WHO ARE FANS OF FACEBOOK FAN PAGES? AN ELECTRONIC WORD-OF-MOUTH COMMUNICATION PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Given its great business value and popularity, Facebook fan pages have attracted more and more attention in both industry and academia. Fans of Facebook fan pages play an important role in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication. This study focused on the population of fans on Facebook fan pages and examined the differences between fans and non-fans in terms of demographics, social network sites (SNS) use, Internet use, and online shopping behaviors. The results indicated that fans used SNS more frequently than non-fans. Additionally, from the eWOM perspective, the researchers moderated product types in the model of people’s word-of-mouth (WOM) preferences and found that people had different preferences for eWOM and traditional WOM for different products. Traditional WOM is still the most important source of information for people when shopping online.