Who is Who on Social Networks? Shaping SNS Users' Profile according to Their Level of Participation in Fashion Product Recommendations

Resumen

The spread of the Internet has turned e-commerce into a social phenomenon, as consumers are increasingly relying on each other and seeking online for informational support even before making purchases. In this new context, social networks have evolved to become the ideal tool for consumers to generate their purchasing opinions. Therefore, it is common for SNS users to participate and generate such opinions on them instead of doing so directly in the e-commerce web store. Since social networks have become such a revolutionary phenomenon for Internet communication, more and more companies are trying to leverage the power of online recommendations (eWOM), given their impact on consumer purchase intention. Users of social networks may adopt different levels of participation, from only reading the comments posted by others to actively contribute generating content. Therefore, the following question arises: who are the most active users in the social networks? Focusing on the Spanish fashion market, three groups have been detected through a cluster analysis carried out according to the indicators of behavior in social networks: active, moderate and passive users. While active users are female students and mostly belonging to Generation Z, passive users are male employees belonging to Generation Z and Generation X. Similarly, the profile of moderate users resembles the profile of those who participate more actively in eWOM behaviors. Moreover, active users are more present on Instagram, spending an average daily connection time of more than 120 minutes. Both moderate and passive users use Whatsapp more intensively, with the latter spending an average daily connection time of 60 minutes. The categorization into three groups obtained in this study is interesting for marketers, as it highlights the complexity of virtual communities as spaces of interpersonal influence among consumers. Thus, it is not only a matter of information exchanges related to specific purchasing decisions, but instead it is showed that community members participate in much broader communicative acts, describing and arguing for or against products and/or brands. Given the impact of the level of participation in social networks on subsequent purchase Intention, it is important for companies to know and identify the most active users of online platforms, distinguishing them from those who are mostly passive. Regarding further research possibilities, we believe that the moderating role of the participation level in social networks could be key to analyze the existing relationship between social interaction signals along with flow and future purchase intention.