Not so social: When social media increases perceptions of exclusions and negatively affects attitudes toward content

Abstract

AbstractSocial media interactions in the form of likes and comments have become a prevalent and expected form of feedback among consumers. However, as these forms of feedback represent social acceptance, content that fails to garner sufficient community reactions may have important implications for consumer behavior, a conjecture supported by an evolutionary psychology account. Three studies demonstrate that consumers use social media cues such as the number of likes that a post receives to shape their attitudes and intentions regarding the subject of that post, and this relationship is mediated by perceptions of social exclusion. Further, the presence of comments can help to attenuate the negative impact of too few likes on perceptions of social exclusion, enhancing consumers’ attitudes and intentions toward the subject of the post.