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FAQs About Social Media Presentation Templates

What are social media presentation templates.

Social Media Presentation Templates are pre-formatted designs that can be used for creating professional and visually appealing presentations related to social media. These templates can be used across various presentation software like PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Keynote. They typically feature elements such as infographics, charts, and diagrams related to the social media realm.

These templates are used to present data and analytics, marketing strategies, campaign overviews, and other related topics in an easy-to-understand and engaging manner. They are ideal for social media managers, digital marketers, business owners, or anyone who needs to showcase information about social media in a professional context.

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Why do I need a Social Media Presentation Template when I can use traditional ones?

Social Media Presentation Templates are designed specifically for presenting social media-related content. These templates usually include graphics, icons, and layouts that are tailored to present social media data and strategies. Traditional templates may not have these specialized components.

In addition, using targeted templates for your presentation can make it more focused and relevant to your audience. It also helps in keeping your audience engaged as the visuals are more relatable and easy to understand.

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Social Media Presentation Templates are usually fully customizable. You can insert your text, photos, logos, or any other necessary graphics. You can also adjust design elements like color scheme, fonts, and backgrounds to align with your company branding or specific preferences.

Moreover, the included charts, graphs, and infographics are often data-driven, which means you just need to replace the presented dummy data with your own. This feature can make a significant impact in terms of achieving a personalized and professional presentation.

Where can I find quality Social Media Presentation Templates?

Quality Social Media Presentation Templates can be found on various online platforms. These platforms include template marketplaces and specific tools for presentations like SlidesCarnival, SlideModel, Envato Elements, or TemplateMonster. These platforms offer a wide range of templates to satisfactorily cater to your needs.

When choosing a template, be sure to evaluate its design, customization features, and relevance to your content. A preview function is usually available to help you choose the most suitable template. It's also worthwhile to check reviews or ratings if available to ensure it's a reliable choice.

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Social Media Presentation Templates

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The Power of Social Media – Positive and Negative PPT Presentation

• by Refresh Science
• October 17, 2021 January 22, 2023

Without us even realize, social media gets so powerful than it ever has. Lots of people and businesses rely on social media. The power of social media has the potential to shape society in certain ways. More than half of the world’s population are active users of social media with an average of 3,9 billion active users.

Social media was originally intended for entertainment and communication purposes l. But now it has transformed into a platform with diversified purposes. That being said, anyone with a smartphone or computer and access to the internet is likely to have at least one username on social media. Everyone with social media accounts has either gain or give something from the platform. Many try to gain the power to influence others in many ways.

Understanding the Power of Social Media

When used strategically, social media is the biggest market research and digital marketing that ever existed. However, it is not an easy task to influence others using social media. Gaining power and influence from social media is real work even if you already have fame. This is because there are too many things are uploaded only from billions of active users. Thus, if you cannot stand to be different and offers what people need, then you will get blend in with the online crowd.

People use social media for real-time update features. This feature allows people to share and receive news faster than any electronic devices. Users with lots of following or famous people have the power to influence others through the things they upload or shares opinion. On the other hand, followers tend to trust the things they heard or read from influencers. That is why it is very easy to spread love as well as hate through the social media platform.

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How social media helps people?

The truth that social media hides the face of people makes people brave than ever. Those who are shy in real life can easily communicate through social media. However, this is a double-edged sword because people can get so evil since they can talk the way they want without thinking. Online hate and bullying grow to be serious issues that anyone can get from people they do not even know. Scary as it sounds, is it?

Though social media can influence people in a bad way, others also gain more positive sides from the platform. Social media is a powerful platform for marketing with no boundary to continents, countries, and even times. Allowing people to sell anything to anyone globally. Big and small companies build trust with followers and turn them into potential customers.

As easy as spreading hate, people also use social media to spread love and empathy. In social media, anyone has the voice to share opinions they never dare to say offline. Also in social media, people have the access to respond to any shared opinions, news, status, and anything alike.

The positive side of social media

Social media is indeed like a double-edged sword. Depending on the users, social media can be positive and negative. Here are some positive effects of social media.

• Easier to meet new people – meeting new people is not an easy thing to do offline. Unless you are the ongoing and fun type of person at a party, it can be quite tough to make friends. The rise of social media allows you to have a whole different concept of friendship. Even the most introverted can get like hundreds of friends on social media. Though it is not like a real friend to hang out in real life, still it is the kind of friends you will talk to through social media.
• Foster empathy – the truth is, we share a little bit too much of our lives on social media. What we share in daily life may be personal, but other people may find it inspirational. This also makes it very easy to empathize with others through the stuff they shared. It is also very easily find people who go through the same situation.
• Faster communication – with the packed daily life schedule, communication time with family and friends is getting smaller. Social media makes communication faster than ever considering the time spent on the platform. You can easily send messages and comments to a long-lost friend.
• Spread news easily – as easy as making friends and communicating, news travel faster in social media. Once the news is uploaded, people have free access to read, like, and share it. The more people who share, the wider the scope of the news.
• Easier marketing – with the power it has, people utilize social media as a powerful platform for marketing. Share some good content for the followers and lead them to be potential customers. Though social media is a complex thing it is a powerful platform to market business.

The Negative side of Social Media

Social media is not all positive though. The negative side of social media is mostly geared due to excessive use of the platform and also lacks users’ understanding. Constantly exposed to other people’s life may lead to anxiety and depression . Some people find they are unconsciously comparing their life with others. This is surely the path to anxiety and depression as what you see on social media is not always true.

Other bad sides of social media are cyberbullying and hate. Though the two are not new it gets worse since people can hide their true selves behind the keyboard. Allowing them to talk freely without considering if it might hurt others.

Spending too much time on social media results in another syndrome of missing out. FOMO or fear of missing out makes you constantly check the messages and social media. You always want to know what others are up to and see if they have more fun than you already have. This is the sign of fear of missing out because you cannot stand for not knowing what happen in your social media timeline .

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Influence in Social Media

Oct 31, 2014

700 likes | 1.37k Views

Influence in Social Media. Kristina Lerman University of Southern California. Identifying influential users in social networks. Hard problem for large online social networks. Topics covered. How do you quantitatively measure influence in social networks? What metrics should you use?

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Presentation Transcript

Influence in Social Media Kristina Lerman University of Southern California CS 599: Social Media Analysis University of Southern California

Identifying influential users in social networks

Hard problem for large online social networks

Topics covered How do you quantitatively measure influence in social networks? What metrics should you use? • Cha et al. 2010 “Measuring User Influence on Twitter: The Million Follower Fallacy”, in ICWSM. • Bakshy, et al. 2011 “Everyone’s an Influencer: Quantifying Influence on Twitter”, In WSDM. • Ghosh & Lerman. 2010 “Predicting Influential Users in Online Social Networks” In SNA-KDD workshop.

Measuring User Influence in Twitter: The Million Follower Fallacy Meeyoung Cha, Hamed Haddadi, Fabrıcio Benevenuto, Krishna P. Gummadi Niki Parmar University of Southern California

Problem Notion of Influence is important and long studied - Business, fashion, voting trends, marketing, etc Measuring influence is difficult - Involves human choices, societies, complex Modern view of key factors to measure influence are - Interpersonal relationship among users - Readiness to adapt to change Leads to information diffusion, set trends, friendship, news gossip, contraversial issues.. Can initiate large scale chain reactions

Influence in Social Media Online communication is the new way to receive information Influence :“the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways.” Twitter usage - 271 million monthly active users. - 500 million Tweets are sent per day. Understand roles of different users - Through followers, retweets, identity value Effective advertisement on Twitter using influential users - Target only a few influential people to target majority of the users.

Measuring Influence on Twitter Comparison of three influence measures - Indegree influence: Number of followers of the user indicating size of the audience for that user - Retweet influence: Number of retweets containing one’s name indicating ability to generate content with pass-along value. - Mention influence: Number of replies to the user indicating ability of user to engage others in a conversation Measure dynamics of user influence over topics and time. How to gain and maintain influence? How can ordinary users be influential?

Data Collection Collected 54,981,152 in-use user accounts, which were connected to each other by 1,963,263,821 social links. Gathered the tweets generated by all the user since early days which amounts to 1,755,925,520 tweets. Focus on the largest component of the network which contains 99% of the links and tweets. After filtering, measure influence for 6,189,636 users on the entire set of users.

Comparing User Influence

Comparing User Influence Top Users for each measure Followers count – Public figures and news sources Get a lot of attention from their audience Retweets – Content Aggregation Service like news channels & news sources, businessman They are about the content and contain URL’s Mentions – Celebrities, Known Figures Ordinary users show great passion for celebrities

Comparing User Influence • Correlation for all users is high since it contains the least influential users with no retweets or mentions and are not well connected. • Indegree has a low correlation with retweets and mentions. Large number of followers does not correlate to influence. Million Followers Fallacy • Retweets are about the content and mentions are identity driven – High Correlation , Greater Impact to influence.

Influence Across Topics Measure across 3 diverse topics : the Iranian presidential election, the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza and the death of Michael Jackson. Distribution of user ranks for retweets and mentions follows power law pattern!

Influence Across Topics Measure variation of a user’s influence across the three topics using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient Observed strong correlation between topics Most influential users hold influence across a range of topics. Top users similar for all the three topics. High for top 1%.

Influence over time – Rise or Fall? Engagement of top influentials - Top 100 users based on three measures - Calculate probability Ρ, random tweet posted on Twitter during a 15 day period is a retweet (or a mention) of that user. - Calculate this over 8 month period and normalize by the total tweets

Influence of Ordinary Users Gather top 20 users for each topic who tweet only about one topic Calculate Probability P again for these 60 users over 8 months - Increase in retweets and mentions over the time period - Influentials spread information about protests, controversial news etc - Users limited to a single topic show largest increase in influence scores

Conclusion Capture different perspectives of influence – indegree, retweets, mentions User’s popularity is not related to influence. Different groups of influence depending on content and name value Most influential users hold influence over variety of topics Top twitter users had a disproportionate amount of influence indicating a power law distribution Users need to self advertise and have continuous effort and involvement to become influential over time

Thank You !#Questions?

Everyone’s an influencer [Bakshy et al.] • Questions • What makes some content spread far but not others? • Can we reliably identify influential users on Twitter? • Findings • Largest cascades generated by users who have generated them in the past • Content matters? Positive URLs tend to spread farther • But, cannot reliably predict which user or URL will generate large cascade

Word- of mouth diffusion & Influence • Diffusion: mechanism for information spread on networks • Diffusion event is a cascade Influencer is someone who can consistently trigger large cascades

Marketing • Can we maximize cascades by seeding information (or product) with certain influential nodes? • These nodes can influence disproportionately many others • What characteristics of influentials can help identify them? • Credibility • Expertise • Enthusiasm • Centrality? • Need a large-scale, unbiased sample of observed cascades on a social network • Not only case studies of the most successful cascades

Twitter Users tweet short messages Retweet posts of others Tweets may contain URLs Distinct markers that allow us to track diffusion Social networks Users follow ‘friends’ to see their tweets “who listens to whom” Compare impact of different users by measuring observed activity on Twitter User who “seeds” content (URL) Seed’s influence is measured by number of users connected to her who subsequently retweet the URL

Data set • Tweets Diffusion events • 87M tweets containing a bit.ly URL that were broadcast Sep 13, 2009 – Nov 15, 2009 • 1.6M seed users active both months who initiated 74M cascades (46.3 cascades each on average) • Follower graph Social network • Collect followers of every active user, and their followers and so on • 56M users and 1.7B edges

Computing influence on Twitter • Influence on Twitter = causing others to propagate information (URL) to their followers • User A influenced user B to retweet the URL if • User A tweets first • User A is a friend of B (B is a follower of A) • But, what if more than one friend tweets before B?

Some hard facts about cascades • Most URLs do not spread at all!

Predicting individual influence • User’s influence = log(average size of cascades user seeds) • What attributes of a user consistently predict influence? • Seed user attributes • # of followers • # friends • # tweets • Date of joining • Past influence of seed users • Average, minimum, maximum total influence • Average, minimum, maximum local influence • Local influence is number of retweet by seed’s followers • Train regression tree model on these attributes to predict future influence

Regression tree (part) Most informative features: past local influence, # followers

Influence as a function of most predictive features All users Top 25

Prediction performance of the regression tree  large cascades are driven by previously influential users. But, the extreme rarity of such cascades means that most users with these attributes will not be successful Most cascades

Does content matter? Do YouTube videos spread farther than niche news? • Manually classify 1000 URLs using Amazon Mechanical Turk • Type of URL • Spam/not spam/unsure • Media sharing/social networking • Blog/forum • News/mass media • Other • Category of URL • Lifestyle, tech, offbeat, entertainment, gaming, science, news, business, sports, other

Average cascade size of types of content

Impact of content on cascade size • Content judged by humans to be more interesting, or elicit more positive feeling spreads a little further on average • However, none of the content features had predictive value!

Summary • What features help us predict whether a cascade will reach many people? • Content itself has no predictive power • Seed user’s features are somewhat predictive • Number of followers • Number of followers who retweet seeder’s posts • Targeting influencers • What viral marketing strategies reach wide audience at minimal cost? • May be more cost-effective to target many “ordinary influencers” than few highly influential users • Moot point, since “social epidemics” are so rare

Predicting influential users in online social networks [Ghosh & Lerman] • Questions • Does network structure predict influence? • Which metric should we use to measure centrality in a particular social network? • Findings • The choice of the metric depends on the nature of interactions • Fundamental relationship between dynamic processes and measurement of network structure

Centrality • SNA metrics examine topology of the network to identify important, or central nodes 5 PageRank [Brin et al, 1998] 5 4 Betweenness [Freeman, 1977] Alpha-centrality [Bonacich, 1987] 4 5 4 Degree 1 1 1 4 5 3 2 2 3 2 3 1 2 3 Claim: The nature of interactions between nodes affects how we measure network structure  Consequences for network analysis

The Gossips, 1948 Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978)

War News from Mexico, 1848 Richard Caton Woodville (American, 1825-1855)

Types of interactions Two classes of interactions between network nodes 4 5 4 5 1 1 2 3 2 3 • Conservative interactions • One-to-one, e.g., phone calls • Modeled by random walk • Non-conservative interactions • One-to-many, e.g., epidemic, information diffusion • Modeled by contact process

Centrality metrics Centrality identifies important nodes in the network, e.g., those that are often visited by a process • Conservative interactions • Random walk-based metrics, e.g., PageRank, … • Non-conservative interactions • Path-based metrics, e.g., Alpha-centrality, … 5 4 4 5 1 1 2 2 3 3 Node size ~ centrality

Which centrality metric is right? • Empirical study of influence in social media • Data from Digg and Twitter about how information (URL) spreads on the follower graph submitter follower follower follower

Ground truth • Re-broadcasting (retweeting) provides ground truth for measuring influence • Empirical measure of influence/importance • average number re-broadcasts by followers • average size of cascades a node triggers • Rank nodes by the empirical measure  ground truth • Compare rankings produced by centrality metrics to the ground truth

Post URN MODEL submitter Statistical significance of the influence metric fan fan fan Users in OSN (N) Balls in the urn (N) White balls in the urn (K) Fans of submitter in OSN (K) No. of balls picked (n) No. of users who voted (n) No. of fans who voted (k) No of white balls picked (k) (Hypergeometric Dist.)

Metric is statistically significant Digg Twitter

Which centrality metric is right for social media? Correlation between the ground truth and rankings predicted by Alpha-Centrality and PageRank Digg Twitter • Non-conservative Alpha-Centrality best predicts node centrality (since information flow in social media is non-conservative)

Summary • Network structure measurements • How we measure network structure depends on the nature of interactions between nodes • Affects how we compute centrality, strength of ties, and communities

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• Published: 08 May 2024

Exploring the dynamics of consumer engagement in social media influencer marketing: from the self-determination theory perspective

• Chenyu Gu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6059-0573 1 &
• Qiuting Duan 2  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  11 , Article number:  587 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Business and management
• Cultural and media studies

Influencer advertising has emerged as an integral part of social media marketing. Within this realm, consumer engagement is a critical indicator for gauging the impact of influencer advertisements, as it encompasses the proactive involvement of consumers in spreading advertisements and creating value. Therefore, investigating the mechanisms behind consumer engagement holds significant relevance for formulating effective influencer advertising strategies. The current study, grounded in self-determination theory and employing a stimulus-organism-response framework, constructs a general model to assess the impact of influencer factors, advertisement information, and social factors on consumer engagement. Analyzing data from 522 samples using structural equation modeling, the findings reveal: (1) Social media influencers are effective at generating initial online traffic but have limited influence on deeper levels of consumer engagement, cautioning advertisers against overestimating their impact; (2) The essence of higher-level engagement lies in the ad information factor, affirming that in the new media era, content remains ‘king’; (3) Interpersonal factors should also be given importance, as influencing the surrounding social groups of consumers is one of the effective ways to enhance the impact of advertising. Theoretically, current research broadens the scope of both social media and advertising effectiveness studies, forming a bridge between influencer marketing and consumer engagement. Practically, the findings offer macro-level strategic insights for influencer marketing.

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Introduction.

Recent studies have highlighted an escalating aversion among audiences towards traditional online ads, leading to a diminishing effectiveness of traditional online advertising methods (Lou et al., 2019 ). In an effort to overcome these challenges, an increasing number of brands are turning to influencers as their spokespersons for advertising. Utilizing influencers not only capitalizes on their significant influence over their fan base but also allows for the dissemination of advertising messages in a more native and organic manner. Consequently, influencer-endorsed advertising has become a pivotal component and a growing trend in social media advertising (Gräve & Bartsch, 2022 ). Although the topic of influencer-endorsed advertising has garnered increasing attention from scholars, the field is still in its infancy, offering ample opportunities for in-depth research and exploration (Barta et al., 2023 ).

Presently, social media influencers—individuals with substantial follower bases—have emerged as the new vanguard in advertising (Hudders & Lou, 2023 ). Their tweets and videos possess the remarkable potential to sway the purchasing decisions of thousands if not millions. This influence largely hinges on consumer engagement behaviors, implying that the impact of advertising can proliferate throughout a consumer’s entire social network (Abbasi et al., 2023 ). Consequently, exploring ways to enhance consumer engagement is of paramount theoretical and practical significance for advertising effectiveness research (Xiao et al., 2023 ). This necessitates researchers to delve deeper into the exploration of the stimulating factors and psychological mechanisms influencing consumer engagement behaviors (Vander Schee et al., 2020 ), which is the gap this study seeks to address.

The Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework has been extensively applied in the study of consumer engagement behaviors (Tak & Gupta, 2021 ) and has been shown to integrate effectively with self-determination theory (Yang et al., 2019 ). Therefore, employing the S-O-R framework to investigate consumer engagement behaviors in the context of influencer advertising is considered a rational approach. The current study embarks on an in-depth analysis of the transformation process from three distinct dimensions. In the Stimulus (S) phase, we focus on how influencer factors, advertising message factors, and social influence factors act as external stimuli. This phase scrutinizes the external environment’s role in triggering consumer reactions. During the Organism (O) phase, the research explores the intrinsic psychological motivations affecting individual behavior as posited in self-determination theory. This includes the willingness for self-disclosure, the desire for innovation, and trust in advertising messages. The investigation in this phase aims to understand how these internal motivations shape consumer attitudes and perceptions in the context of influencer marketing. Finally, in the Response (R) phase, the study examines how these psychological factors influence consumer engagement behavior. This part of the research seeks to understand the transition from internal psychological states to actual consumer behavior, particularly how these states drive the consumers’ deep integration and interaction with the influencer content.

Despite the inherent limitations of cross-sectional analysis in capturing the full temporal dynamics of consumer engagement, this study seeks to unveil the dynamic interplay between consumers’ psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—and their varying engagement levels in social media influencer marketing, grounded in self-determination theory. Through this lens, by analyzing factors related to influencers, content, and social context, we aim to infer potential dynamic shifts in engagement behaviors as psychological needs evolve. This approach allows us to offer a snapshot of the complex, multi-dimensional nature of consumer engagement dynamics, providing valuable insights for both theoretical exploration and practical application in the constantly evolving domain of social media marketing. Moreover, the current study underscores the significance of adapting to the dynamic digital environment and highlights the evolving nature of consumer engagement in the realm of digital marketing.

Literature review

Stimulus-organism-response (s-o-r) model.

The Stimulus-Response (S-R) model, originating from behaviorist psychology and introduced by psychologist Watson ( 1917 ), posits that individual behaviors are directly induced by external environmental stimuli. However, this model overlooks internal personal factors, complicating the explanation of psychological states. Mehrabian and Russell ( 1974 ) expanded this by incorporating the individual’s cognitive component (organism) into the model, creating the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework. This model has become a crucial theoretical framework in consumer psychology as it interprets internal psychological cognitions as mediators between stimuli and responses. Integrating with psychological theories, the S-O-R model effectively analyzes and explains the significant impact of internal psychological factors on behavior (Koay et al., 2020 ; Zhang et al., 2021 ), and is extensively applied in investigating user behavior on social media platforms (Hewei & Youngsook, 2022 ). This study combines the S-O-R framework with self-determination theory to examine consumer engagement behaviors in the context of social media influencer advertising, a logic also supported by some studies (Yang et al., 2021 ).

Self-determination theory

Self-determination theory, proposed by Richard and Edward (2000), is a theoretical framework exploring human behavioral motivation and personality. The theory emphasizes motivational processes, positing that individual behaviors are developed based on factors satisfying their psychological needs. It suggests that individual behavioral tendencies are influenced by the needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Furthermore, self-determination theory, along with organic integration theory, indicates that individual behavioral tendencies are also affected by internal psychological motivations and external situational factors.

Self-determination theory has been validated by scholars in the study of online user behaviors. For example, Sweet applied the theory to the investigation of community building in online networks, analyzing knowledge-sharing behaviors among online community members (Sweet et al., 2020 ). Further literature review reveals the applicability of self-determination theory to consumer engagement behaviors, particularly in the context of influencer marketing advertisements. Firstly, self-determination theory is widely applied in studying the psychological motivations behind online behaviors, suggesting that the internal and external motivations outlined within the theory might also apply to exploring consumer behaviors in influencer marketing scenarios (Itani et al., 2022 ). Secondly, although research on consumer engagement in the social media influencer advertising context is still in its early stages, some studies have utilized SDT to explore behaviors such as information sharing and electronic word-of-mouth dissemination (Astuti & Hariyawan, 2021 ). These behaviors, which are part of the content contribution and creation dimensions of consumer engagement, may share similarities in the underlying psychological motivational mechanisms. Thus, this study will build upon these foundations to construct the Organism (O) component of the S-O-R model, integrating insights from SDT to further understand consumer engagement in influencer marketing.

Consumer engagement

Although scholars generally agree at a macro level to define consumer engagement as the creation of additional value by consumers or customers beyond purchasing products, the specific categorization of consumer engagement varies in different studies. For instance, Simon and Tossan interpret consumer engagement as a psychological willingness to interact with influencers (Simon & Tossan, 2018 ). However, such a broad definition lacks precision in describing various levels of engagement. Other scholars directly use tangible metrics on social media platforms, such as likes, saves, comments, and shares, to represent consumer engagement (Lee et al., 2018 ). While this quantitative approach is not flawed and can be highly effective in practical applications, it overlooks the content aspect of engagement, contradicting the “content is king” principle of advertising and marketing. We advocate for combining consumer engagement with the content aspect, as content engagement not only generates more traces of consumer online behavior (Oestreicher-Singer & Zalmanson, 2013 ) but, more importantly, content contribution and creation are central to social media advertising and marketing, going beyond mere content consumption (Qiu & Kumar, 2017 ). Meanwhile, we also need to emphasize that engagement is not a fixed state but a fluctuating process influenced by ongoing interactions between consumers and influencers, mediated by the evolving nature of social media platforms and the shifting sands of consumer preferences (Pradhan et al., 2023 ). Consumer engagement in digital environments undergoes continuous change, reflecting a journey rather than a destination (Viswanathan et al., 2017 ).

The current study adopts a widely accepted definition of consumer engagement from existing research, offering operational feasibility and aligning well with the research objectives of this paper. Consumer engagement behaviors in the context of this study encompass three dimensions: content consumption, content contribution, and content creation (Muntinga et al., 2011 ). These dimensions reflect a spectrum of digital engagement behaviors ranging from low to high levels (Schivinski et al., 2016 ). Specifically, content consumption on social media platforms represents a lower level of engagement, where consumers merely click and read the information but do not actively contribute or create user-generated content. Some studies consider this level of engagement as less significant for in-depth exploration because content consumption, compared to other forms, generates fewer visible traces of consumer behavior (Brodie et al., 2013 ). Even in a study by Qiu and Kumar, it was noted that the conversion rate of content consumption is low, contributing minimally to the success of social media marketing (Qiu & Kumar, 2017 ).

On the other hand, content contribution, especially content creation, is central to social media marketing. When consumers comment on influencer content or share information with their network nodes, it is termed content contribution, representing a medium level of online consumer engagement (Piehler et al., 2019 ). Furthermore, when consumers actively upload and post brand-related content on social media, this higher level of behavior is referred to as content creation. Content creation represents the highest level of consumer engagement (Cheung et al., 2021 ). Although medium and high levels of consumer engagement are more valuable for social media advertising and marketing, this exploratory study still retains the content consumption dimension of consumer engagement behaviors.

Theoretical framework

Internal organism factors: self-disclosure willingness, innovativeness, and information trust.

In existing research based on self-determination theory that focuses on online behavior, competence, relatedness, and autonomy are commonly considered as internal factors influencing users’ online behaviors. However, this approach sometimes strays from the context of online consumption. Therefore, in studies related to online consumption, scholars often use self-disclosure willingness as an overt representation of autonomy, innovativeness as a representation of competence, and trust as a representation of relatedness (Mahmood et al., 2019 ).

The use of these overt variables can be logically explained as follows: According to self-determination theory, individuals with a higher level of self-determination are more likely to adopt compensatory mechanisms to facilitate behavior compared to those with lower self-determination (Wehmeyer, 1999 ). Self-disclosure, a voluntary act of sharing personal information with others, is considered a key behavior in the development of interpersonal relationships. In social environments, self-disclosure can effectively alleviate stress and build social connections, while also seeking societal validation of personal ideas (Altman & Taylor, 1973 ). Social networks, as para-social entities, possess the interactive attributes of real societies and are likely to exhibit similar mechanisms. In consumer contexts, personal disclosures can include voluntary sharing of product interests, consumption experiences, and future purchase intentions (Robertshaw & Marr, 2006 ). While material incentives can prompt personal information disclosure, many consumers disclose personal information online voluntarily, which can be traced back to an intrinsic need for autonomy (Stutzman et al., 2011 ). Thus, in this study, we consider the self-disclosure willingness as a representation of high autonomy.

Innovativeness refers to an individual’s internal level of seeking novelty and represents their personality and tendency for novelty (Okazaki, 2009 ). Often used in consumer research, innovative consumers are inclined to try new technologies and possess an intrinsic motivation to use new products. Previous studies have shown that consumers with high innovativeness are more likely to search for information on new products and share their experiences and expertise with others, reflecting a recognition of their own competence (Kaushik & Rahman, 2014 ). Therefore, in consumer contexts, innovativeness is often regarded as the competence dimension within the intrinsic factors of self-determination (Wang et al., 2016 ), with external motivations like information novelty enhancing this intrinsic motivation (Lee et al., 2015 ).

Trust refers to an individual’s willingness to rely on the opinions of others they believe in. From a social psychological perspective, trust indicates the willingness to assume the risk of being harmed by another party (McAllister, 1995 ). Widely applied in social media contexts for relational marketing, information trust has been proven to positively influence the exchange and dissemination of consumer information, representing a close and advanced relationship between consumers and businesses, brands, or advertising endorsers (Steinhoff et al., 2019 ). Consumers who trust brands or social media influencers are more willing to share information without fear of exploitation (Pop et al., 2022 ), making trust a commonly used representation of the relatedness dimension in self-determination within consumer contexts.

Construction of the path from organism to response: self-determination internal factors and consumer engagement behavior

Following the logic outlined above, the current study represents the internal factors of self-determination theory through three variables: self-disclosure willingness, innovativeness, and information trust. Next, the study explores the association between these self-determination internal factors and consumer engagement behavior, thereby constructing the link between Organism (O) and Response (R).

Self-disclosure willingness and consumer engagement behavior

In the realm of social sciences, the concept of self-disclosure willingness has been thoroughly examined from diverse disciplinary perspectives, encompassing communication studies, sociology, and psychology. Viewing from the lens of social interaction dynamics, self-disclosure is acknowledged as a fundamental precondition for the initiation and development of online social relationships and interactive engagements (Luo & Hancock, 2020 ). It constitutes an indispensable component within the spectrum of interactive behaviors and the evolution of interpersonal connections. Voluntary self-disclosure is characterized by individuals divulging information about themselves, which typically remains unknown to others and is inaccessible through alternative sources. This concept aligns with the tenets of uncertainty reduction theory, which argues that during interpersonal engagements, individuals seek information about their counterparts as a means to mitigate uncertainties inherent in social interactions (Lee et al., 2008 ). Self-disclosure allows others to gain more personal information, thereby helping to reduce the uncertainty in interpersonal relationships. Such disclosure is voluntary rather than coerced, and this sharing of information can facilitate the development of relationships between individuals (Towner et al., 2022 ). Furthermore, individuals who actively engage in social media interactions (such as liking, sharing, and commenting on others’ content) often exhibit higher levels of self-disclosure (Chu et al., 2023 ); additional research indicates a positive correlation between self-disclosure and online engagement behaviors (Lee et al., 2023 ). Taking the context of the current study, the autonomous self-disclosure willingness can incline social media users to read advertising content more attentively and share information with others, and even create evaluative content. Therefore, this paper proposes the following research hypothesis:

H1a: The self-disclosure willingness is positively correlated with content consumption in consumer engagement behavior.

H1b: The self-disclosure willingness is positively correlated with content contribution in consumer engagement behavior.

H1c: The self-disclosure willingness is positively correlated with content creation in consumer engagement behavior.

Innovativeness and consumer engagement behavior

Innovativeness represents an individual’s propensity to favor new technologies and the motivation to use new products, associated with the cognitive perception of one’s self-competence. Individuals with a need for self-competence recognition often exhibit higher innovativeness (Kelley & Alden, 2016 ). Existing research indicates that users with higher levels of innovativeness are more inclined to accept new product information and share their experiences and discoveries with others in their social networks (Yusuf & Busalim, 2018 ). Similarly, in the context of this study, individuals, as followers of influencers, signify an endorsement of the influencer. Driven by innovativeness, they may be more eager to actively receive information from influencers. If they find the information valuable, they are likely to share it and even engage in active content re-creation to meet their expectations of self-image. Therefore, this paper proposes the following research hypotheses:

H2a: The innovativeness of social media users is positively correlated with content consumption in consumer engagement behavior.

H2b: The innovativeness of social media users is positively correlated with content contribution in consumer engagement behavior.

H2c: The innovativeness of social media users is positively correlated with content creation in consumer engagement behavior.

Information trust and consumer engagement

Trust refers to an individual’s willingness to rely on the statements and opinions of a target object (Moorman et al., 1993 ). Extensive research indicates that trust positively impacts information dissemination and content sharing in interpersonal communication environments (Majerczak & Strzelecki, 2022 ); when trust is established, individuals are more willing to share their resources and less suspicious of being exploited. Trust has also been shown to influence consumers’ participation in community building and content sharing on social media, demonstrating cross-cultural universality (Anaya-Sánchez et al., 2020 ).

Trust in influencer advertising information is also a key predictor of consumers’ information exchange online. With many social media users now operating under real-name policies, there is an increased inclination to trust information shared on social media over that posted by corporate accounts or anonymously. Additionally, as users’ social networks partially overlap with their real-life interpersonal networks, extensive research shows that more consumers increasingly rely on information posted and shared on social networks when making purchase decisions (Wang et al., 2016 ). This aligns with the effectiveness goals of influencer marketing advertisements and the characteristics of consumer engagement. Trust in the content posted by influencers is considered a manifestation of a strong relationship between fans and influencers, central to relationship marketing (Kim & Kim, 2021 ). Based on trust in the influencer, which then extends to trust in their content, people are more inclined to browse information posted by influencers, share this information with others, and even create their own content without fear of exploitation or negative consequences. Therefore, this paper proposes the following research hypotheses:

H3a: Information trust is positively correlated with content consumption in consumer engagement behavior.

H3b: Information trust is positively correlated with content contribution in consumer engagement behavior.

H3c: Information trust is positively correlated with content creation in consumer engagement behavior.

Construction of the path from stimulus to organism: influencer factors, advertising information factors, social factors, and self-determination internal factors

Having established the logical connection from Organism (O) to Response (R), we further construct the influence path from Stimulus (S) to Organism (O). Revisiting the definition of influencer advertising in social media, companies, and brands leverage influencers on social media platforms to disseminate advertising content, utilizing the influencers’ relationships and influence over consumers for marketing purposes. In addition to consumer’s internal factors, elements such as companies, brands, influencers, and the advertisements themselves also impact consumer behavior. Although factors like the brand image perception of companies may influence consumer behavior, considering that in influencer marketing, companies and brands do not directly interact with consumers, this study prioritizes the dimensions of influencers and advertisements. Furthermore, the impact of social factors on individual cognition and behavior is significant, thus, the current study integrates influencers, advertisements, and social dimensions as the Stimulus (S) component.

Influencer factors: parasocial identification

Self-determination theory posits that relationships are one of the key motivators influencing individual behavior. In the context of social media research, users anticipate establishing a parasocial relationship with influencers, resembling real-life relationships. Hence, we consider the parasocial identification arising from users’ parasocial interactions with influencers as the relational motivator. Parasocial interaction refers to the one-sided personal relationship that individuals develop with media characters (Donald & Richard, 1956 ). During this process, individuals believe that the media character is directly communicating with them, creating a sense of positive intimacy (Giles, 2002 ). Over time, through repeated unilateral interactions with media characters, individuals develop a parasocial relationship, leading to parasocial identification. However, parasocial identification should not be directly equated with the concept of social identification in social identity theory. Social identification occurs when individuals psychologically de-individualize themselves, perceiving the characteristics of their social group as their own, upon identifying themselves as part of that group. In contrast, parasocial identification refers to the one-sided interactional identification with media characters (such as celebrities or influencers) over time (Chen et al., 2021 ). Particularly when individuals’ needs for interpersonal interaction are not met in their daily lives, they turn to parasocial interactions to fulfill these needs (Shan et al., 2020 ). Especially on social media, which is characterized by its high visibility and interactivity, users can easily develop a strong parasocial identification with the influencers they follow (Wei et al., 2022 ).

Parasocial identification and self-disclosure willingness

Theories like uncertainty reduction, personal construct, and social exchange are often applied to explain the emergence of parasocial identification. Social media, with its convenient and interactive modes of information dissemination, enables consumers to easily follow influencers on media platforms. They can perceive the personality of influencers through their online content, viewing them as familiar individuals or even friends. Once parasocial identification develops, this pleasurable experience can significantly influence consumers’ cognitions and thus their behavioral responses. Research has explored the impact of parasocial identification on consumer behavior. For instance, Bond et al. found that on Twitter, the intensity of users’ parasocial identification with influencers positively correlates with their continuous monitoring of these influencers’ activities (Bond, 2016 ). Analogous to real life, where we tend to pay more attention to our friends in our social networks, a similar phenomenon occurs in the relationship between consumers and brands. This type of parasocial identification not only makes consumers willing to follow brand pages but also more inclined to voluntarily provide personal information (Chen et al., 2021 ). Based on this logic, we speculate that a similar relationship may exist between social media influencers and their fans. Fans develop parasocial identification with influencers through social media interactions, making them more willing to disclose their information, opinions, and views in the comment sections of the influencers they follow, engaging in more frequent social interactions (Chung & Cho, 2017 ), even if the content at times may be brand or company-embedded marketing advertisements. In other words, in the presence of influencers with whom they have established parasocial relationships, they are more inclined to disclose personal information, thereby promoting consumer engagement behavior. Therefore, we propose the following research hypotheses:

H4: Parasocial identification is positively correlated with consumer self-disclosure willingness.

H4a: Self-disclosure willingness mediates the impact of parasocial identification on content consumption in consumer engagement behavior.

H4b: Self-disclosure willingness mediates the impact of parasocial identification on content contribution in consumer engagement behavior.

H4c: Self-disclosure willingness mediates the impact of parasocial identification on content creation in consumer engagement behavior.

Parasocial identification and information trust

Information Trust refers to consumers’ willingness to trust the information contained in advertisements and to place themselves at risk. These risks include purchasing products inconsistent with the advertised information and the negative social consequences of erroneously spreading this information to others, leading to unpleasant consumption experiences (Minton, 2015 ). In advertising marketing, gaining consumers’ trust in advertising information is crucial. In the context of influencer marketing on social media, companies, and brands leverage the social connection between influencers and their fans. According to cognitive empathy theory, consumers project their trust in influencers onto the products endorsed, explaining the phenomenon of ‘loving the house for the crow on its roof.’ Research indicates that parasocial identification with influencers is a necessary condition for trust development. Consumers engage in parasocial interactions with influencers on social media, leading to parasocial identification (Jin et al., 2021 ). Consumers tend to reduce their cognitive load and simplify their decision-making processes, thus naturally adopting a positive attitude and trust towards advertising information disseminated by influencers with whom they have established parasocial identification. This forms the core logic behind the success of influencer marketing advertisements (Breves et al., 2021 ); furthermore, as mentioned earlier, because consumers trust these advertisements, they are also willing to share this information with friends and family and even engage in content re-creation. Therefore, we propose the following research hypotheses:

H5: Parasocial identification is positively correlated with information trust.

H5a: Information trust mediates the impact of parasocial identification on content consumption in consumer engagement behavior.

H5b: Information trust mediates the impact of parasocial identification on content contribution in consumer engagement behavior.

H5c: Information trust mediates the impact of parasocial identification on content creation in consumer engagement behavior.

Influencer factors: source credibility

Source credibility refers to the degree of trust consumers place in the influencer as a source, based on the influencer’s reliability and expertise. Numerous studies have validated the effectiveness of the endorsement effect in advertising (Schouten et al., 2021 ). The Source Credibility Model, proposed by the renowned American communication scholar Hovland and the “Yale School,” posits that in the process of information dissemination, the credibility of the source can influence the audience’s decision to accept the information. The credibility of the information is determined by two aspects of the source: reliability and expertise. Reliability refers to the audience’s trust in the “communicator’s objective and honest approach to providing information,” while expertise refers to the audience’s trust in the “communicator being perceived as an effective source of information” (Hovland et al., 1953 ). Hovland’s definitions reveal that the interpretation of source credibility is not about the inherent traits of the source itself but rather the audience’s perception of the source (Jang et al., 2021 ). This differs from trust and serves as a precursor to the development of trust. Specifically, reliability and expertise are based on the audience’s perception; thus, this aligns closely with the audience’s perception of influencers (Kim & Kim, 2021 ). This credibility is a cognitive statement about the source of information.

Source credibility and self-disclosure willingness

Some studies have confirmed the positive impact of an influencer’s self-disclosure on their credibility as a source (Leite & Baptista, 2022 ). However, few have explored the impact of an influencer’s credibility, as a source, on consumers’ self-disclosure willingness. Undoubtedly, an impact exists; self-disclosure is considered a method to attempt to increase intimacy with others (Leite et al., 2022 ). According to social exchange theory, people promote relationships through the exchange of information in interpersonal communication to gain benefits (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005 ). Credibility, deriving from an influencer’s expertise and reliability, means that a highly credible influencer may provide more valuable information to consumers. Therefore, based on the social exchange theory’s logic of reciprocal benefits, consumers might be more willing to disclose their information to trustworthy influencers, potentially even expanding social interactions through further consumer engagement behaviors. Thus, we propose the following research hypotheses:

H6: Source credibility is positively correlated with self-disclosure willingness.

H6a: Self-disclosure willingness mediates the impact of Source credibility on content consumption in consumer engagement behavior.

H6b: Self-disclosure willingness mediates the impact of Source credibility on content contribution in consumer engagement behavior.

H6c: Self-disclosure willingness mediates the impact of Source credibility on content creation in consumer engagement behavior.

Source credibility and information trust

Based on the Source Credibility Model, the credibility of an endorser as an information source can significantly influence consumers’ acceptance of the information (Shan et al., 2020 ). Existing research has demonstrated the positive impact of source credibility on consumers. Djafarova, in a study based on Instagram, noted through in-depth interviews with 18 users that an influencer’s credibility significantly affects respondents’ trust in the information they post. This credibility is composed of expertise and relevance to consumers, and influencers on social media are considered more trustworthy than traditional celebrities (Djafarova & Rushworth, 2017 ). Subsequently, Bao and colleagues validated in the Chinese consumer context, based on the ELM model and commitment-trust theory, that the credibility of brand pages on Weibo effectively fosters consumer trust in the brand, encouraging participation in marketing activities (Bao & Wang, 2021 ). Moreover, Hsieh et al. found that in e-commerce contexts, the credibility of the source is a significant factor influencing consumers’ trust in advertising information (Hsieh & Li, 2020 ). In summary, existing research has proven that the credibility of the source can promote consumer trust. Influencer credibility is a significant antecedent affecting consumers’ trust in the advertised content they publish. In brand communities, trust can foster consumer engagement behaviors (Habibi et al., 2014 ). Specifically, consumers are more likely to trust the advertising content published by influencers with higher credibility (more expertise and reliability), and as previously mentioned, consumer engagement behavior is more likely to occur. Based on this, the study proposes the following research hypotheses:

H7: Source credibility is positively correlated with information trust.

H7a: Information trust mediates the impact of source credibility on content consumption in consumer engagement behavior.

H7b: Information trust mediates the impact of source credibility on content contribution in consumer engagement behavior.

H7c: Information trust mediates the impact of source credibility on content creation in consumer engagement behavior.

Advertising information factors: informative value

Advertising value refers to “the relative utility value of advertising information to consumers and is a subjective evaluation by consumers.” In his research, Ducoffe pointed out that in the context of online advertising, the informative value of advertising is a significant component of advertising value (Ducoffe, 1995 ). Subsequent studies have proven that consumers’ perception of advertising value can effectively promote their behavioral response to advertisements (Van-Tien Dao et al., 2014 ). Informative value of advertising refers to “the information about products needed by consumers provided by the advertisement and its ability to enhance consumer purchase satisfaction.” From the perspective of information dissemination, valuable advertising information should help consumers make better purchasing decisions and reduce the effort spent searching for product information. The informational aspect of advertising has been proven to effectively influence consumers’ cognition and, in turn, their behavior (Haida & Rahim, 2015 ).

Informative value and innovativeness

As previously discussed, consumers’ innovativeness refers to their psychological trait of favoring new things. Studies have shown that consumers with high innovativeness prefer novel and valuable product information, as it satisfies their need for newness and information about new products, making it an important factor in social media advertising engagement (Shi, 2018 ). This paper also hypothesizes that advertisements with high informative value can activate consumers’ innovativeness, as the novelty of information is one of the measures of informative value (León et al., 2009 ). Acquiring valuable information can make individuals feel good about themselves and fulfill their perception of a “novel image.” According to social exchange theory, consumers can gain social capital in interpersonal interactions (such as social recognition) by sharing information about these new products they perceive as valuable. Therefore, the current study proposes the following research hypothesis:

H8: Informative value is positively correlated with innovativeness.

H8a: Innovativeness mediates the impact of informative value on content consumption in consumer engagement behavior.

H8b: Innovativeness mediates the impact of informative value on content contribution in consumer engagement behavior.

H8c: Innovativeness mediates the impact of informative value on content creation in consumer engagement behavior.

Informative value and information trust

Trust is a multi-layered concept explored across various disciplines, including communication, marketing, sociology, and psychology. For the purposes of this paper, a deep analysis of different levels of trust is not undertaken. Here, trust specifically refers to the trust in influencer advertising information within the context of social media marketing, denoting consumers’ belief in and reliance on the advertising information endorsed by influencers. Racherla et al. investigated the factors influencing consumers’ trust in online reviews, suggesting that information quality and value contribute to increasing trust (Racherla et al., 2012 ). Similarly, Luo and Yuan, in a study based on social media marketing, also confirmed that the value of advertising information posted on brand pages can foster consumer trust in the content (Lou & Yuan, 2019 ). Therefore, by analogy, this paper posits that the informative value of influencer-endorsed advertising can also promote consumer trust in that advertising information. The relationship between trust in advertising information and consumer engagement behavior has been discussed earlier. Thus, the current study proposes the following research hypotheses:

H9: Informative value is positively correlated with information trust.

H9a: Information trust mediates the impact of informative value on content consumption in consumer engagement behavior.

H9b: Information trust mediates the impact of informative value on content contribution in consumer engagement behavior.

H9c: Information trust mediates the impact of informative value on content creation in consumer engagement behavior.

Advertising information factors: ad targeting accuracy

Ad targeting accuracy refers to the degree of match between the substantive information contained in advertising content and consumer needs. Advertisements containing precise information often yield good advertising outcomes. In marketing practice, advertisers frequently use information technology to analyze the characteristics of different consumer groups in the target market and then target their advertisements accordingly to achieve precise dissemination and, consequently, effective advertising results. The utility of ad targeting accuracy has been confirmed by many studies. For instance, in the research by Qiu and Chen, using a modified UTAUT model, it was demonstrated that the accuracy of advertising effectively promotes consumer acceptance of advertisements in WeChat Moments (Qiu & Chen, 2018 ). Although some studies on targeted advertising also indicate that overly precise ads may raise concerns about personal privacy (Zhang et al., 2019 ), overall, the accuracy of advertising information is effective in enhancing advertising outcomes and is a key element in the success of targeted advertising.

Ad targeting accuracy and information trust

In influencer marketing advertisements, due to the special relationship recognition between consumers and influencers, the privacy concerns associated with ad targeting accuracy are alleviated (Vrontis et al., 2021 ). Meanwhile, the informative value brought by targeting accuracy is highlighted. More precise advertising content implies higher informative value and also signifies that the advertising content is more worthy of consumer trust (Della Vigna, Gentzkow, 2010 ). As previously discussed, people are more inclined to read and engage with advertising content they trust and recognize. Therefore, the current study proposes the following research hypotheses:

H10: Ad targeting accuracy is positively correlated with information trust.

H10a: Information trust mediates the impact of ad targeting accuracy on content consumption in consumer engagement behavior.

H10b: Information trust mediates the impact of ad targeting accuracy on content contribution in consumer engagement behavior.

H10c: Information trust mediates the impact of ad targeting accuracy on content creation in consumer engagement behavior.

Social factors: subjective norm

The Theory of Planned Behavior, proposed by Ajzen ( 1991 ), suggests that individuals’ actions are preceded by conscious choices and are underlain by plans. TPB has been widely used by scholars in studying personal online behaviors, these studies collectively validate the applicability of TPB in the context of social media for researching online behaviors (Huang, 2023 ). Additionally, the self-determination theory, which underpins this chapter’s research, also supports the notion that individuals’ behavioral decisions are based on internal cognitions, aligning with TPB’s assertions. Therefore, this paper intends to select subjective norms from TPB as a factor of social influence. Subjective norm refers to an individual’s perception of the expectations of significant others in their social relationships regarding their behavior. Empirical research in the consumption field has demonstrated the significant impact of subjective norms on individual psychological cognition (Yang & Jolly, 2009 ). A meta-analysis by Hagger, Chatzisarantis ( 2009 ) even highlighted the statistically significant association between subjective norms and self-determination factors. Consequently, this study further explores its application in the context of influencer marketing advertisements on social media.

Subjective norm and self-disclosure willingness

In numerous studies on social media privacy, subjective norms significantly influence an individual’s self-disclosure willingness. Wirth et al. ( 2019 ) based on the privacy calculus theory, surveyed 1,466 participants and found that personal self-disclosure on social media is influenced by the behavioral expectations of other significant reference groups around them. Their research confirmed that subjective norms positively influence self-disclosure of information and highlighted that individuals’ cognitions and behaviors cannot ignore social and environmental factors. Heirman et al. ( 2013 ) in an experiment with Instagram users, also noted that subjective norms could promote positive consumer behavioral responses. Specifically, when important family members and friends highly regard social media influencers as trustworthy, we may also be more inclined to disclose our information to influencers and share this information with our surrounding family and friends without fear of disapproval. In our subjective norms, this is considered a positive and valuable interactive behavior, leading us to exhibit engagement behaviors. Based on this logic, we propose the following research hypotheses:

H11: Subjective norms are positively correlated with self-disclosure willingness.

H11a: Self-disclosure willingness mediates the impact of subjective norms on content consumption in consumer engagement behavior.

H11b: Self-disclosure willingness mediates the impact of subjective norms on content contribution in consumer engagement behavior.

H11c: Self-disclosure willingness mediates the impact of subjective norms on content creation in consumer engagement behavior.

Subjective norm and information trust

Numerous studies have indicated that subjective norms significantly influence trust (Roh et al., 2022 ). This can be explained by reference group theory, suggesting people tend to minimize the effort expended in decision-making processes, often looking to the behaviors or attitudes of others as a point of reference; for instance, subjective norms can foster acceptance of technology by enhancing trust (Gupta et al., 2021 ). Analogously, if a consumer’s social network generally holds positive attitudes toward influencer advertising, they are also more likely to trust the endorsed advertisement information, as it conserves the extensive effort required in gathering product information (Chetioui et al., 2020 ). Therefore, this paper proposes the following research hypotheses:

H12: Subjective norms are positively correlated with information trust.

H12a: Information trust mediates the impact of subjective norms on content consumption in consumer engagement behavior.

H12b: Information trust mediates the impact of subjective norms on content contribution in consumer engagement behavior.

H12c: Information trust mediates the impact of subjective norms on content creation in consumer engagement behavior.

Conceptual model

In summary, based on the Stimulus (S)-Organism (O)-Response (R) framework, this study constructs the external stimulus factors (S) from three dimensions: influencer factors (parasocial identification, source credibility), advertising information factors (informative value, Ad targeting accuracy), and social influence factors (subjective norms). This is grounded in social capital theory and the theory of planned behavior. drawing on self-determination theory, the current study constructs the individual psychological factors (O) using self-disclosure willingness, innovativeness, and information trust. Finally, the behavioral response (R) is constructed using consumer engagement, which includes content consumption, content contribution, and content creation, as illustrated in Fig. 1 .

Consumer engagement behavior impact model based on SOR framework.

Materials and methods

Participants and procedures.

The current study conducted a survey through the Wenjuanxing platform to collect data. Participants were recruited through social media platforms such as WeChat, Douyin, Weibo et al., as samples drawn from social media users better align with the research purpose of our research and ensure the validity of the sample. Before the survey commenced, all participants were explicitly informed about the purpose of this study, and it was made clear that volunteers could withdraw from the survey at any time. Initially, 600 questionnaires were collected, with 78 invalid responses excluded. The criteria for valid questionnaires were as follows: (1) Respondents must have answered “Yes” to the question, “Do you follow any influencers (internet celebrities) on social media platforms?” as samples not using social media or not following influencers do not meet the study’s objective, making this question a prerequisite for continuing the survey; (2) Respondents had to correctly answer two hidden screening questions within the questionnaire to ensure that they did not randomly select scores; (3) The total time taken to complete the questionnaire had to exceed one minute, ensuring that respondents had sufficient time to understand and thoughtfully answer each question; (4) Respondents were not allowed to choose the same score for eight consecutive questions. Ultimately, 522 valid questionnaires were obtained, with an effective rate of 87.00%, meeting the basic sample size requirements for research models (Gefen et al., 2011 ). Detailed demographic information of the study participants is presented in Table 1 .

Measurements

To ensure the validity and reliability of the data analysis results in this study, the measurement tools and scales used in this chapter were designed with reference to existing established research. The main variables in the survey questionnaire include parasocial identification, source credibility, informative value, ad targeting accuracy, subjective norms, self-disclosure willingness, innovativeness, information trust, content consumption, content contribution, and content creation. The measurement scale for parasocial identification was adapted from the research of Schramm and Hartmann, comprising 6 items (Schramm & Hartmann, 2008 ). The source credibility scale was combined from the studies of Cheung et al. and Luo & Yuan’s research in the context of social media influencer marketing, including 4 items (Cheung et al., 2009 ; Lou & Yuan, 2019 ). The scale for informative value was modified based on Voss et al.‘s research, consisting of 4 items (Voss et al., 2003 ). The ad targeting accuracy scale was derived from the research by Qiu Aimei et al., 2018 ) including 3 items. The subjective norm scale was adapted from Ajzen’s original scale, comprising 3 items (Ajzen, 2002 ). The self-disclosure willingness scale was developed based on Chu and Kim’s research, including 3 items (Chu & Kim, 2011 ). The innovativeness scale was formulated following the study by Sun et al., comprising 4 items (Sun et al., 2006 ). The information trust scale was created in reference to Chu and Choi’s research, including 3 items (Chu & Choi, 2011 ). The scales for the three components of social media consumer engagement—content consumption, content contribution, and content creation—were sourced from the research by Buzeta et al., encompassing 8 items in total (Buzeta et al., 2020 ).

All scales were appropriately revised for the context of social media influencer marketing. To avoid issues with scoring neutral attitudes, a uniform Likert seven-point scale was used for each measurement item (ranging from 1 to 7, representing a spectrum from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’). After the overall design of the questionnaire was completed, a pre-test was conducted with 30 social media users to ensure that potential respondents could clearly understand the meaning of each question and that there were no obstacles to answering. This pre-test aimed to prevent any difficulties or misunderstandings in the questionnaire items. The final version of the questionnaire is presented in Table 2 .

Data analysis

Since the model framework of the current study is derived from theoretical deductions of existing research and, while logically constructed, does not originate from an existing research model, this study still falls under the category of exploratory research. According to the analysis suggestions of Hair and other scholars, in cases of exploratory research model frameworks, it is more appropriate to choose Smart PLS for Partial Least Squares Path Analysis (PLS) to conduct data analysis and testing of the research model (Hair et al., 2012 ).

Measurement of model

In this study, careful data collection and management resulted in no missing values in the dataset. This ensured the integrity and reliability of the subsequent data analysis. As shown in Table 3 , after deleting measurement items with factor loadings below 0.5, the final factor loadings of the measurement items in this study range from 0.730 to 0.964. This indicates that all measurement items meet the retention criteria. Additionally, the Cronbach’s α values of the latent variables range from 0.805 to 0.924, and all latent variables have Composite Reliability (CR) values greater than the acceptable value of 0.7, demonstrating that the scales of this study have passed the reliability test requirements (Hair et al., 2019 ). All latent variables in this study have Average Variance Extracted (AVE) values greater than the standard acceptance value of 0.5, indicating that the convergent validity of the variables also meets the standard (Fornell & Larcker, 1981 ). Furthermore, the results show that the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) values for each factor are below 10, indicating that there are no multicollinearity issues with the scales in this study (Hair, 2009 ).

The current study then further verified the discriminant validity of the variables, with specific results shown in Table 4 . The square roots of the average variance extracted (AVE) values for all variables (bolded on the diagonal) are greater than the Pearson correlation coefficients between the variables, indicating that the discriminant validity of the scales in this study meets the required standards (Fornell & Larcker, 1981 ). Additionally, a single-factor test method was employed to examine common method bias in the data. The first unrotated factor accounted for 29.71% of the variance, which is less than the critical threshold of 40%. Therefore, the study passed the test and did not exhibit serious common method bias (Podsakoff et al., 2003 ).

To ensure the robustness and appropriateness of our structural equation model, we also conducted a thorough evaluation of the model fit. Initially, through PLS Algorithm calculations, the R 2 values of each variable were greater than the standard acceptance value of 0.1, indicating good predictive accuracy of the model. Subsequently, Blindfolding calculations were performed, and the results showed that the Stone-Geisser Q 2 values of each variable were greater than 0, demonstrating that the model of this study effectively predicts the relationships between variables (Dijkstra & Henseler, 2015 ). In addition, through CFA, we also obtained some indicator values, specifically, χ 2 /df = 2.528 < 0.3, RMSEA = 0.059 < 0.06, SRMR = 0.055 < 0.08. Given its sensitivity to sample size, we primarily focused on the CFI, TLI, and NFI values, CFI = 0.953 > 0.9, TLI = 0.942 > 0.9, and NFI = 0.923 > 0.9 indicating a good fit. Additionally, RMSEA values below 0.06 and SRMR values below 0.08 were considered indicative of a good model fit. These indices collectively suggested that our model demonstrates a satisfactory fit with the data, thereby reinforcing the validity of our findings.

Research hypothesis testing

The current study employed a Bootstrapping test with a sample size of 5000 on the collected raw data to explore the coefficients and significance of the paths in the research model. The final test data results of this study’s model are presented in Table 5 .

The current study employs S-O-R model as the framework, grounded in theories such as self-determination theory and theory of planned behavior, to construct an influence model of consumer engagement behavior in the context of social media influencer marketing. It examines how influencer factors, advertisement information factors, and social influence factors affect consumer engagement behavior by impacting consumers’ psychological cognitions. Using structural equation modeling to analyze collected data ( N  = 522), it was found that self-disclosure willingness, innovativeness, and information trust positively influence consumer engagement behavior, with innovativeness having the largest impact on higher levels of engagement. Influencer factors, advertisement information factors, and social factors serve as effective external stimuli, influencing psychological motivators and, consequently, consumer engagement behavior. The specific research results are illustrated in Fig. 2 .

Tested structural model of consumer engagement behavior.

The impact of psychological motivators on different levels of consumer engagement: self-disclosure willingness, innovativeness, and information trust

The research analysis indicates that self-disclosure willingness and information trust are key drivers for content consumption (H1a, H2a validated). This aligns with previous findings that individuals with a higher willingness to disclose themselves show greater levels of engagement behavior (Chu et al., 2023 ); likewise, individuals who trust advertisement information are more inclined to engage with advertisement content (Kim, Kim, 2021 ). Moreover, our study finds that information trust has a stronger impact on content consumption, underscoring the importance of trust in the dissemination of advertisement information. However, no significant association was found between individual innovativeness and content consumption (H3a not validated).

Regarding the dimension of content contribution in consumer engagement, self-disclosure willingness, information trust, and innovativeness all positively impact it (H1b, H2b, and H3b all validated). This is consistent with earlier research findings that individuals with higher self-disclosure willingness are more likely to like, comment on, or share content posted by influencers on social media platforms (Towner et al., 2022 ); the conclusions of this paper also support that innovativeness is an important psychological driver for active participation in social media interactions (Kamboj & Sharma, 2023 ). However, at the level of consumer engagement in content contribution, while information trust also exerts a positive effect, its impact is the weakest, although information trust has the strongest impact on content consumption.

In social media advertising, the ideal outcome is the highest level of consumer engagement, i.e., content creation, meaning consumers actively join in brand content creation, seeing themselves as co-creators with the brand (Nadeem et al., 2021 ). Our findings reveal that self-disclosure willingness, innovativeness, and information trust all positively influence content creation (H1c, H2c, and H3c all validated). The analysis found that similar to the impact on content contribution, innovativeness has the most significant effect on encouraging individual content creation, followed by self-disclosure willingness, with information trust having the least impact.

In summary, while some previous studies have shown that self-disclosure willingness, innovativeness, and information trust are important factors in promoting consumer engagement (Chu et al., 2023 ; Nadeem et al., 2021 ; Geng et al., 2021 ), this study goes further by integrating and comparing all three within the same research framework. It was found that to trigger higher levels of consumer engagement behavior, trust is not the most crucial psychological motivator; rather, the most effective method is to stimulate consumers’ innovativeness, thus complementing previous research. Subsequently, this study further explores the impact of different stimulus factors on various psychological motivators.

The influence of external stimulus factors on psychological motivators: influencer factors, advertisement information factors, and social factors

The current findings indicate that influencer factors, such as parasocial identification and source credibility, effectively enhance consumer engagement by influencing self-disclosure willingness and information trust. This aligns with prior research highlighting the significance of parasocial identification (Shan et al., 2020 ). Studies suggest parasocial identification positively impacts consumer engagement by boosting self-disclosure willingness and information trust (validated H4a, H4b, H4c, and H5a), but not content contribution or creation through information trust (H5b, H5c not validated). Source credibility’s influence on self-disclosure willingness was not significant (H6 not validated), thus negating the mediating effect of self-disclosure willingness (H6a, H6b, H6c not validated). Influencer credibility mainly affects engagement through information trust (H7a, H7b, H7c validated), supporting previous findings (Shan et al., 2020 ).

Advertisement factors (informative value and ad targeting accuracy) promote engagement through innovativeness and information trust. Informative value significantly impacts higher-level content contribution and creation through innovativeness (H8b, H8c validated), while ad targeting accuracy influences consumer engagement at all levels mainly through information trust (H10a, H10b, H10c validated).

Social factors (subjective norms) enhance self-disclosure willingness and information trust, consistent with previous research (Wirth et al., 2019 ; Gupta et al., 2021 ), and further promote consumer engagement across all levels (H11a, H11b, H11c, H12a, H12b, and H12c all validated).

In summary, influencer, advertisement, and social factors impact consumer engagement behavior by influencing psychological motivators, with influencer factors having the greatest effect on content consumption, advertisement content factors significantly raising higher-level consumer engagement through innovativeness, and social factors also influencing engagement through self-disclosure willingness and information trust.

Implication

From a theoretical perspective, current research presents a comprehensive model of consumer engagement within the context of influencer advertising on social media. This model not only expands the research horizon in the fields of social media influencer advertising and consumer engagement but also serves as a bridge between two crucial themes in new media advertising studies. Influencer advertising has become an integral part of social media advertising, and the construction of a macro model aids researchers in understanding consumer psychological processes and behavioral patterns. It also assists advertisers in formulating more effective strategies. Consumer engagement, focusing on the active role of consumers in disseminating information and the long-term impact on advertising effectiveness, aligns more closely with the advertising effectiveness measures in the new media context than traditional advertising metrics. However, the intersection of these two vital themes lacks comprehensive research and a universal model. This study constructs a model that elucidates the effects of various stimuli on consumer psychology and engagement behaviors, exploring the connections and mechanisms through different mediating pathways. By differentiating levels of engagement, the study offers more nuanced conclusions for diverse advertising objectives. Furthermore, this research validates the applicability of self-determination theory in the context of influencer advertising effectiveness. While this psychological theory has been utilized in communication behavior research, its effectiveness in the field of advertising requires further exploration. The current study introduces self-determination theory into the realm of influencer advertising and consumer engagement, thereby expanding its application in the field of advertising communication. It also responds to the call from the advertising and marketing academic community to incorporate more psychological theories to explain the ‘black box’ of consumer psychology. The inclusion of this theory re-emphasizes the people-centric approach of this research and highlights the primary role of individuals in advertising communication studies.

From a practical perspective, this study provides significant insights for adapting marketing strategies to the evolving media landscape and the empowered role of audiences. Firstly, in the face of changes in the communication environment and the empowerment of audience communication capabilities, traditional marketing approaches are becoming inadequate for new media advertising needs. Traditional advertising focuses on direct, point-to-point effects, whereas social media advertising aims for broader, point-to-mass communication, leveraging audience proactivity to facilitate the viral spread of content across online social networks. Secondly, for brands, the general influence model proposed in this study offers guidance for influencer advertising strategy. If the goal is to maximize reach and brand recognition with a substantial advertising budget, partnering with top influencers who have a large following can be an effective strategy. However, if the objective is to maximize cost-effectiveness with a limited budget by leveraging consumer initiative for secondary spread, the focus should be on designing advertising content that stimulates consumer creativity and willingness to innovate. Thirdly, influencers are advised to remain true to their followers. In influencer marketing, influencers attract advertisers through their influence over followers, converting this influence into commercial gain. This influence stems from the trust followers place in the influencer, thus influencers should maintain professional integrity and prioritize the quality of information they share, even when presented with advertising opportunities. Lastly, influencers should assert more control over their relationships with advertisers. In traditional advertising, companies and brands often exert significant control over the content. However, in the social media era, influencers should negotiate more creative freedom in their advertising partnerships, asserting a more equal relationship with advertisers. This approach ensures that content quality remains high, maintaining the trust influencers have built with their followers.

Limitations and future directions

while this study offers valuable insights into the dynamics of influencer marketing and consumer engagement on social media, several limitations should be acknowledged: Firstly, constrained by the research objectives and scope, this study’s proposed general impact model covers three dimensions: influencers, advertisement information, and social factors. However, these dimensions are not limited to the five variables discussed in this paper. Therefore, we call for future research to supplement and explore more crucial factors. Secondly, in the actual communication environment, there may be differences in the impact of communication effectiveness across various social media platforms. Thus, future research could also involve comparative studies and explorations between different social media platforms. Thirdly, the current study primarily examines the direct effects of various factors on consumer engagement. However, the potential interaction effects between these variables (e.g., how influencers’ credibility might interact with advertisement information quality) are not extensively explored. Future research could investigate these complex interrelationships for a more holistic understanding. Lastly, our study, being cross-sectional, offers preliminary insights into the complex and dynamic nature of engagement between social media influencers and consumers, yet it does not incorporate the temporal dimension. The diverse impacts of psychological needs on engagement behaviors hint at an underlying dynamism that merits further investigation. Future research should consider employing longitudinal designs to directly observe how these dynamics evolve over time.

The findings of the current study not only theoretically validate the applicability of self-determination theory in the field of social media influencer marketing advertising research but also broaden the scope of advertising effectiveness research from the perspective of consumer engagement. Moreover, the research framework offers strategic guidance and reference for influencer marketing strategies. The main conclusions of this study can be summarized as follows.

Innovativeness is the key factor in high-level consumer engagement behavior. Content contribution represents a higher level of consumer engagement compared to content consumption, as it not only requires consumers to dedicate attention to viewing advertising content but also to share this information across adjacent nodes within their social networks. This dissemination of information is a pivotal factor in the success of influencer marketing advertisements. Hence, companies and brands prioritize consumers’ content contribution over mere viewing of advertising content (Qiu & Kumar, 2017 ). Compared to content consumption and contribution, content creation is considered the highest level of consumer engagement, where consumers actively create and upload brand-related content, and it represents the most advanced outcome sought by enterprises and brands in advertising campaigns (Cheung et al., 2021 ). The current study posits that to pursue better outcomes in social media influencer advertising marketing, enhancing consumers’ willingness for self-disclosure, innovativeness, and trust in advertising information are effective strategies. However, the crux lies in leveraging the consumer’s subjective initiative, particularly in boosting their innovativeness. If the goal is simply to achieve content consumption rather than higher levels of consumer engagement, the focus should be on fostering trust in advertising information. There is no hierarchy in the efficacy of different strategies; they should align with varying marketing contexts and advertising objectives.

The greatest role of social media influencers lies in attracting online traffic. information trust is the core element driving content consumption, and influencer factors mainly affect consumer engagement behaviors through information trust. Therefore, this study suggests that the primary role of influencers in social media advertising is to attract online traffic, i.e., increase consumer behavior regarding ad content consumption (reducing avoidance of ad content), and help brands achieve the initial goal of making consumers “see and complete ads.” However, their impact on further high-level consumer engagement behaviors is limited. This mechanism serves as a reminder to advertisers not to overestimate the effects of influencers in marketing. Currently, top influencers command a significant portion of the ad budget, which could squeeze the budget for other aspects of advertising, potentially affecting the overall effectiveness of the campaign. Businesses and brands should consider deeper strategic implications when planning their advertising campaigns.

Valuing Advertising Information Factors, Content Remains King. Our study posits that in the social media influencer marketing context, the key to enhancing consumer contribution and creation of advertising content lies primarily in the advertising information factors. In other words, while content consumption is important, advertisers should objectively assess the role influencers play in advertising. In the era of social media, content remains ‘king’ in advertising. This view indirectly echoes the points made in the previous paragraph: influencers effectively perform initial ‘online traffic generation’ tasks in social media, but this role should not be overly romanticized or exaggerated. Whether it’s companies, brands, or influencers, providing consumers with advertisements rich in informational value is crucial to achieving better advertising outcomes and potentially converting consumers into stakeholders.

Subjective norm is an unignorable social influence factor. Social media is characterized by its network structure of information dissemination, where a node’s information is visible to adjacent nodes. For instance, if user A likes a piece of content C from influencer I, A’s follower B, who may not follow influencer I, can still see content C via user A’s page. The aim of marketing in the social media era is to influence a node and then spread the information to adjacent nodes, either secondarily or multiple times (Kumar & Panda, 2020 ). According to the Theory of Planned Behavior, an individual’s actions are influenced by significant others in their lives, such as family and friends. Previous studies have proven the effectiveness of the Theory of Planned Behavior in influencing attitudes toward social media advertising (Ranjbarian et al., 2012 ). Current research further confirms that subjective norms also influence consumer engagement behaviors in influencer marketing on social media. Therefore, in advertising practice, brands should not only focus on individual consumers but also invest efforts in groups that can influence consumer decisions. Changing consumer behavior in the era of social media marketing doesn’t solely rely on the company’s efforts.

As communication technology advances, media platforms will further empower individual communicative capabilities, moving beyond the era of the “magic bullet” theory. The distinction between being a recipient and a transmitter of information is increasingly blurred. In an era where everyone is both an audience and an influencer, research confined to the role of the ‘recipient’ falls short of addressing the dynamics of ‘transmission’. Future research in marketing and advertising should thus focus more on the power of individual transmission. Furthermore, as Marshall McLuhan famously said, “the medium is the extension of man.” The evolution of media technology remains human-centric. Accordingly, future marketing research, while paying heed to media transformations, should emphasize the centrality of the ‘human’ element.

Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to privacy issues. Making the full data set publicly available could potentially breach the privacy that was promised to participants when they agreed to take part, and may breach the ethics approval for the study. The data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the participants of this study. The participants were all informed about the purpose and content of the study and voluntarily agreed to participate. The participants were able to stop participating at any time without penalty. Funding for this study was provided by Minjiang University Research Start-up Funds (No. 324-32404314).

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Conceptualization: CG; methodology: CG and QD; software: CG and QD; validation: CG; formal analysis: CG and QD; investigation: CG and QD; resources: CG; data curation: CG and QD; writing—original draft preparation: CG; writing—review and editing: CG; visualization: CG; project administration: CG. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Gu, C., Duan, Q. Exploring the dynamics of consumer engagement in social media influencer marketing: from the self-determination theory perspective. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 11 , 587 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03127-w

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Do Facebook and Instagram influence your politics? 35,000 took a break to find out

Facebook and Instagram may not have quite the impact on people’s politics as some critics have feared. 

A study published Monday by researchers at Stanford University, Meta and other institutions found that a subset of 35,000 people who took breaks from Facebook and Instagram for six weeks before the 2020 presidential election didn’t significantly change their politics by the time the election came around. 

The researchers found that staying off the two social media apps, both part of parent company Meta, had nearly zero effect — at least in the short term — on how people viewed the candidates, whether they turned out to vote and how they perceived the legitimacy of the election. 

But the researchers also found that staying off Facebook, in particular, was a double-edged sword for understanding the world: Those who deactivated the app appear to be less likely to believe misinformation about the election but also less likely to be knowledgeable about general news. 

The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is part of a broader study trying to understand how social media affects democracy. Under fire for years for upending how campaigns are run and how voters consume information, Meta formed a partnership with academics to grant them access to company-held data. University professors retain control over what they report. In the latest study, the authors said that Meta paid for the costs of the research but that it didn’t pay the researchers or their institutions.

Meta said in a statement Monday: “These findings are consistent with previous publications in this study in showing little impact on key political attitudes, beliefs or behaviors.” An earlier set of findings published in July concluded that Facebook had “significant ideological segregation” and that conservative sources dominated its news ecosystem. 

Academic researchers and social media users alike have been eager to understand, for example, whether so-called filter bubbles exist and if so what the practical effects are. Social media has been repeatedly blamed for “ ruining political discourse ,” spreading falsehoods and making polarization worse , and research into such questions is relatively young. 

A co-author of the latest study, Matthew Gentzkow, a Stanford economist, said one of the study’s findings was how little impact Facebook and Instagram seemed to have on polarization and divisiveness. 

“If we’re worried about those things, trying to control what people see on social media and whether they’re on social media may not be the most important lever,” he said in an interview. 

On issues such as immigration, mask requirements and policing, those who deactivated Facebook and Instagram remained polarized. 

But Gentzkow also said the study isn’t nearly the final word on the subject, because it was limited to the impact of Facebook and Instagram in a relatively narrow six-week time frame. 

“This study cannot say one way or the other — in a decadelong sense — whether social media is causing polarization or not,” he said. 

Researchers did find a small, unverified impact of Facebook use favoring Donald Trump, in which people who deactivated from Facebook were slightly more likely than others to vote for Joe Biden — the equivalent of 1.3% of Trump voters’ swinging to Biden. That could be because the Trump campaign was using Facebook more effectively or possibly because of other factors, the researchers wrote. Either way, they wrote, the difference “applies to the specific population that selected into our experiment” and “cannot be extrapolated to the broader population without strong assumptions.” 

The study bills itself as the “largest-scale evidence available to date on the effect of Facebook and Instagram access on political knowledge, attitudes, and behavior in a presidential election season.” It lists 32 co-authors from 14 institutions. 

Researchers didn’t look at the role of Facebook and Instagram after Election Day, when some supporters of Trump used them to promote allegations about election fraud and the company battled to take the allegations down . 

Meta worked with the researchers to find participants, placing invitations in people’s feeds in August and September 2020. And participation came with a financial incentive: $25 apiece for people who agreed to deactivate for one week and $150 for people to deactivate for six weeks. 

It’s not the first study to wonder what life is like for people not on social media. A study published in 2018, amid an online boycott called #DeleteFacebook, said that “the average Facebook user would require more than $1,000 to deactivate their account for one year.”

And in a study from 2019 , Gentzkow and other researchers found that deactivating Facebook for four weeks before the 2018 midterm elections had a variety of real-world implications, including increased self-reported happiness, reduced factual news knowledge and reduced political polarization. Gentzkow said more research would be needed to explore why that study showed reduced polarization but the most recent one did not. 

David Ingram covers tech for NBC News.

New Research Says Social Media Could Have a Positive Influence on Our Fitness

Your social media feed could be getting you moving according to a new study

Whatever side of that debate you fall on, science has weighed in with new evidence showing that social media might not be as bad as we once thought, while shedding light on what really gets us moving, and why.

Turns out showing off six pack abs and perfectly curated content may not be the thing truly motivating us. Who knew?

The research , published in the International Journal of Information Management, aimed to provide insights into the effectiveness of various types of social media content for promoting physical activity. It examined factors such as how users use social media, how they perceive t fitness content, and their intentions regarding exercise after viewing the content.

The Methods

The research is composed of two parts that investigate the factors that influence social media engagement and its influence on participants engaging in movement in the UK. The first study, based on existing online content and the trust in information published on social media, analysed exercise participation as a result of fitness content on social media.

The second part, based on the findings of the first study, investigated what type of specific information published on social media can generate a greater impact on the promotion of physical activity and the motivate individuals to improve their current levels of fitness.

The study examined factors such as user engagement levels, perceptions of the content, and intentions regarding physical activity.

The Results

• The study revealed that social media users engaged more with fitness content when it featured individuals who deviated from conventional perceptions of thinness and muscularity.
• Highlighting the intrinsic benefits (how training makes us feel ) of sports and fitness practices resonated particularly positively with the participants.
• Aligning individuals with the same gender as the user appeared vital for engagement.
• Although nuanced, these insights provide valuable guidance for tailoring content to maximise its impact on users and enhance their motivation to get fitter. It can also give you an insight into what type of social media content is likely to give your motivation the biggest boost.

The Conclusion

The study concluded that users engaging with social media content focused on physical activity had the potential of increased intentions to improve their physical fitness. The study emphasised the importance of featuring individuals with varied and realistic body types, while highlighting the intrinsic benefits of physical activity related to personal wellbeing. It also showed that aligning individuals with content from those of the same gender was found to be essential for engagement.

What This Means for Us

The research found that more intrinsically focused content (e.g. how training feels rather than how it makes us look) is more likely to get us moving. This sentiment is echoed in numerous studies examining the value of intrinsic motivators vs extrinsic for exercise adherence.

The findings offer valuable insights for tailoring our content to maximise its impact on our engagement and also encourage the likelihood of us participating in exercise. We can do this by following:

• Credible sources
• Sources that have a focus on the health benefits of exercise rather than just the aesthetics
• A diverse range of different body types from different demographics

Kate is a fitness writer for Men’s Health UK where she contributes regular workouts, training tips and nutrition guides. She has a post graduate diploma in Sports Performance Nutrition and before joining Men’s Health she was a nutritionist, fitness writer and personal trainer with over 5k hours coaching on the gym floor. Kate has a keen interest in volunteering for animal shelters and when she isn’t lifting weights in her garden, she can be found walking her rescue dog.

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#Blockout2024: Why followers are blocking global celebrities and their businesses on social media

A n online movement is quietly gathering momentum with calls for social media users to block global celebrities and their businesses in protest against their perceived silence on Israel ’s war on Gaza .

There #Blockout2024 or “Chop Chop” movement reflects frustration towards celebrities who followers believe haven’t leveraged their influence and platforms to highlight the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East. According to one TikToker, the goal of the campaign is to “curb specific revenue streams and fame” of such celebrities.

On social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and X, people are circulating lists of celebrities to unfollow and block, resulting in notable declines in followers, according to Social Blade, a social media analytics site in the US.

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian, for example, has reportedly lost hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram alone due to being sent to this “digital guillotine”, while Taylor Swift has lost some 200,000 followers on the platform.

When did the movement start?

When celebrities from around the world were walking the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York earlier this month, people on social media juxtaposed pictures of the expensively-clad stars with horrifying visuals of death and destruction coming out of Gaza. Some expressed outrage at the display of wealth and luxury at the annual gala while thousands of women and children were being slaughtered in the besiegedenclave.

Some suggested that the juxtaposed images – of celebrities living it up in New York and of Palestinians blockaded, starving and dying – were akin to The Hunger Games , a dystopian world from the novels of Suzanne Collins.

“This is genuinely so dystopian,” a social media commentator who runs the Climate Revolution TikTok page said. “These people are living in a different plane of reality than the rest of us.

“They aren’t even affected by the same political and economic issues that matter to us because rich people will always have the means to circumvent them,” he said. “War, abortion access, rent prices, sea level rise, extreme heat, food scarcity, these things don’t concern them.

“What do they actually have to lose by speaking out about what is going on in Rafah? Nothing.”

In response to what was seen as the insensitivity of the celebrities, the #blockout2024 movement gained momentum, pushing for the blocking of global stars who chose to stay silent.

Why does #Blockout2024 matter?

The latest Gaza conflict began with an attack by Hamas on southern Israel on 7 October last year,killing around 1,200 people before taking more than 250 hostages back to the Gaza Strip. Israel then launched a fierce bombardment, ground assault and blockade on Gaza,in which more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed according to health officals in the Hamas-run strip. More than 80 per cent of the enclave’s 2.2 million people have been rendered homeless and on the brink of starvation.

Except for a few notable exceptions – such as Macklemore and the Artists4Ceasefire collective – many global stars and influencers have avoided commenting publicly on the crisis in Gaza.

Actor Nicola Caughlan said in a recent interview that she was told she would lose work in Hollywood if she called for a Gaza ceasefire, while Susan Sarandon was dropped by her agent over comments she made at a pro-Palestinian rally.

American rapper Macklemore recently released a protest song titled “Hind’s Hall”, dedicated to the memory of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by Israeli forces in January while trapped in a car with her slain relatives and awaiting rescue.

According to Social Blade, he gained thousands of new followers on social media platforms in the days after the song was released.

Macklemore has said he will donate all proceeds from the song on streaming platforms to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the main UN agency providing aid to Palestinians. The video of the song includes footage of people protesting and expressing solidarity with Palestinians alongside assorted clips featuring police officers and politicians.

How are social media users finding celebrities to block?

“I made a Google Doc of every celebrity that attended the Met Gala and now I’m going through and writing if they’ve been silent, or if they’ve been using their platform to speak up about the genocide in Gaza,” a TikTok user said in a video.

The TikToker created a video displaying a long list of celebrity names against a black background.

Some of the names, including Zendaya, Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban and Andrew Scott, were accompanied by the word “SILENT” in red. The TikToker pointed out that while some celebrities like Zendaya had spoken out in the past, they hadn’t done so recently. They said Zendaya had shown support for Palestinians in October but had not commented further since then.

The Independent has approached representatives for Zendaya, Minaj, Urban and Scott, as well as Kardashian and Swift, for comment.

Several pages on Instagram and TikTok have surfaced that have made blocking celebrities easier. For example, a new page on Instagram called @blockout.2022 — the name is meant to confuse the Instagram algorithm that earlier took down a similar page called “#blockouts2024” — says in its bio: “Go in the Following and Block them all!”

“We gave them their platforms. It’s time to take it back — take our views away, our likes, our comments, our money — by blocking them on all social media and digital platforms,” a TikToker called @ladyfromtheoutside urged in a video recently.

‘Let Them Eat Cake’: Why is Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France who disparaged the poor, being invoked?

On 7 May, TikTok influencer Haley Kalil faced backlash after posting a video lip-syncing “let them eat cake” outside the Met Gala on her TikTok account, which goes by the username @haleyybaylee.

The phrase, associated with Marie Antoinette, symbolises the detachment of the elite amid widespread poverty and crisis.

Kalil’s video angered many people online as it came after a statement by the head of the United Nations World Food Program that northern Gaza had entered “full-blown famine” after nearly seven months of war.

Later, Kalil apologised on 10 May, stating she wasn’t officially invited to the Met Gala and was there as a host with E! News. She justified the use of the “let them eat cake” by saying that it was “trending” on TikTok at the moment.

But the comparisons were not lost on her followers. One user posted a video saying that Kalil’s TikTok might have “unlocked the rage of millions of people”.

How effective has #Blockout2024 been so far?

“The Met Gala was a bit of a hyperbolic moment that got a lot of people’s attention,” Marcus Collins, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan, told NPR.

“The celebrity boycotts had existed, but they weren’t really at the top of the social zeitgeist. But then you have a moment like the Met Gala that wasn’t really related to the conflict, but the pieces were all at play. When the attacks [in Gaza] were happening the same day, the juxtaposition just got people talking and moving.”

He continued: “The hope is that it will either bring more visibility to the cause and shift the balance in getting political forces like the US government to do something to mitigate the violence that’s happening in the Middle East. But as rational as that logic may seem, I don’t think there are very many examples where this has actually worked.”

Eddy Borges-Rey, an associate professor in residence at Northwestern University in Qatar, specialises in researching social media and algorithms. He told Al Jazeera : “Social media celebrities heavily rely on high visibility and engagement to attract and maintain advertising deals.”

He added that when someone unfollows a celebrity, they simply stop seeing the celebrity’s posts in their feed. But “if someone blocks the celebrity, they completely cut off all interaction with their content”.

“A reduction in visibility can lead advertisers to perceive the celebrity as less valuable, potentially cutting back on the amount they are willing to pay for ads on the celebrity’s profile, thereby directly affecting their ad revenue,” he added.

Since 1986, The Independent has campaigned for what we believe in, not what we are told to believe, with integrity, inclusion, innovation and independence as our guiding principles.

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Pop Culture

On social media, activists used the met gala to call out stars for gaza silence.

Chloe Veltman

Zendaya at the 2024 Met Gala in New York City. The actress is one of many celebrities whose name has appeared this week on social media "block" lists for not speaking out publicly about the conflict in Gaza. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images hide caption

Zendaya at the 2024 Met Gala in New York City. The actress is one of many celebrities whose name has appeared this week on social media "block" lists for not speaking out publicly about the conflict in Gaza.

A collective effort on TikTok and other social media platforms to push celebrities to speak publicly about the conflict in Gaza went into overdrive this week after The Met Gala.

Creators on TikTok have earned millions of views for videos they've made linked to hashtags like #celebrityblocklist , #letthemeatcake and #blockout .

Many of these posts list the names of actors, musicians and other high-profile figures whom the video creators say had not yet spoken out against Israel's attacks on the region — or hadn't spoken out sufficiently in the creators' view — and therefore should be blocked.

And there's been a special push in recent days to name those who attended the opulent, star-studded annual Met Gala on Monday.

@silentcelebs8 Hoping to finish list soon!Appreciate any help! #metgala #blockout2024 #fyp #blockout #letthemeatcake #celebrityblocklist ♬ original sound-SilentCelebs🍉

"I made a Google Doc of every celebrity that attended the Met Gala, and now I'm going through and writing if they've been silent, or if they've been using their platform to speak up about the genocide in Gaza," said TikTok user silentcelebs8 in a video displaying a long list of celebrity names against a black background with the word "SILENT" in red next to to some, including Zendaya, Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban and Andrew Scott. "Some of these celebrities have not been completely silent," the Tiktoker continued. "Zendaya did make a post back in October on her story supporting Palestine, but has been silent since. So I went ahead and put 'silent.'" (Genocide is a legal term; Israel has not been found to be in violation of the Genocide convention and Israel strongly denies the accusation.)

The Met Gala fans the flames

Calls on social media to boycott celebrity silences have been on a slow burn for months.

@latmpod prolly one of my last rambles on celebrity #fyp #standwith🍉 #ceasefirenow #celebrityculture #beyonce #taylorswift #rhianna ♬ original sound-look at the material podcast

But the fact the New York event, with its unchecked display of privilege and wealth, took place at around the same time as thousands of Palestinians were being forced to flee Rafah at less than 24 hours notice as Israeli troops took control of the Gaza territory's border crossing with Egypt, fanned the glowing embers into full-on flames.

"The Met Gala was a bit of a hyperbolic moment that got a lot of people's attention," said Marcus Collins, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan. "The celebrity boycotts had existed, but they weren't really at the top of the social zeitgeist. But then you have a moment like the Met Gala that wasn't really related to the conflict, but the pieces were all at play. When the attacks [in Gaza] were happening the same day, the juxtaposition just got people talking and moving."

The Picture Show

2024 met gala red carpet: looks we love.

Even relatively minor celebrities like social media influencer Hayley Baylee — who wasn't even a guest at the event, but had been hired as a pre-gala host to interview those invited as they headed to the party — were caught up in the backlash on TikTok.

Many creators posted negative reactions to a video Baylee posted of herself that night (which has since been taken down), saying, "Let them eat cake!" It was a nod, as she later admitted in a video apologizing for her actions, to a current trend on social media for looks inspired by Marie Antoinette, and a line from the 2006 film starring Kirsten Dunst, about the ill-fated French queen.

@haleyybaylee ❤️ ♬ original sound-haleyybaylee

"The world is just not peaceful or stable enough for the average person to accept and enjoy celebrities flaunting their wealth on social media," said user Christopher Claflin on TikTok in response both to Baylee's faux-pas and the overall flaunting of wealth in New York that night. "Flexing on the peasants only works when the peasants aren't watching other peasants be wiped off the face of the planet."

The impact of blocking celebrities on the people of Gaza

The rationale behind the calls on social media to block celebrities, thereby negatively impacting their advertising revenue, is to put pressure on them to use their massive influence to try to stop the violence in Gaza.

"The hope is that it will either bring more visibility to the cause and shift the balance in getting political forces like the U.S. government to do something to mitigate the violence that's happening in the Middle East," said Collins. "But as rational as that logic may seem, I don't think there are very many examples where this has actually worked."

@christopherclaflin Should celebs bother with addressing social issues?Or should they stay in their lane?# #metgala # #metgala2024 # #letthemeatcake ♬ Let Them Eat Cake-vibeyvidz

Collins cited the example of George Clooney's efforts, albeit in an era before the rise of social media, to end the war in Sudan. A 2014 article in The Guardian by the Sudan-based journalist Maeve Shearlaw assessed the impact of the celebrity's dedicated efforts over the years to bring about change: "I don't see that it has halted, or even reduced, the genocide. The killing, displacement, sexual assaults and rape never stopped."

On the other hand, pressure on social media has occasionally impacted the ways celebrities speak out about world events. For example, the backlash against Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for asking the public to donate to a Maui wildfire recovery fund last fall caused the pair to put more of their own significant resources into the effort. However, the amount they contributed was not disclosed.

The impact on everyone else

This latest social media campaign may be intended to help people in Gaza, but some experts say it doesn't directly target the issue; rather, it focuses attention on celebrities, and obscures the desired goal.

Middle East crisis — explained

Israeli forces seize the gaza side of rafah, as hamas truce talks resume in egypt.

"That's not what we're debating on and trending about and talking about and arguing about," said Chris Morse, a communications professor at Bryant University. "It's the fact that Celebrity A won't tell us their stance. Isn't that weird that they won't do that? Let's boycott them until they do do that."

Indeed — while the number of blocks to an account is not visible — some stars have seen a fall-off in followers over the past week. For example, Taylor Swift, who's at the top of many of the block lists, lost around 300,000 followers on TikTok over the past week, according to a comparison between her TikTok follower number at the time of writing and the number obtained from last week via Wayback Machine , and around 50,000 on Instagram . But that's nothing for a star of Swift's magnitude.

"A large celebrity has their touring, has multiple large social channels, is featured on television, is featured in the press," said Eric Dahan, CEO of the social media marketing company Mighty Joy. "If you have north of 100 million followers and you lose three or five million, it sucks. But is that the end of the world for you? No."

Dahan added that blocking celebrities doesn't prevent them from appearing in targeted social media ad campaigns.

When celebrities show up to protest, the media follows — but so does the backlash

"Blocking an account doesn't prevent you from receiving an ad, because the ad is not run through the celebrity's account per se," said Dahan. "And so, for example, you can block Kim Kardashian, but Hulu could run an ad targeting the Kardashians at you."

Meanwhile, controversies involving celebrities very often bring attention to social media platforms.

"TikTok definitely benefits, right? Because the trend is happening on their format," said Bryant University's Morse. "We are constantly mentioning TikTok in all of the stories, and that makes people curious in order to see the trend and see what people are doing. So you got to go to TikTok, and you really got to become a member because you can't really see too many things without actually engaging with the platform."

TikTok did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment.

And even if the many, much-viewed videos aimed at canceling celebrities don't help to bring about a change for the people of Gaza, there's at least an emotional reward for those doing the canceling.

"It does provide some sense of agency," said the University of Michigan's Collins. "A sense that I've done something to influence other people to do something that perhaps maybe might make a difference. Because in the minds of those folks, it's better than doing nothing."

• haley baylee
• Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
• Taylor Swift
• george clooney
• social media
• #celebrityblocklist

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‘deadly influence’ docuseries on social media murders set at id (exclusive).

Investigation Discovery’s latest signature true-crime series, premiering in June, will chronicle criminal cases sparked by toxic social media obsessions and abuses.  

By Etan Vlessing

Etan Vlessing

Canada Bureau Chief

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Murder sparked by bizarre online posts or obsessions? There’s an app for that.

So says Investigation Discovery’s latest docuseries, Deadly Influence: The Social Media Murders , set for a June premiere on ID and Max. A new trailer (below) for the ID six-parter points to social media posts and communities getting dangerous and destructive as they lead to infamous true-crime cases.

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The six-part series premieres June 3 with an episode about a self-styled Instagram “sex and fitness guru” whose break up with another high-profile influencer culminated in a violent, senseless act.   

Other social media criminal cases set for the Deadly Influence series include one on a young TikTok star facing followers wanting to silence her, and stopping at nothing to do so; and another on an online mental health advocate looking to change lives, only to face young men primed to threaten, harm and attack. 

The ID series will also tackle cases of a popular teenage film reviewer on YouTube getting dragged into a shocking world of guns and revenge; a young woman building her brand online, only to disappear on the eve of Halloween; and an online creative community for love and inclusion being targeted by an online and hateful “manosphere” with shocking consequences.  

Deadly Influence follows the rating success of ID’s Quiet on Set : The Dark Side of Kids TV, a docuseries about former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider that alleged abuse, sexism, racism and inappropriate behavior involving underage stars and crewmembers on his popular shows.

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