Journal of Interactive Advertising, Vol 12 No 1 (Fall 2011), pp. 30-43.
© 2011 American Academy of Advertising, All rights reserved
ISSN 1525-2019
VIRAL ADVERTISING IN SOCIAL MEDIA: PARTICIPATION IN
FACEBOOK GROUPS AND RESPONSES AMONG COLLEGE-AGED USERS
Shu-Chuan Chu
ABSTRACT: This study examines the potential link of Facebook group participation with viral advertising responses. The results
suggest that college-aged Facebook group members engage in higher levels of self-disclosure and maintain more favorable
attitudes toward social media and advertising in general than do nongroup members. However, Facebook group participation
does not exert an influence on users' viral advertising pass-on behaviors. The results also identify variations in predictors of passon
behaviors between group members and nonmembers. These findings have theoretical and managerial implications for viral
advertising on Facebook.
Keywords: social media, viral advertising, Facebook groups, self-disclosure, attitude toward advertising, pass-on behavior
In the past few years, social media have become perhaps the
most popular communication channels for college-aged
Internet users (Pelling and White 2009). As Kaplan and
Haenlein (2010, p. 61) define them, social media are the
"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."
As they have grown in both popularity and use, social media
applications allow for classifications into more specific
categories, determined by characteristics, such as content
communities (e.g., YouTube), social networking sites (SNS;
e.g., Facebook, MySpace), microblogging (e.g., Twitter), and
virtual social worlds (e.g., Second Life) (Kaplan and Haenlein
2010; Mangold and Faulds 2009). Among the various
applications and platforms, SNS and Facebook in particular
have emerged as primary "hang outs" for young users.
Launched in 2004, Facebook reached more than 750 million
active users in 2011, and half of them logged on daily. Users
spend more than 700 billion minutes per month on the site
(Facebook.com 2011a). Similar to other SNS, Facebook is a
Web-based service that allows people to build public profiles
and establish explicit connections with others in their social
network (boyd and Ellison 2007). According to eMarketer's
(2009) study of American college students, this age cohort
represents the most prevalent users, and approximately 60% of
female and 44% of male college students gain product
information on SNS. Considering that Facebook enables
college-aged populations to learn about products, it represents
a revolutionary trend for advertisers that hope to persuade or
influence a consumer to pass along information to others-that
is, the core foundation of viral advertising (Ferguson 2008;
Marken 2007). Despite the apparent promise of Facebook as a
tool to facilitate viral advertising campaigns, no studies
investigate how college-aged Facebook users respond to viral
advertising on the site or the specific features of Facebook that
might influence their responses.
In addition, Facebook hosts more than 900 million objectives
(e.g., pages, groups, communities), such that an average user
participates in 80 groups, communities, or events
(Facebook.com 2011a). Among its many features, Facebook
groups are a particularly widespread and popular application
that support unique forms of social interaction and generate
discussions based on common interests (Casteleyn, Mottart,
and Rutten 2009; Park, Kee, and Valenzuela 2009). By joining
a group, Facebook users interact with other group members
and share information with ease and speed; this offers a
promising platform for advertisers to build viral-driven,
multidirectional communication with consumers (Holzner
2008). For example, "Tide Loads of Hope," "Sony Digital
Photography," and "Dodge, It's a way of Life!" are popular
Facebook groups that enable users to share photos, videos, and
other forms of content. Once consumers join a brand-related
group on Facebook, their brand perceptions and purchasing
decisions could be influenced by mobilizing information they
receive from other members. Meanwhile, they also may
encounter more opportunities to pass along viral messages
created by advertisers to their contacts through SNS.
As consumers increasingly turn to Facebook groups as trusted
sources of information and opinions, new opportunities arise
to build consumer-brand relationships and viral advertising
platforms. This article focuses primarily on the
advertising/promotional aspect of Facebook groups by
examining the potential link between brand-related group
31 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2011
participation and viral advertising responses, with a twofold
objective. First, the present study investigates whether
differences exist in the identified psychological variables (i.e.,
self-disclosure and attitudes) and the resulting viral
advertising pass-on behavior of Facebook group members and
nonmembers. Second, this study explores the potential
predictors of viral advertising pass-on behavior and compares
Facebook group members with nonmembers. Conceptually,
this research expands existing research by examining
similarities and differences between group members and
nonmembers on Facebook, as well as exploring relationships
between group participation and engagement in viral
advertising. The findings offer valuable implications for
advertisers using Facebook as part of their viral advertising
strategies.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Facebook Groups
In today's online landscape, consumers increasingly turn to
virtual communities for opinion expression and information
exchange, making these communities an idea tool for
marketers to build relationships with consumers (Hair, Clark,
and Shapiro 2010). Rheingold (1993, p. 6) defines virtual
communities as "social aggregations that emerge from the Net
when enough people carry on those public discussions long
enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of
personal relationships in cyberspace." Using this conceptual
definition, Facebook groups constitute a new form of virtual
community that provides enhanced relevance and credibility
and allows marketers to engage consumers at a personal level.
As Facebook (2011b) itself states, Facebook groups make it
easier for members and friends of groups to communicate
about shared interests more effectively. Marketers such as
Target, Walmart, and Victoria's Secret thus actively use
Facebook groups to facilitate message transmission and
generate brand interests.
Despite their overlapping features, the nature and
functionality of Facebook groups differ from those of
Facebook pages (e.g., brand profile pages) in several ways.
First, Facebook groups provide a place for a small group of
users to share common interests, discuss issues, express
opinions, and post photos; pages are official and authentic
profiles for representing businesses, celebrities, or
organizations (Pineda 2010). Second, groups can be secret (i.e.,
only members have access to the group and what members
post), closed (i.e., everyone can see the group; only members
see posts), or open (i.e., everyone sees everything), whereas all
pages are public by default and accessible through search
engines such as Google (Facebook.com 2011b; Pineda 2010).
Third, the creators of Facebook groups can decide whether the
groups allow anyone to join, require approval, or are by
invitation only. However, any Facebook user can connect with
a page by liking it or becoming a fan, then interacting with the
focal brands, celebrities, or organizations (Pineda 2010).
Fourth, group administrators can send mass messages directly
to members' Facebook inboxes (Greenstein 2009; O'Neill 2010;
Xia 2009). That is, Facebook groups connect with users by
using the group's shared e-mail address (Facebook.com
2011b). In contrast, Facebook pages mimic typical personal
profiles on the site (i.e., brand or celebrity pages can have
friends) and merely communicate through updates or
notifications on fans' news feeds (Greenstein 2009; O'Neill
2010). The ability to send messages directly to a Facebook
group user's inbox provides significant implications for
advertisers, because personal messages sent to group members
are much more effective and efficient than wall posts or news
feed updates (Xia 2009). Similar to opt-in e-mail campaigns,
open Facebook groups can serve as extremely effective viral
advertising tools that build awareness around promotional
messages. However, prior studies have not focused on
different applications on Facebook that vary in their
functionality. Nor has research examined the current practices
of viral advertising through Facebook group applications and
how Facebook group participation relates to viral advertising
responses among college-aged users.
Viral Advertising on Facebook
Porter and Golan (2006, p. 33) offer the first empirical effort to
define viral advertising, as "unpaid peer-to-peer
communication of provocative content originating from an
identified sponsor using the Internet to persuade or influence
an audience to pass along the content to others." In viral
advertising campaigns, viral messages about brands spread to
potential consumers, who then pass along the information to
other potential consumers rapidly (Dobele et al. 2007;
Southgate, Westoby, and Page 2010). Previous studies indicate
that emotion is an important component of viral advertising
pass-on behavior. For example, Phelps and colleagues (2004)
find that viral message senders tend to experience positive
emotions (e.g., happy, excited, satisfied) when they pass along
messages to contacts in their e-mail lists. Dobele et al. (2007)
argue that emotional connection plays a critical role in
influencing forwarding behavior, such that effective viral
messages need to contain surprise. Eckler and Bolls (2011)
32 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2011
examine viral advertising from an information processing
perspective and find that the emotional tone of viral video ads
influence attitudinal responses and intention to forward: A
positive emotional tone produces the strongest attitude toward
the ad, attitude toward the brand, and forwarding intention.
With the emergence of social media, viral advertising also has
gained tremendous popularity; online social platforms
dramatically have changed the way consumers respond to
advertising (Marken 2007). Social media such as Facebook
allow target consumers to become message senders by passing
on ads to friends, connecting them to the advertisers explicitly,
or commenting on the ad and having those comments passed
along in viral channels (Interactive Advertising Bureau [IAB]
2009). As Porter and Golan (2006, p. 33) recognize, "viral
advertising is typically seeded through existing email lists of
loyal customers or through official company sites." Because
Facebook groups enable advertisers to send messages to
members' Facebook inboxes, they provide further
opportunities for implementing viral advertising campaigns. A
recent report by Nielsen and Facebook also indicates an
increase in ad recall, awareness, and purchase intentions when
a user's news feeds indicate that friends have become fans of a
particular brand's profile page (Neff 2010). Similarly, positive
advertising responses indicate the power of using Facebook
groups as a platform for viral advertising. When group
members forward viral advertising to other friends, they
become endorsers in that brand's Facebook ads and thus
increase friends' likelihood to pass along the ads. Because
advertisers value viral advertising, this study empirically
examines whether joining Facebook groups relates to
Facebook users' engagement in viral advertising pass-on
behavior.
Conceptual Framework and Research Questions
This study investigates how Facebook group members and
nonmembers differ on selected psychological variables and
their subsequent forwarding behavior in viral advertising
settings. On Facebook, consumers engage in viral advertising
by consenting to disclose their social interactions and online
persona (e.g., profile information; IAB, 2009) or sending
private messages (e.g., Facebook inbox). In particular, this
study examines whether the degrees of self-disclosure vary
between group members and nonmembers and how such selfdisclosure
relates to viral advertising pass-on behavior.
Attitudinal measures also may be pertinent, in that attitude
toward social media, attitude toward advertising in social
media, and attitude toward advertising in general may
influence users' decisions to participate in Facebook groups
and engage in viral advertising. Therefore, self-disclosure and
attitude variables are conceptualized as predictors of viral
advertising pass-on behavior on Facebook.
Self-Disclosure
Self-disclosure, loosely defined, is "what individuals verbally
reveal about themselves to others, including thoughts, feelings,
and experiences" (Derlega et al. 1993, p. 1). Conceptually, it
refers to any information (written or verbal) that a person
presents to others (Derlega et al. 1993). Self-disclosure plays an
important role in relationship development (Derlega and
Grzelak 1979; Derlega et al. 1993) and affects social,
psychological, and even behavioral aspects of the discloser (Im
et al. 2008; Nyman and Daugherty 2001). In a recent study of
consumers' voluntary self-disclosure in blogs, Lee, Im, and
Taylor (2008) find that self-disclosure is a common practice
that many consumers are willing to engage in within an online
context.
In SNS, self-disclosure relates significantly to Facebook usage.
Social media advertising refers to "an online ad that
incorporates user interactions that the consumer has agreed to
display and be shared. The resulting ad displays these
interactions along with the user's persona (picture and/or
name) within the ad content" (IAB 2009, p. 4). Thus, when
consumers join brand-related Facebook groups, this
information gets disclosed to their friends on the site. Beyond
the typical Facebook profiles, members of groups also can post
comments and opinions about products on discussion fora,
and the activity in these groups may be viewed by other
friends through news feeds. Members of Facebook groups
often actively provide information to their groups to gain the
most benefit and value from their online activities and
interactions. In other words, groups represent an extension of
users' personal actions, and the information a user discloses
links to his or her personal identity (Greenstein 2009).
Facebook group members thus should engage in different
levels of self-disclosure than do nongroup members, which
leads to the first research question:
RQ1: Are there significant differences in the self-disclosure
levels of Facebook group members versus nonmembers?
Attitudes
Attitude-related variables also may influence Facebook group
participation. Attitude is "a psychological tendency that is
expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of
favor or disfavor" (Eagly and Chaiken 1993, p. 1). According
33 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2011
to the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975),
attitudes influence behavior by affecting intentions. For
example, attitude toward the website is a good indicator of
consumers' reception of the site's content. That is, consumers
are more likely to rely on the website's content as a source of
information when they have favorable attitudes toward the site
(Poh and Adam 2002).
Daugherty, Eastin, and Bright (2008) also find that a positive
attitude toward user-generated online content generally
increases a person's creation and consumption of such
content. Similarly, consumers' attitudes toward social media
should relate positively to their use of the information
available on these sites, which in turn could enhance their
tendency to join groups and engage in viral messages. When a
consumer maintains a favorable attitude toward social media,
he or she should be more willing to participate actively in
Facebook groups to provide or pass on product-related
information. Thus, it is vital to examine Facebook users'
attitudes toward social media and explore differences in these
attitudes between group members and nonmembers.
To also gain more detailed insights into Facebook users, this
study examines users' attitudes toward advertising in social
media and their general attitude toward advertising. General
advertising attitudes can influence attitudes toward
advertisements, brand attitudes, and purchase intentions
(MacKenzie, Lutz, and Belch 1986), so it is essential to
understand potential differences in overall attitudes toward
advertising, both in general and in social media, between
Facebook group members and nonmembers. Understanding
how attitudes toward advertising relate to group participation
also could help advertisers determine effective media
placements for different target audiences. Thus,
RQ2: Are there significant differences in the attitudes
toward (a) social media, (b) advertising in social media,
and (c) advertising in general between Facebook group
members and nonmembers?
Viral Advertising Pass-On Behaviors
In addition to these potential self-disclosure and attitudinal
differences between Facebook group members and
nonmembers, the IAB (2009) notes that social media
advertising is unique in that it enables users to select ads and
pass them along to their social connections. Because
advertisers can use their Facebook group member lists to send
viral messages about contests or promotions (Greenstein 2009;
O'Neill 2010), group members likely encounter more
opportunities to engage in viral messaging and pass on more
messages to others than do nonmembers. Through Facebook
groups, they even can share videos, photos, or text, which
should help advertisers spread word of positive messages
about their brands more easily. However, no research has
examined empirically the relationships between group
participation and viral advertising pass-on behavior. The next
research question therefore aims to determine whether
Facebook group members and nonmembers differ in such
behavior:
RQ3: Are there significant differences in viral advertising
pass-on behavior between Facebook group members and
nonmembers?
Influences on Viral Advertising Pass-On Behaviors
Self-disclosure and attitudinal factors may be closely
associated with Facebook users' tendency to pass along viral
advertising. Users who join Facebook groups and spend time
there also may gain psychological benefits from their
participation. For example, Park, Kee, and Valenzuela (2009)
identify four psychological needs that explain participation in
Facebook groups: socializing, entertainment, self-status
seeking, and information seeking. The socializing need implies
that people participate in Facebook groups to build and
maintain social relationships with others, as well as to seek
social support and a sense of belongingness. Users who seek
entertainment focus on achieving a sense of leisure and
amusement. In terms of information needs, Facebook group
members learn about specific products and services through
discussions on group fora. Finally, Facebook group members
seek and maintain their personal status through participation
in groups. Although Park, Kee, and Valenzuela (2009) posit
that these four primary participation needs relate to social
outcomes (i.e., civic and political participation), they also
could predict group members' decision to pass on viral
advertising (see Dobele et al. 2007; Phelps et al. 2004). To
understand the impact of these psychological variables on viral
advertising pass-on behavior on Facebook, as well as the
variations between group members and nonmembers, the last
research question asks:
RQ4: What psychological factors influence Facebook group
members' and nonmembers' intentions to pass on viral
advertising?
34 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2011
METHOD
An online survey served to gather the data to answer the
research questions. The sample selection process began with
the recognition that SNS users tend to be young, welleducated,
and disproportionately composed of college
students (Lenhart 2009). Facebook is the most popular SNS,
attracting marketers and young adults worldwide (Lenhart et
al. 2010). College students are active users of Facebook, and
more than one of four cite it as their most visited website
(eMarketer 2009). Moreover, young people engage in more
mediated social interactions and are key targets for viral
advertising campaigns. College students are more likely than
any other demographic to have an SNS account and spend
more time on the site daily (Pelling and White 2009). Thus, a
college student sample, representing the largest segment of the
SNS user population, is appropriate for this study.
Sampling and Data Collection Procedure
Most research on SNSs has used data from one university (e.g.,
Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe 2007). However, the promise of
using social media as a tool for marketing research has been
recognized recently by advertising and marketing scholars
(e.g., Casteleyn, Mottart, and Rutten 2009; Cooke and Buckley
2008). Therefore, to gain a more representative sample, this
study employed a social network approach through Facebook
to attract respondents from a variety of universities and states.
Specifically, an e-mail invitation with a link to the online
survey was sent first to students enrolled in an introductory
advertising class in a large university in the Midwestern region
of the United States. Students with a Facebook account were
asked to forward this e-mail to their Facebook friends who
also were college students. All participation was voluntary;
students from the introductory advertising class who
completed the survey and/or passed it along received extra
credit as compensation for their participation. In addition, all
participants were entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card
toward purchases at any Apple Computer Store. The time
needed to complete the online survey was approximately 15
minutes. The data collection period spanned approximately
two weeks, from May 2 to May 17, 2010. The online data
collection technique recruited 359 participants. The
elimination of incomplete responses and response from people
residing outside the United States, as well as the limitation to
users between the ages of 18 and 24 years, reduced the final
sample to 302 respondents for the data analysis.
MEASURES
The central measures focus on key constructs for investigating
self-disclosure, viral advertising pass-on behavior, needs that
drive Facebook group participation, and attitudes toward
social media, advertising in social media, and advertising in
general. Porter and Golan's (2006) definition of viral
advertising appeared at the beginning of the questionnaire, to
ensure respondents understood the term. Except for the
attitudes toward social media and advertising in social media
scales, all items used seven-point Likert scales (1 = "strongly
disagree" and 7 = "strongly agree"). The attitude toward social
media and attitude toward advertising in social media
measures instead used seven-point semantic differential scales.
In addition, participants indicated whether they joined or used
any Facebook groups related to products or brands. Only
those who had joined or used brand-related Facebook groups
answered questions about their group participation needs.
Finally, the questionnaire included demographic items, such
as gender, age, school classification, and ethnicity, as well as
their university and major.
Self-Disclosure. The measure of SNS users' self-disclosure on
Facebook featured two dimensions: depth and breadth
(Laurenceau, Barrett, and Pietromonaco 1998), in line with
prior research (Collins and Miller 1994). Depth refers to the
quality of information disclosure, whereas breadth focuses on
the quantity of information disclosed (Im et al. 2008). Two
items developed by Laurenceau, Barrett, and Pietromonaco
(1998) assess Facebook users' degrees of self-disclosure: "I
disclos
social media like Facebook."
Attitudes. The scales for both attitude toward social media
and attitude toward advertising in social media were
adaptations of the attitude toward advertising scale developed
by Muehling (1987). Three seven-point semantic differential
items indicated Facebook users' attitudinal responses to social
media and advertising therein: "bad/good," "negative/positive,"
and "unfavorable/favorable." The measures of attitude toward
advertising in general came from previous studies, such that
respondents completed the sentence, "In general, my attitude
toward advertising is that..." by choosing from the following
statements: "advertising is interesting," "advertising is fun,"
"advertising is informative," and "advertising is credible."
Viral Advertising Pass-On. The four items to measure passon
behavior came from previous studies (Brown, Bhadury,
and Pope 2010; Juster 1966; Okazaki 2009). These items, as
35 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2011
listed in Table 1, assessed behavioral intention by gauging the
degree that Facebook users would pass along viral advertising
to their contacts on the site.
Needs that Drive Group Participation. Park, Kee, and
Valenzuela's (2009) measure of Facebook group uses and
gratifications was adapted to assess the reasons for
participating in Facebook groups. Five items measured the
socializing dimension, and three items each served to assess
entertainment, self-status seeking, and information seeking.
The items were modified to fit the context of brand-related
groups as necessary. As a result, the fourteen items in Table 2
provided the measure of group members' needs that drove
their participation in Facebook groups.
Cronbach's alpha provided the test of the reliability of all
scales. The internal reliability of all measures was acceptable
(ranging from .73 to .98), because it exceeded the generally
accepted minimum threshold of .70 (Hair et al. 2005). The
Cronbach's alpha values for each measure appear in Tables 1
and 2.
RESULTS
Sample Characteristics
The sample consisted of 36.8% men and 63.2% women,
ranging in age from 18 to 24 years, with an average age of 20.4
years. More than 28.9% of the participants were first-year
students, followed by 26.5% sophomores, 26.5% seniors, and
18.2% juniors. They represented a variety of universities and
majors. Most participants were Caucasian (70.2%), followed
by African Americans (14.9%), Asian Americans (5.7%),
Hispanic Americans (5.0%), multicultural (2.3%), and other
(1.0%). Of the 302 respondents, 199 (65.9%) were members of
Facebook brand-related groups, and 103 (34.1%) were not.
RQ1: Self-Disclosure and Facebook Brand-Related Group
Participation
The first research question aims to examine whether Facebook
group members and nonmembers exhibit different degrees of
self-disclosure. According to an independent samples t-test,
Facebook group members (M = 4.22) report a significantly
greater level of self-disclosure on Facebook than their
nongroup member counterparts (M = 3.37; t(1,283) = 4.20, p <
.001), as Table 1 reveals.
RQ2: Attitudes and Facebook Brand-Related Group
Participation
To answer the second research question, a series of
independent samples t-tests examined participants' attitudes
toward social media, advertising in social media, and
advertising in general. A significant difference emerged
regarding attitudes toward social media, such that Facebook
group members (M = 4.99) indicated more favorable attitudes
than did nongroup members (M = 4.42; t(1,288) = 3.23, p <
.01). However, Facebook group members (M = 4.30) and
nonmembers (M = 4.26) revealed no significant differences in
their attitudes toward advertising in social media (t(1,288) =
.21, p > .05). Regarding attitudes toward advertising in general,
Facebook group members (M = 4.67) reported more favorable
attitudes than did their nongroup member counterparts (M =
4.23; t(1,288) = 2.33, p < .05). These results suggest differences
in attitude responses between group members and
nonmembers. That is, people who join or use Facebook groups
tend to have more positive attitudes toward social media and
advertising in general than do those who do not join Facebook
groups.
RQ3: Viral Advertising Pass-On and Facebook BrandRelated
Group Participation
To examine whether Facebook group members and
nonmembers differed in their behavioral intention to pass on
viral advertising on Facebook, another independent samples ttest
was conducted. As Table 1 reveals, there was no significant
difference in viral advertising pass-on behavior between
Facebook group members (M = 2.84) and nonmembers (M =
2.95; t(1,284) = -.57, p > .05). Table 1 summarizes the t-test
results for the first three research questions.
36 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2011
Table 1. Self-Disclosure, Attitudes, and Viral Advertising Pass-On of Facebook Group Members and Nonmembers
Group Members Nonmembers
M SD M SD t
Self-Disclosure (GM a = .77; NM a = .94)
4.22 1.49 3.37 1.74 4.20***
I disclosed my facts to my "friends" on social media like Facebook.
I disclosed my emotions to my "friends" on social media like Facebook.
Attitude toward Social Media (GM a = .96; NM a = .97) 4.99 1.334.42 1.513.23**
Bad/good
Negative/positive
Unfavorable/favorable
Attitude toward Advertising in Social Media (GM a = .98; NM a = .96) 4.30 1.624.26 1.54.21
Bad/good
Negative/positive
Unfavorable/favorable
Attitude toward Advertising in General (GM a = .89; NM a = .95) 4.67 1.394.23 1.742.33*
Advertising is interesting.
Advertising is fun.
Advertising is informative.
Advertising is credible.
Viral Advertising Pass-On (GM a = .94; NM a = .97) 2.84 1.462.95 1.61-.57
I would consider passing along viral advertising to someone I know.
If I find an interesting Facebook viral adverting campaign, I want to tell my
friends about it.
If somebody asks me for advice about an interesting Facebook viral
advertising campaign, I will encourage him or her to participate.
I would recommend my friends and family to participate in an interesting
Facebook viral advertising campaign.
37 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2011
Notes: GM = group members; NM = nonmembers; a = Cronbach's alpha.
*Significant at .05.
**Significant at .01.
***Significant at .001.
RQ4: Predictors of Viral Advertising Pass-On by Facebook
Group Members
A regression analysis examined the potential antecedents of
viral advertising pass-on behavior by Facebook group
members. First, a principle factor analysis, run on the needs
that determine group participation items, indicated if the four
subscales previously identified would emerge again. A factor
analysis with Varimax rotation suggested four factors:
information seeking (which explained 40.52% of the variance),
socializing (12.82%), entertainment (11.67%), and self-status
seeking (8.52%). The factor analysis results encouraged further
consideration of the four identified dimensions.
Second, viral advertising pass-on was regressed on the average
scores obtained for self-disclosure, the three attitude scales,
and the four needs for group participation dimensions. The
eight index scores then appeared as predictors in the
regression equation.
The multiple regression model was significant ( = .20;
F(8, 173) = 6.77, p < .001). Attitude toward advertising in
p < .05), attitude toward
p < .05), and self-status
p < .01) emerged as significant
predictors of Facebook group members' pass-on behavior for
viral advertising. However, self- -.02, t = -.28, p
p > .05),
p > -.02, t
= -.20, p p >
.05) did not produce significant influences on such behaviors,
as summarized in Table 2.
Table 2. Regression Analysis: Predictors of Viral Advertising Pass-On by Facebook Group Members
Independent Variables Standardized
Coefficients
t
Adjusted R2
F
Self-Disclosure -.02 -8.28
.20 6.77***
Attitudes
Attitude toward Social Media .04 .42
Attitude toward Advertising in Social Media .21 2.46*
Attitude toward Advertising in General .17 2.01*
Needs Driving Group Participation
Socializing (a = .83) .04 .47
To get peer support from others
To meet interesting people
To feel like I belong to a community
38 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2011
To talk about something with others
To stay in touch with people I know
Entertainment -.02 -.20
Because it is entertaining
Because it is funny
Because it is exciting
Self-status seeking .27 3.53**
Because I feel peer pressure to participate
Because it makes myself look cool
To develop my career through group participation
Information seeking .01 .14
To make brand decisions
To provide others with brand information
To get useful brand information
Notes: a = Cronbach's alpha.
*Significant at .05.
**Significant at .01.
***Significant at .001.
RQ4: Predictors of Viral Advertising Pass-On by Facebook
Group Nonmembers
In another regression analysis, viral advertising pass-on was
regressed on the average scores for self-disclosure and the
three attitude scales among nonmembers; the four needs for
group participation dimensions were not pertinent in this
case. The regression model was significant ( = .39; F(4,
93) = 16.56, p < .001), with two significant predictors. As Table
3 indicates, self- p < .001) and
.38, t = 2.70, p
< .01) significantly predicted nonmembers' pass-on behavior
for viral advertising on Facebook. Attitude toward social
-.03, t = -.20, p > .05) and attitude toward
p > .05) did not relate
significantly to these respondents' pass-on behavior.
39 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2011
Table 3. Regression Analysis of Predictors of Viral Advertising Pass-On by Facebook Group Nonmembers
Independent Variables Standardized
Coefficients
t Adjusted R2
F
Self-Disclosure .38 3.98*** .39 16.56***
Attitudes
Attitude toward Social Media -.03 -.20
Attitude toward Advertising in Social Media .38 2.70**
Attitude toward Advertising in General .05 .43
**Significant at .01.
***Significant at .001.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
In the growing social media space, advertising messages often
are communicated through a social network in which
consumers explicitly connect with others, disclose their
personal information, and can deliver relevant messages to
their personal contacts using various applications and
platforms (IAB 2009). In particular, the Facebook group
application provides unique functionality and has been
recognized as a promising tool for advertising
communications (Xia 2009). Because advertisers can send viral
messages through this application, it is crucial to consider
these groups when examining the impacts of Facebook use for
generating and promoting effective viral advertising
campaigns. However, no prior research has addressed the
relationships between brand-related group participation and
viral advertising responses. The rate and effectiveness of viral
advertising on Facebook depends on consumers' use of and
engagement in group applications on the site, so
understanding their psychological characteristics is helpful for
explicating the viral advertising mechanism.
This research therefore has explored the link between
Facebook brand-related group participation and viral
advertising responses, as well as the psychological
characteristics of self-disclosure and attitudes among
Facebook group members and nonmembers. By examining
the differences between the groups in their viral advertising
responses, this study also has detailed which factors influence
Facebook group members' and nonmembers' intentions to
pass on viral advertising.
The first set of findings thus relates to the similarities and
differences in the psychological characteristics (self-disclosure
and attitude-related variables) between group members and
nonmembers. Facebook group members are more likely to
disclose their personal data on Facebook than are
nonmembers. This finding is not surprising; group
participation and engagement in viral advertising necessitates
high levels of self-disclosure, because users explicitly exhibit
connections with groups and endorse brands when they pass
on viral advertising to their contacts. The attitude-related
findings further illuminate the influence of psychological
characteristics on participation in Facebook groups. Facebook
group members maintain a more favorable attitude toward
social media and advertising in general than do nonmembers.
In contrast, group members and nonmembers do not differ in
their attitudes toward advertising in social media. It seems
reasonable to postulate that college students who like social
media more tend to be more receptive to various types of
applications. Similarly, users who have more positive attitudes
toward advertising in general are more likely to join Facebook
groups to receive promotional messages. Despite the lack of
significant difference in attitudes toward advertising in social
media, the mean scores for each group (members M = 4.30,
nonmembers M = 4.26) indicate that overall, Facebook's
college-aged users have favorable attitudes toward advertising
delivered through social media. Thus, social media are a
potentially rich avenue for viral advertising campaigns.
In addition, this study offers a major contribution in the form
of a better understanding of the relationship between
Facebook group participation and viral advertising pass-on
behaviors. Participation in Facebook groups does not exert an
influence on college students' intention to pass along viral
advertising. Although Facebook groups increasingly serve as
online tools for communications between consumers and
companies, as well as among consumers, they are not as
influential as might be predicted. Although some popular
brands attract substantial numbers of members (e.g., Addicted
to Starbucks), many group members hesitate to forward viral
40 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2011
advertising to their Facebook friends. Considering that the
foundation of Facebook is to build and maintain social
relationships (e.g., Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe 2007),
consumers may feel a sense of intrusion if they receive
provocative messages from advertisers or peers, which in turn
may make them reluctant to pass along the messages to others.
The regression results demonstrate variations in the predictors
of viral advertising pass-on between group members and
nonmembers. Whereas self-disclosure is a significant predictor
of pass-on behaviors by Facebook group nonmembers, it has
no significant impact on group members. Attitude toward
advertising in social media significantly influences both group
members' and nonmembers' likelihood to pass along viral
advertising, but attitude toward advertising in general affects
this behavior only among group members. These results
indicate that consumers who do not join Facebook groups
may pass on viral messages only if they are willing to disclose
their personal information and have positive attitudes toward
advertising in social media. In terms of their needs for group
participation, self-status seeking is a significant determinant of
viral advertising pass-along behaviors by Facebook group
members. Facebook groups provide channels that consumers
deem useful when seeking self-status in a product category, as
does passing on viral content about brands to their social
contacts.
Managerially, this study provides important implications for
companies using Facebook groups as part of their overall
advertising media strategies. To make Facebook groups more
cohesive and powerful, advertisers should send out more
personalized and customized messages to members' inboxes to
announce upcoming promotions or provide incentives to
encourage them to pass on messages. Brand managers'
advertising efforts also should focus more on encouraging
Facebook group members who already have favorable
attitudes toward advertising in social media and in general to
share viral advertising with their contacts, because these
consumers are more likely to engage actively in viral
advertising through group applications. From an online
privacy perspective, advertisers should work to protect
consumer privacy to erase the concerns of some Facebook
users. For example, advertisers could provide consumers with
an option to pass along viral messages without self-disclosure
in the public, online social spaces.
Although this research sheds more light on critical aspects of
group participation and viral advertising on Facebook, its
limitations also offer directions for further research. The
respondents to this study include Facebook users from various
universities and states, but the findings cannot necessarily be
generalized to the entire Facebook user population or the
general SNS user population. Additional research should
explore Facebook group use and viral advertising responses
with samples that differ in terms of age and field of study, as
well as investigate group applications on other SNS (e.g.,
Twitter Groups). Furthermore, this exploratory study only
focuses on self-disclosure and attitude-related variables in
relation to participation in Facebook groups. Further research
should examine how emotion-related variables or levels of
commitment to and satisfaction with a particular group
influence consumers' intentions to spread viral messages. In
the online social sphere, advertisers can track consumers'
activities and access their general profiles without their
awareness (Hoy and Milne 2010). Therefore, more research
should address the privacy expectations of Facebook users
who pass on viral advertising. Finally, additional studies
should investigate conversation management, a concept
closely relevant to viral advertising in social media. That is, the
success of viral advertising cannot be determined solely by
intentions to pass it along; other factors, such as level of
engagement with viral advertising and how viral advertising is
being discussed (positively vs. negatively), also have effects.
The emergence of social media has dramatically changed the
ways available and strategies used to communicate with and
engage consumers. Overall, it is imperative for advertisers and
policymakers to gain a more comprehensive understanding of
consumers' psychological characteristics and design viral
advertising campaigns that do not create additional privacy
concerns.
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43 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2011
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shu-Chuan Chu (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is an
assistant professor in the College of Communication at DePaul
University. Her research interests include social media,
electronic word of mouth, cross-cultural consumer behavior,
and consumer-brand relationships. Her work has been
published or is forthcoming in the Journal of Global
Marketing, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of
Interactive Advertising, Journal of International Consumer
Marketing, Journal of Marketing Communications, and
Chinese Journal of Communication, among others. Her work
has also appeared in Handbook of Research on Digital Media
and Advertising: User Generated Content Consumption (Vol.
I), Computer-Mediated Communication across Cultures:
International Interactions in Online Environments, and the
forthcoming Handbook of Research in International
Advertising, and Advances in Advertising Research (Vol. II).
Dr. Chu teaches advertising courses such as Principles of
Advertising, Advertising Campaigns, Digital Advertising, and
Integrated Communication Campaigns.