Social Media and Digital Collaboration
Loading...
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.
Recommended Citation
Matook, Sabine and Brown, Susan, "Heuristics for Commercial Friendships in Social Media: Benefits and Risks" (2021). ICIS 2021 Proceedings. 6.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2021/social_media/social_media/6
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.
When commenting on articles, please be friendly, welcoming, respectful and abide by the AIS eLibrary Discussion Thread Code of Conduct posted here.
Comments
16-SocMedia