Worth its Weight in Likes

Sen, Indira; Aggarwal, Anupama; Mian, Shiven; Singh, Sadhna; Kumaraguru, Ponnurangam; Datta, Anwitaman

doi:10.1145/3201064.3201105

Cited by 37 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Instagram exemplifies modern social media, with over 800 million registered users, and its format-focused primarily on simple postings and the receipt of likes as feedback-makes it a unique case study. However, because there are significant economic motives on Instagram and similar social media (28), as assessment of reward learning on Instagram may be limited to a degree by fraudulent accounts, "fake likes," and other strategic uses (29). We therefore replicated and extended Study 1 in Study 2 (N Users = 2,127) with data from three different topic-focused social media sites (discussion forums focused on Men's fashion, Women's fashion, and Gardening, see Methods), where economic motives are less likely.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A computational reward learning account of social media engagement

Lindström¹,

Bellander²,

Chang³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Social media has become the modern arena for human life, with billions of daily users worldwide. The intense popularity of social media is often attributed to a psychological need for social rewards (“likes”), which turns the online world into a “Skinner Box” for the modern human. Yet despite such common portrayals, empirical evidence for social media engagement as reward-based behavior remains scant. We applied a computational approach to directly test whether reward learning mechanisms contribute to social media behavior. We analyzed over one million posts from over 4,000 individuals on several social media platforms, using computational models based on reward reinforcement learning theory. Our results consistently show that human behavior on social media qualitatively and quantitatively conforms to the principles of reward learning. Results further reveal meaningful individual differences in social reward learning on social media, explained in part by variability in users’ tendency for social comparison. Together, these findings support the social reinforcement learning view of social media engagement and offer key new insights into this emergent mode of modern human behavior on an unprecedented scale.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A computational reward learning account of social media engagement

Lindström¹,

Bellander²,

Chang³

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…To date, much of the work on consumer engagement in the social media context used the count of social media metrics (comments, likes and shares) as a measure of consumer engagement (Ashley and Tuten, 2015; Swani et al , 2017; De Vries et al , 2012). These count of social media metrics can be fake and artificially inflated as a result of fake accounts, bots, artificial traffic spam, malware and comment spam (Sen et al , 2018). One advantage of self-reporting measures over internal content properties/performance metrics is that self-reporting measures allow people to convey a vast amount of information about themselves through the expression of enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings and actions (McDonald, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unveiling drivers and brand relationship implications of consumer engagement with social media brand posts

Hamzah

Wahab

Waqas

2021

JRIM

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Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify the customer perceptions of social media brand post characteristics that drive consumer engagement with the brand post. Furthermore, this study identifies the customer-brand relationship outcomes resulting from the behavioural engagement on social media. Design/methodology/approach An online survey of 407 social media users was undertaken. Structural equation modelling was used to test all hypotheses. Findings The results indicated that consumers respond positively to interactive and/or novel posts. Furthermore, consumer engagement with brand posts positively influenced all customer-brand relationship facets including brand love and customer-brand identification. Originality/value This study contributes to closing the empirical gap in social media consumer engagement research by providing support for consumer perception of brand post’s characteristics as a significant factor triggering consumer engagement with the brand post. This study also provides evidence that consumer engagement with brand posts leads to customer-brand relationships.

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“…[18][19][20][21] Others instead turn to companies that sell "bots" in order to deceptively boost their perceived popularity. 22 Given the time and money that goes into managing social media as a marketing tool, it would be helpful to know whether there is an ideal minimum number of followers or likes-per-post in order to optimize marketing and bring in new patients.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Do You Like Me Now? The Influence of “Likes” and Followers on Social Media in Plastic Surgery

Bhat¹,

Kollu²,

Ricci³

et al. 2022

Plastic &Amp; Reconstructive Surgery

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Background: The number of “likes” and followers on social media is a surrogate marker for peer acceptance and popularity, but the influence of likes and followers on prospective plastic surgery patients has not been studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the number of followers or likes on social media has an impact on perceived surgeon competence or likelihood of recruiting new patients. Methods: A fictitious Instagram page was created with different permutations displaying different numbers of followers on the page. Similarly, fictitious Instagram posts were created displaying before-and-after results of ideal and suboptimal breast augmentation and gynecomastia surgery results, with the number of likes being the only variable. Using a crowdsourcing platform, survey responders rated surgeon competence and likelihood of patient recruitment based on the Instagram post. Results: A total of 4284 responses were collected. The number of followers or likes did not impact perceived surgeon competence or patient recruitment scores. Optimal surgical results consistently scored higher than suboptimal results, regardless of the number of likes. Almost half the responders were unable to identify the American Board of Plastic Surgery as the appropriate board certification for performing aesthetic breast or body surgery. Conclusions: A high number of followers or likes, by itself, is unlikely to translate into higher likelihood of recruiting new patients. Overall, aesthetic results seem to be the most important driving force in receiving high competence scores and recruiting new patients, rather than social media presence or board certification.

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Worth its Weight in Likes

Cited by 37 publications

References 12 publications

A computational reward learning account of social media engagement

A computational reward learning account of social media engagement

Unveiling drivers and brand relationship implications of consumer engagement with social media brand posts

How Do You Like Me Now? The Influence of “Likes” and Followers on Social Media in Plastic Surgery

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