A Comprehensive Study: Impacts of Social Media on Consumer Behavior

This essay examines the significant impacts of social media platforms on consumer behavior, focusing on how platforms like Facebook and Twitter influence purchasing decisions. It discusses the shift in consumer activism and the role of social networking sites in shaping consumer perceptions of goods and services. The essay highlights how consumers now rely on social media for pre-informed decisions, using online platforms to research products, read reviews, and share experiences. It emphasizes the importance of social sharing and recommendations in driving consumer choices, noting that businesses are increasingly using social media as a marketing platform. The study concludes that social media has positively impacted the business sector by facilitating easier access to information and enabling consumers to make informed buying decisions from the comfort of their homes.

IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 1
Impacts of Social Media on Consumer Behavior
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Introduction
Social media refer to computer channeled technologies which enable creation and sharing
of useful information, career interests, decisions as well as other forms of information through
networks and virtual societies (Obar & Wildman, 2015, p. 745). Consumers always access social
media with the help of web-based technological platforms on laptops, computers or desktops.
They also download platforms which enable functionality of the various social media platforms
such as Facebook and Twitter on their mobile phones or tablets. Through interaction with these
platforms, consumers usually create other sub-platforms such as Facebook pages where they
share ideas, discuss or even modify the marketplace (Agozzino, 2012, p. 182).
Young people have a different perception towards ICT as compared to the old generation.
This is why the young age consumers have opted to use online media to carry out their business
activities. These are the digital natives since they have grown up with the emergence of digital
media. Such consumers spend a lot of time interacting with the internet as well as new digital
devices such as the phones. The internet, instant messaging and the emails are part of the roots of
digital migrants (Guo et al., 2014, p. 236). Consumers have migrated from the native ways of
carrying out shopping to the current digital selection and identification of high-quality goods
from the online stores at the comfort of their homes (Hajli, 2013, p. 389).
Consumer activism on the other hand refers to the way through which consumers alter the
process through which goods are produced and delivered to them (Gabriel & Lang, 2015, p. 3). It
is a movement that values the desires of the consumers to alter the business process. It works
towards protection of consumers rights. It links the consumers with the type of materials that
they consume. The method of activism aims at changing the social structure of consumption, the

IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 3
satisfaction of perceived slights to the ego and search of justice for the consumers and their
environment of interaction (Jayasimha & Billore, 2016, p. Online). This paper tries to show how
different social media have helped consumers to make pre-informed decisions regarding the
purchase of goods and services.
Social media started as a platform for interaction where friends could share photos and
videos. Of late, social media has evolved into a more powerful tool for the business sector
(Power & Phillips-Wren, 2011, p. 4). Consumers find it very easy to select the nature of goods
they need from the various online shops. They can either pay for those goods online or even pay
when the items are delivered to them through various delivery services. Most of the businesses
have chosen social media as a way of marketing their businesses. Luckily enough, buyers have
realized the strategy and begun making their buying decisions based on the various social media
platforms. It is, therefore, a challenge to the emerging businesses to work on how they can
partake social media as their marketing platform.
Social media are incredibly many. But the most commonly used ones by the consumers
are the social networking sites. This is due to their ability to provide consumers with the ability
to connect with others (Baruah, 2012, p. 1). There are several networking sites which include
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (Baruah, 2012, p. 4). The three are very vital to the modern
consumers as well as the marketer. This is because these sites enable the consumer to converse
one on one with the seller.
To begin with Facebook, its introduction has been one of the most trending issues for the
past one decade (Feyter et al., 2013, p. 983). It opened to the public in the year 2006. It is already
serving billions of people across the globe since its launch. Most of this people are outside the

IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 4
United States. It is also available in more than seventy languages a factor which makes it a
worldwide platform. There are concerns about the accuracy of the individuals using the platform
since most of the individuals use more than one account.
Facebook creates a broader range of socialization where buyers can share with their
friends the kind of products that they like. They also highlight them their buying decisions. This
has helped many of the consumers to make decisions on buying specific products that they never
had information about. For example, if a particular Facebook user highlights that he or she
bought a mobile phone from an individual phone company, for example, Samsung, his or her
friend in Facebook might decide to buy such a phone from that company out of the influence
from their friend.
Facebook has been the preferred login for people who wish to register for online
shopping stores. This is because; most of the people tend to abandon the online stores (Richard
& Guppy, 2014, p. 5). When one is signing up for a Facebook account, he or she gives most of
the information pertaining him or her. This includes the date of birth, gender or interests. This
data acts as security for the user when the user desires to use the store next time. Additionally,
the behavior of buyers has been influenced by the emergence and use of Facebook. Many of the
buyers prefer reading comments about an individual product from people who might have
bought the product recently. For example, when a Facebook user buys a sure travel bag, he or
she might proceed to their account and post it for his friends to comment on it. This might
influence a confident consumer to choose between acquiring the bag if the comments on their
friend's post are active.

IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 5
Facebook sharing influences consumers to act. In most of the cases, consumers who view
links on their Facebook always lead them to the seller’s websites. These consumers most
probably purchase the product. Most of the buyers always buy products that they see being
shared on different Facebook platforms. This creates a positive cycle of buying and selling.
Most sellers always put buyers Facebook comments about the products that they buy from them
on their websites. This is referred to as social proofing. It helps the consumers to know what the
previous consumers said about the products that they bought from the particular seller. A study
showed that most of the consumers prefer buying from a site that most people have already
purchased from.
Secondly, twitter which is also a social networking platform has turned out to be the most
influencing platform on how consumers perceive different goods from different platforms.
Twitter users have turned out to be a mixed breed of consumers who have a lot of influence
compared to Facebook users (Zhang, 2017, p. 160). This because, out of the consumers who use
Twitter today, more than 70% such users publish, or comment on people blogs at least once a
month. Thereby, discussions which erupt on a specific Twitter Hashtag are most likely to appear
on other platforms such as blogs hence reaching a more extensive range of individuals. Active
Twitter users are termed as users who have a more significant influence on others (Paul, 2015, p.
4). Therefore, it can influence other consumers on the advantages or disadvantages of an
individual product. In fact, more than three-quarters of Twitter users who were involved in a
survey said that their goal is to influence as many users as possible. This showed that Twitter is
by far the most influential platform when it comes to consumer behavior. This is because if one
Twitter user posts anything about the goodness of an individual commodity, the post will reach
many consumers through the influence.

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Recommendations
Before the emergence of the internet, word of mouth played a very critical role regarding
products promotion. Nowadays, with the popularization of various social media platforms more
so the social networking sites, every businesses idea or new product can reach thousands of
individuals within a day. I, therefore, recommend to every literate individual to get some
knowledge about how social networking sites work since they offer a lot at the comfort of one's
home. It is also recommendable for a literate person to acquire a gadget that can enable them to
use to access the various networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Conclusion
The advancement in technology has brought about a positive impact on the business
sector. This has resulted from the emergence of the social media. It is also clear that most of the
consumers are always influenced by their friends to decide on buying an individual product.
Social sharing has been the most significant source upon which most consumers discover various
products. The emergence of Twitter and Facebook has made it easy for consumers to get quality
products from quality sellers at the comfort of their homes.

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