Abstract:

Marketing academics and practitioners struggle to understand the impact of social structure and context on WOM flow. Understanding is fundamental, not just to the WOM industry worldwide, but for all Market Researchers to contribute in understanding the most important driver of purchase behaviour: personal recommendation. The presentation addresses these questions presenting the methodology and preliminary results of a world-first research study using a Facebook application and Social Network Analysis to track offline brand-based conversations across multiple generations. The feasibility and potential pitfalls of utilising a personal social network (Facebook) to conduct research is outlined.