social media: value for everyone

19/03/2019

Many aspects of social media platforms can deliver value in many ways for all users. No matter what type of user you are, there are always features within these social media platforms which will continue to keep you enticed. In this post i will be focusing on the two platforms facebook and reddit to show that with pretty much any platform, value can be created for any type of consumer with the use of online business models.

With platforms such as facebook, online business models are put in use to target the different segments of users on facebook. As discussed by Hodis and associates in their 2015 article in ‘the journal of marketing management’, there are four different segments of facebook users. These segments include the ‘attention seekers’, ‘devotees’, ‘entertainment chasers’ and ‘connection seekers’.

The ‘connection seekers’ group involves users who consume content on social media more than they create content. These users are mainly interested in joining groups and connecting with other people with similar interests. If you are a connection seeker, you would most likely agree that community models put in place, for example features available on facebook such as the ability for any user to create a group with users who have similar interests would be a huge factor towards creating value for you. These groups that users can create allow connection seekers on facebook to connect with thousands of people with the same likes and dislikes. When referring to Smith and Colgate’s value creation framework, facebook also offers a symbolic/expressive value for connection seekers. These users find alternative value through the feeling of social meaning and self identity/worth, allowing them to feel like they are a part of something. This also relates to users on reddit, where connection seekers can also find other users to discuss similar interests and topics. Reddit however ultimately creates value for connection seekers in a better way than facebook. What facebook lacks is the ability for users to filter popular material in groups/pages, leaving users scrolling through a lot of boring content. With reddit however, users have the abilty to ‘upvote’ or ‘downvote’ content, allowing for only the most popular content to appear at the top of their feed.

Other online business models are also used by Facebook and Reddit to target other groups of Hodis’ segmentation matrix. Advertising models are employed to create value for the ‘attention seekers’ as well as the ‘devotees’, users who both consume low amounts of content but create high volumes of online material. Both these users aim to promote either themselves or a product. Facebook creates value for these users through the feature where users can pay to become sponsored or pay to have their content “boosted” which allows their posts to gain more reach. This allows value to be created for the attention seekers who are able to successfully promote themselves and their content to a large variety of people including those who don’t follow or like the user. This also includes the devotees who would also be able to promote products to a large number of people through a sponsorship. Similarly with Reddit, users or organisations can also pay the platform to have their product or content advertised. Sponsored material on Reddit also does not have the upvote/downvote option meaning that most users will most likely see the content allowing for high reach.

‘Entertainment chasers’ are those users who don’t create much content but enjoy indulging in features such as online games and quizzes. Facebook targets this group through a virtual goods model where in-game currencies can be bought for their games. This creates value for the ‘entertainment chasers’ by allowing them to experience experiential/hedonic value through their enjoyment. This type of business model also allows Facebook to collect revenue from in game purchases. Entertainment chasers can also find value on reddit through a point system that they use called “karma” points. These points are rewarded to users for their engagement and creates a sense of achievement for the user leading to them wanting to continue using the platform.

What type of user are you? Which features of Facebook or Reddit create value for you the most? Leave your thoughts in the comment section!