Famous Social Media Research Articles

Influencer Marketing: A Citation and Co-citation Analysis within Business and Management Domains

Influencer marketing has emerged as a popular approach businesses use to incorporate social influence into their operations and marketing strategies. It seems to be a useful and cost-effective strategy. It ensures a broad reach to highly engaged audiences and is frequently not interpreted by consumers as advertising. Many companies use influencers on social media to market their products to certain audiences. Carryminati, Khusha Kapila, Bhuvan Bam, and Riaz are famous social media influencers. The purpose of this study is to use bibliometric analysis to compile the body of knowledge on influencer marketing in the business and management area from 2018 to 2024. BiblioShiny software was used to analyze 462 papers that were taken out of the Scopus database. This paper conducts citations and co-citations analysis, identifies recent trends, and offers useful background information on influencer marketing. The results show a notable and quick rise (54.5%) in this sector, indicating a noticeable increase in interest. The USA and Hong Kong emerged as leading nations in terms of total citations (3050) and average article citations (107.7), respectively. Social media, Commerce, Marketing, Consumer behavior, perception, and artificial intelligence are the trending topics of influencer marketing research, where artificial intelligence is the latest trend. Lou C (1650) and Yuan S (1335) are the most influential authors in terms of citation. “Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services” is the top source with maximum citations (1943) and articles (37). Various bibliometric studies have been carried out to explore the concept of influencer marketing in general or other specific domains. There is a scarcity of bibliometric research that assesses the influencer marketing literature within the business and management domain or through citation and co-citation analysis. This study addresses this research gap. These findings will have significant implications that can greatly benefit researchers, decision-makers, and professionals in crafting policies. This bibliometric study concludes with limitations, and recommendations for further study.

Going against the grain? Appraising the aesthetic labour of male beauty influencers on Instagram

Despite the proliferation of scholarly studies on social media in recent years, not many have focused on male social media influencers in the beauty industry, which is often viewed as a feminine preserve with the vast majority of ‘beauty influencers’ being female. This study focuses on the discursive practices of two male beauty influencers to examine how their visual self-portrayal contributes to their popularity and influence. A total of 752 photographs collected from their Instagram accounts were examined using a visual appraisal framework adapted from Martin and White’s (2005) Appraisal Theory described in The Language of Evaluation, focusing on normality, capacity and authenticity. The authors’ findings show that both influencers, who are openly gay, portray themselves as gender norm transgressors whose performance of capacity and authenticity as social media celebrities is a highly contested and conflictual aspect of their identity construction as beauty influencers. These findings not only shed light on the visual discursive processes and practices through which beauty influencers perform their aesthetic labour to enhance their popularity and influence but they also contribute to our understanding of how they perpetuate mediatized and marketized stereotypes of beauty and being as part of the broader sociocultural phenomenon of the celebrification of social media influencers in contemporary society.

Young females experience higher body image dissatisfaction associated with a high social media use: a cross-sectional study in Omani university students

BackgroundThis study aimed to assess body image dissatisfaction in Omani university students across gender and age and explore the potential impact of social media use on body image dissatisfaction. This cross-sectional online survey was responded by 482 Omani university students. The survey included socio-demographic data, a Social Media Activity Questionnaire, and a Body Dissatisfaction Scale. The participants were approached through promotion of the study on locally famous social media accounts.ResultsThe prevalence of body image dissatisfaction was higher in females compared to males (37.7% and 24%, respectively). Additionally, 53.6% of participants with a high body mass index reported high levels of body image dissatisfaction, while underweight participants reported the lowest body image dissatisfaction (21.3%). High social media use showed a significant correlation with body image dissatisfaction (p < 0.001); however, age did not exhibit a significant association with body image dissatisfaction. Concerns related to being overweight and not having clear skin were the most common body features associated with body image issues.ConclusionHigher levels of body image dissatisfaction were found with high social media use. The study also identified a higher prevalence of body image dissatisfaction in females compared to males, with no significant differences across age groups.

Comparing Product Advertising Videos: User Comments on Traditional Celebrities vs. Youtubers

Businesses are modifying their strategies to respond to the constantly changing media environment. In the past, marketing teams relied on traditional celebrities to promote brands and boost sales. Recently, social media celebrities such as Instagrammers, Tiktokers, youtubers, and influencers have emerged as popular options for marketing communication due to their significant attention and preference. Despite considerable research on traditional and social media influencer endorsements, there remains a gap in understanding how social media users perceive and interact with these endorsements. This study investigates the differences in topic, sentiment, and pragmatics of user comments on Youtube advertisement videos showcasing traditional celebrities and youtubers. We examined user comments on eight advertisement videos using content analysis, with half featuring traditional celebrities and the other half featuring youtubers. The findings indicate that including traditional celebrities in videos leads to increased user focus on brand features, along with greater expressions of admiration and positive sentiment. Furthermore, traditional celebrities are more effective than influencers in fostering favourable and reliable brand awareness. Possible explanations for these results are considered, and their theoretical and practical implications are derived.

CEO social media celebrity status and credit rating assessment

CEO social media celebrity status and credit rating assessment

Contribution of Social Media in Shaping Self-Perceptions: A Case of Black Women

Purpose: This study aimed to explore how social media representations of Black women’s hair shapes their sense of identity, self-concept and hair care practices. Methodology: A qualitative cross-sectional approach was employed, with a sample size of five Black women in South Africa between the ages of 20 to 29 years old. Semi-structured interviews were conducted online with research participants that were purposively selected from social media platforms Twitter and Instagram. The use of these platforms to select participants also offered convenience to the researcher as these participants were readily available because they are already active in social media. Thematic analysis was used in data analysis while the Social Identity Theory (SIT) was utilised as the theoretical framework to interpret the findings. Findings: Four themes were used to cluster the findings, namely self-categorization, social identification, perceived positive social identity and self-esteem restoration. The findings highlighted the role of social media in perpetuating the stereotypes which is traced to the slavery; and then highlight how the social media is used to reverse the systematic oppression of the Black women based on their hair. They also revealed that positive representations of Black hair on social media creates an attitude of self-acceptance and empowerment among Black women. Similarly, social media provides a space for Black women to connect, discuss their hair and share hair care tips, fostering a sense of belonging within the community. However, this study identified a gap in representation, as there tends to be an overrepresentation of one specific hair texture, leaving some Black women with limited or no representation, mainly those wearing dreadlocks. Unique Contribution to the theory, practice, and policy: The research makes a unique contribution by highlighting the importance of diverse representation in South African advertisements and social media marketing for hair products, as Black women’s hair textures and journeys are not a monolith. The findings concomitantly highlight the role of social media celebrities and/or social media influencers in the social media regarding the matter under investigation from the perspective of South African women. The study also noted the need for awareness and education about the cultural and historical significance of Black hair to reduce cultural appropriation. The findings further highlight the human rights element regarding the discrimination faced by Black women due to their hair texture, this knowledge may contribute to creating inclusivity in both society and social media spaces.

Unleashing the potential of social media celebrities to promote food waste reduction in educational institutions: developing an extended model based on the value-belief-norm theory

PurposeThis study aims to provide insights into the drivers of student engagement in food waste reduction strategies in educational institutions. The proposed research model integrates social media celebrities' attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness with the value belief norm (VBN) theory to explore their influence on students' behaviour towards food waste reduction.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from 417 students enrolled in public and private universities in the Riyadh and Macca regions of Saudi Arabia to evaluate the proposed model. The partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyse the responses.FindingsThe results showed that VBN theory's components, such as values (biospheric, altruistic and egoistic), beliefs (new ecological paradigm, awareness of consequences and aspirations of responsibility) and norms significantly and positively influence food waste reduction behavioural intentions. It was also discovered from the results that social media celebrities' attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness influence food waste reduction behavioural intentions.Originality/valueThis study contributes significantly to the literature by identifying factors influencing student engagement in food waste reduction strategies in educational institutions where limited research exists. It fills this research gap by developing a novel theoretical framework integrating social media celebrities' attributes with the VBN theory to explain these factors.

Will social media celebrities drive me crazy? Exploring the effects of celebrity endorsement on impulsive buying behavior in social commerce

AbstractThis study evaluates the influence of social media celebrity endorsements on consumers' impulsive buying behavior in social commerce by extending the signaling theory and commitment‐trust theory. A self‐managed online questionnaire is designed to collect the data from 295 valid respondents and analyze it using a multi‐analytical hybrid structural equation modeling‐artificial neural network (ANN). The results reveal that relational switching alternatives and relationship benefits directly contribute to relationship commitment to social media celebrity, whereas shared value and parasocial interaction positively lead to social commerce trust; both relationship commitment and social commerce trust induce consumers' impulsive buying behavior in social commerce. From a theoretical perspective, this study enriches the components of signaling theory and commitment‐trust theory, expanding their applicability and transferability in social commerce. Moreover, this study consolidates the theoretical integration, indicating that signaling theory can be considered as an antecedent of commitment‐trust theory for triggering consumers' impulsive buying. Methodologically, adopting second‐order constructs benefits, this study captures the multidimensionality and complexity of social commerce trust and impulsive buying from the partial least squares‐ANN perspectives. In practice, this research provides valuable insights into how to better invite celebrity endorsements and build long‐term relationships with customers, as well as offers insights into countries where social commerce is lacking today. That being said, this study is constrained by its cross‐sectional research design, conducted in Malaysia. Future research endeavors should consider launching longitudinal, multicountry studies to broaden the applicability of the findings.

Construct validation and measurement invariance of the Parasocial Relationships in Social Media survey.

This paper examines the construct validity and measurement invariance of the Parasocial Relationships in Social Media (PRISM) survey which was designed to provide researchers with a valid and reliable tool for measuring parasocial relationships developed in a social media context. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated the survey provides an adequate measure of parasocial relationships with online, social media celebrities, replicating the factor structure found by Boyd and colleagues when they developed PRISM and providing evidence of the construct validity of the survey. Additionally, scalar measurement invariance was achieved which supports the survey's ability to compare parasocial relationships across different social media platforms.

Young consumers’ impulse buying tendency on social media: an empirical analysis in Vietnam in light of the LST theoretical perspective

Purpose Social commerce has brought about a significant transformation in consumer experience due to diverse factors. As a result, users often find themselves prone to impulsive buying behaviour when exposed to such an environment. Prior research was limited to demonstrating the expanding influence of celebrities on social media and the linkage between social engagement and impulse buying context. Furthermore, the impulse buying tendency of consumers on social media in the context of celebrity posts has yet to be validated. This paper aims to assess the influence of consumer awareness, consumer trust and observational learning on the latent state-trait (LST) theory regarding celebrity posts on impulse buying tendencies. Design/methodology/approach The empirical research builds on a sample survey involving 750 students from the “Big Four” economics universities in Hanoi. The proposed model was analysed using a partial least squares structural equation modelling technique. Findings The authors find that consumer trust and observational learning from celebrity’ posts positively affect impulse buying tendency. Yet celebrity influence awareness directly impacts trust in celebrity’ posts rather than directly impacting impulse buying tendency. Perceiving the importance of interactive and authentic posts by a celebrity in influencing consumers’ purchase behaviour on social media, this research offers valuable insights for stakeholders in the digital celebrity sphere of communication and marketing. Practical implications Perceiving the importance of interactive and authentic posts by a celebrity in influencing consumers’ purchase behaviour on social media, this research offers valuable insights for stakeholders in the digital celebrity sphere of communication and marketing. Originality/value From a theoretical perspective, this expands the applicability of the LST theory in social commerce to promote impulse buying tendencies. Second, this contributes to the literature on the emerging phenomenon of social media celebrities, as existing literature does not clarify their influence on impulse buying behaviour. Third, this research applies the concept of observational learning in online shopping through key features of social media platforms, namely, likes, shares and comments, to investigate their influence on the impulse buying tendency of consumers. Concerning managerial implications, the authors propose practical recommendations for practitioners, particularly those involved or interested in the commercial services industry and social media marketing (namely, celebrities and partner companies).

Purchase Intention in Luxury Food: The Role of Materialism, Social Comparison, and Bandwagon Effect

Objective: This research aims to examine the influence of materialism, social comparison, and the bandwagon effect on purchase intention for luxury food products. Design/Methods/Approach: This study adopts a quantitative approach and employs Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on Partial Least Squares (PLS) using the SmartPLS 3 software. An online survey was conducted by distributing a questionnaire among 200 respondents. Findings: The results indicate a significant influence of materialism and the bandwagon effect on purchase intention. In contrast, no significant influence is found in the effect of social comparison on purchase intention. Originality/Value: This research contributes to the academic and marketing fields by providing insights into the role of materialism, social comparison, and the bandwagon effect on purchase intention, particularly in the luxury food product category. Practical/Policy implications: The findings of this study could be beneficial for marketers looking to promote their products, specifically in the luxury food category. Businesses could create distinctive products and promotions, such as offering limited edition menus or exclusive deals for VIP members, like access to secret menus or unique discounts. Marketers could utilize social media platforms by selecting influencers that align with the brand's luxury concept and appeal to the target audience. Viral campaigns also encourage audiences to compare themselves with social media celebrities, leading to a bandwagon effect and increasing brand loyalty.

Street food consumer behaviour decoded: analysing decision-making styles, risk factors and the influential power of social media celebrities

PurposeThis study aims to investigate consumer decision-making styles (CDMS) in the context of street food. In addition to the original CDMS constructs, two additional constructs, namely food safety risks and environmental risks, were included based on relevant literature. Furthermore, the study explores the moderating role of social media celebrities (SMCs) in bridging the intention-behaviour gap in street food consumption behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected through an online survey, with 300 participants providing useable responses. Partial least squares (PLS) analysis was employed to analyse the data.FindingsThe findings indicate that out of the eight identified CDMS, six styles, specifically recreational (hedonistic shopping consciousness), price consciousness, novelty-seeking, impulsiveness, confusion due to over-choice and brand loyalty, significantly influence consumers' intention to consume street foods. Additionally, the results support the moderating role of SMCs. This suggests that the presence and influence of SMCs play a significant role in shaping consumers' intention and behaviours towards street food consumption.Originality/valueThis study contributes significantly to the literature by adding two additional constructs, namely safety risks and environmental risks in CDMS. Moreover, this study fulfils the intention-behaviour gap in street food literature by exploring the moderation effect of SMCs.

The Influence of social network models on e-commerce: A comparison between Wechat and Bilibili

E-commerce are popular these days. While different social media may adopt different social network models, it actually made rules for how people are interacted with one-another on these platforms, and influences how people receive different messages about products. And different ways marketers engage with customers on social platforms influence the e-commerce situation or value of trade on platforms. This essay aims to evaluate the influence of social network models on e-commerce by making a comparison between WeChat and Bilibili, which are two famous social media in China. This essay will first explain some social network frames, and then will examine the operating mechanism of WeChat and Bilibili and how they are related to value of trade on these platforms. It is shown clearly that different ecommerce social networks lead to different results in ecommerce income. Wechat focus on 1 to 1 social mode and building ecommerce on the relationship between merchants and customers while Bilibili focus on building communities which eventually leads to community economy. This research result may help platform builders and merchants to choose their own strategies in ecommerce.

Mall relevance, shoppers' well-being and mall loyalty: moderating role of social media celebrity

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to test the relationship between mall relevance dimensions [(functional relevance (FNR), symbolic relevance (SYR), social relevance (SOR) and environmental relevance (ENR)] and shoppers' well-being (SWB), which in turn influences mall loyalty (ML). In addition, this study aims to investigate the moderating effect of social media celebrities (SMCs) on the association between SWB and ML.Design/methodology/approachA mall intercept survey was used to collect responses from mall shoppers. The authors received 426 valid responses from mall shoppers in Pakistan's three metropolitan cities (i.e. Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad). To test the hypotheses, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used.FindingsFindings reveal that FNR, SYR, ENR and SOR significantly and positively influence SWB. Similarly, SWB significantly affects ML. Moreover, SMCs moderate the positive relationship between SWB and ML.Originality/valueThis study is one of the pioneer studies examining mall relevance dimensions on SWB. In addition, this study contributes to the retailing literature by testing the moderation effect of SMCs on the relationship between SWB and ML. Likewise, this study provides insights for mall administration to focus on mall relevance in terms of FNR, SYR, ENR and SOR to enhance the current and prospects' SWB. Next, SMCs play a key role in enhancing SWB and ML.

The Impact of Social-media Celebrity on Buying Behavior of Retailer Customers in Riyadh, KSA

This study aimed to measure the impact of celebrity endorsement on the buying behavior of retailer customers in Riyadh. The study population consists of all buyers of hyper-stores in Riyadh. The unit of analysis was the Saudis and non-Saudis who are employed in the government and private sectors in Riyadh. The estimates showed that the size of the population reached 3.87 million people in 2019. The stratified-sample technique was used and the recommended sample size reached 387 buyers. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) showed a statistically significant impact of celebrity on the purchasing behavior of retailer customers in Riyadh. Finally, the study presented several recommendations and marketing implications to enhance the role of celebrity in purchasing decisions.

Social Media Marketing Strategies

Social media marketing strategies contribute to increasing the brand awareness of businesses. However, they have not always fully exploited the creativity and innovative capacities of the strategy due to unawareness of the best tools to utilize in modern technology. Notably, some organizations also fail to recognize the benefits of social networks. The internet has exposed numerous opportunities, such as online marketing that utilizes advertisement mechanisms like the podcast, blogs, and social media to reach their target audiences. However, the internet allows users to interact and create communities, facilitating the exchange and discussion of knowledge. Famous social media networks include youtube, Facebook, and Twitter. However, the advancing social media development has contributed to the emergence of new platforms such as Tiktok. Analysts measure their popularity based on the level of activities the platform offers its users. As a result, modern social networks facilitate more effective than traditional networks since they promote global interactions by overcoming geographical barriers. Currently, only a few organizations use social networking in various sectors, but this literature identifies numerous strategies that every organization should utilize to promote its brand. This article intends to discuss the best social media marketing strategies, their benefits, and challenges and provide insights about the emerging trends and application of modern technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and chatbots in marketing. The first part of the review introduces the topic, while the subsequent sections address the marketing strategies such as image appeal and content. The challenges section addresses the problems that accompany the strategies. The emerging technology and trends cover the modern aspects that dominate online marketing, such as chatbots, artificial intelligence, and short videos. The discussion relies on numerous relevant literature articles exploring the aforementioned social media marketing issues.

Green Software Engineering: Cloud-based Face Detection and Static Code Analysis

This paper presents an approach to green software engineering that integrates cloud-based face detection and static code analysis to promote sustainable software development. The proposed method uses OpenCV, a computer vision library, and a pre-trained Haar cascade classifier to detect faces in images. Faces are marked with green bounding frames that serve as visual indicators of their locations. In addition, the paper evaluates the quality of a distinct script file using Pylint library static code analysis techniques. The analysis evaluates code compliance with standards, identifies potential flaws, and identifies code odors. By integrating these practices, the proposed method seeks to reduce resource consumption, maximize energy efficiency, and enhance code maintainability, promoting environmentally friendly and sustainable software engineering practices. One outcome of our effort was creating the YasminNadiaArabcSocialMediaImages data collection, which includes faces of Arabic social media celebrities and is filled out to be accessible for public usage on the websites Kaggle and GitHub.

An ensemble approach for the identification and classification of crime tweets in the English language

Twitter is a famous social media platform, which supports short posts limited to 280 characters. Users tweet about many topics like movie reviews, customer service, meals they just ate, and awareness posts. Tweets carrying information about some crime scenes are crime tweets. Crime tweets are crucial and informative and separate classification is required. Identification and classification of crime tweets is a challenging task and has been the researcher’s latest interest. The researchers used different approaches to identify and classify crime tweets. This research has used an ensemble approach for the identification and classification of crime tweets. Tweepy and Twint libraries were used to collect datasets from Twitter. Both libraries use contrasting methods for extracting tweets from Twitter. This research has applied many ensemble approaches for the identification and classification of crime tweets. Logistic regression (LR), support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), decision tree (DT), and random forest (RF) Classifier assigned with the weights of 1,2,1,1 and 1 respectively ensemble together by a soft weighted Voting classifier along with term frequency – inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) vectorizer gives the best performance with an accuracy of 96.2% on the testing dataset.

An ensemble approach for the identification and classification of crime tweets in the English language

Twitter is a famous social media platform, which supports short posts limited to 280 characters. Users tweet about many topics like movie reviews, customer service, meals they just ate, and awareness posts. Tweets carrying information about some crime scenes are crime tweets. Crime tweets are crucial and informative and separate classification is required. Identification and classification of crime tweets is a challenging task and has been the researcher’s latest interest. The researchers used different approaches to identify and classify crime tweets. This research has used an ensemble approach for the identification and classification of crime tweets. Tweepy and Twint libraries were used to collect datasets from Twitter. Both libraries use contrasting methods for extracting tweets from Twitter. This research has applied many ensemble approaches for the identification and classification of crime tweets. Logistic regression (LR), support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), decision tree (DT), and random forest (RF) Classifier assigned with the weights of 1,2,1,1 and 1 respectively ensemble together by a soft weighted Voting classifier along with term frequency – inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) vectorizer gives the best performance with an accuracy of 96.2% on the testing dataset.

Sarcasm in Sarawakian NgekTsaiArmy Official YouTube Videos

Sarcasm typically uses particular phrases in a figurative sense, and occasionally contains insults or reproaches, which makes it unpleasant to hear. However, in certain context, sarcasm is also used to make remarks, criticism, or advice towards an individual or a group of people, related to an issue. This study analyses the use of sarcasm in NgekTsaiArmy Official YouTube videos, a channel managed by NgekTsai who is a famous social media influencer or vlogger from Sarawak. The method of content analysis is used in analysing data from the utterances of the characters in videos with themes of family, society, education, work, and culture. The data were analysed based on the Speech Act Theory (Searle, 1969). The findings of the study show that there are four types of language acts that exist in the NgekTsaiArmy Official videos, namely assertive, directive, expressive, and commissive. Although this language act contains elements of sarcasm, it is uttered mostly with the aim of making the public aware of current issues, thus providing useful and positive input to the public. In addition, the culture and dialect of the Sarawak Malay community are also highlighted by NgekTsai in a unique way that attracts the attention of its viewers.