. (London: Butterworth-
Heinemann, 2007).
23 th
Leon G. Schiffman, Leslie Lazar Kanuk and S. Ramesh Kumar, Consumer Behavior, 10 ed. (New Delhi,
India: Pearson Education, 2010), 35.

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on the research topic. The Literature Review Chapter (Chapter 2) is dedicated to set up
further in- depth understanding on the same.

1.3 Rationale of the Research

Western countries are the early adopters of social media due to two reasons. Firstly,
there is high penetration of internet services unlike India. Secondly, people are
comfortable interacting over internet more often than personal interaction because of
their tight schedules and busy life styles. Due to globalisation, India is also stepping
into the shoes of western countries. In spite of lower internet penetration of 10.2 %24
against countries like U.S. and China, 78.3% and 38.4% respectively, India is among
the highest social media users. According to Internet World Stats, India has the largest
number of Facebook users in Asia followed by Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand.
India currently has 8 million active Facebook users, which is 2 per cent of the total
users worldwide. These numbers give the idea that India is adopting the new technology
known as Social Media, for communication alike western countries in spite of less
internet penetration.

It is important to study how people utilises social media in their daily lives. This usage
study will also throw light on the most important area of study, i.e. Consumer
Behaviour. Consumer behaviour is been studied because social media is been utilised
not only by common people like us but also by the companies and businesses. Firms
have started using these technologies for promoting their products and services, to
communicate with their customers, to gain new business leads and even to do market
research. Social media platforms offer many other things than just communication
alone. That is the reason why it makes social media so important tool in today‘s
environment.

Surveys on networking habits find that social media is becoming much ―more than just
a fad‖ among the youth. The latest updates confirms that not only the youth, but more
elderly people have also started using this media as they feel more empowered to raise
their voices. According to Anandakuttan B Unnithan,25 ―What we already know is that
a customer is most likely to badmouth a product or a service if he or she is not satisfied

24 st
Internet World Stats, as of 31 Dec 2011, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm#asia
25
Anandakuttan B Unnithan, quoted in Reji John, “I Network, I Buy,” Financial Chronicle, 06 July 2009

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with. With social media, there is more freedom for an individual to ensure that the
word-of-mouth (good or bad) reaches a larger number of people. They are not looking
at friends or neighbours or people who are experts in the domain, but at the
consolidated information available among user generated content in blogs, Facebook,
Orkut, YouTube and Twitter.‖ Anandakuttan Unnithan, currently researches on how
social networks influence consumer behaviour, finds there is a distinct shift.

The need of an hour right now for all the companies is to frame a separate social media
strategy. They are already setting up separate resources and research departments to
study how online actions would affect or influence consumption. With enormous
amount of data available, researchers are studying patterns of human interaction in
virtual space to predict what they will buy or use. Marketers are quickly getting on to
the social-networking bandwagon. Companies have started acknowledging their social
media presence in their TV and print advertisements. Sunsilk‘s ―Gang of Girls‖
launched in June 2006 was among the first ones, and it became a success story in
creating online communities. What was initially started as an e-mail forum discussing
hair care issues among young girls, has close to eight lakh members today and they are
not discussing just hair care alone, but a whole lot of stuff from career, to entertainment
to celebrity chats. Tata Nano created significant brand equity for its one lakh-rupee
people car using social media, while videos of Vodafone‘s ZooZoo ad campaign
became an online blockbuster with more than a million views in the very first two
weeks of its launch.

A completely new world of Social Media Marketing is opening up. Hence, it is

important to study the influence of social media among the consumers of India‘s
growing state – Gujarat. This study will be helpful to organizations operating in Gujarat
and the Government of Gujarat to understand how the population of the state uses and
reacts on social media. This will in turn help them utilize social media for their
marketing efforts. It will also provide a good literature review for other studies carried
out in the area of social media and consumer behaviour.

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