Social Media and Digital Collaboration

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Paper Number

1291

Paper Type

short

Description

Social media (SM) has evolved into a common technology to establish and maintain relationships with friends, family, and colleagues. Yet, recently SM users have used the platforms less for their personal relationship management. Thus, the opportunities for companies to interact with their customers were reduced. This paper conceptualizes how companies need to approach a commercial friendship with SM users so that the user provides access for the firm representative to their personal sphere online. The focus is on understanding the heuristics users would apply based on certain decision factors. We build on the relationship marketing literature that suggests the willingness of SM members to engage in relationships with business representatives is tied to social, psychological, economic, and customization benefits. Our short paper presents the research model and describes the proposed research method to aid in understanding the factors motivating SM users to accept commercial representatives as a real friend.

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Dec 12th, 12:00 AM

Heuristics for Commercial Friendships in Social Media: Benefits and Risks

Social media (SM) has evolved into a common technology to establish and maintain relationships with friends, family, and colleagues. Yet, recently SM users have used the platforms less for their personal relationship management. Thus, the opportunities for companies to interact with their customers were reduced. This paper conceptualizes how companies need to approach a commercial friendship with SM users so that the user provides access for the firm representative to their personal sphere online. The focus is on understanding the heuristics users would apply based on certain decision factors. We build on the relationship marketing literature that suggests the willingness of SM members to engage in relationships with business representatives is tied to social, psychological, economic, and customization benefits. Our short paper presents the research model and describes the proposed research method to aid in understanding the factors motivating SM users to accept commercial representatives as a real friend.

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