Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Intellectual ...

The Role <strong>of</strong> Social Networking Tools on Purchasing
Decision Making Process
Aurilla Aurelie Bechina 1 and Eli Hustad 2
1
Buskerud University College, Faculty <strong>of</strong> Technology, Kongsberg, Norway
2
University <strong>of</strong> Agder, Kristiansand, Norway
aurillaa@hihm.no
Abstract: Today <strong>the</strong>re is a growing recognition that <strong>the</strong> company’s competitiveness is linked to elaborating
relevant strategies in keeping <strong>the</strong>ir customers or acquiring new ones. The recent years have seen a new trend
where consumers are increasingly searching and sharing product/service information over Internet. It is
recognized that <strong>the</strong> quality and <strong>the</strong> nature <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> acquired knowledge could influence <strong>the</strong> decision making
process to purchase or not <strong>the</strong> products or services. Therefore, exploiting <strong>the</strong> concept <strong>of</strong> collective intelligence,
several companies are integrating Web2.0 technologies with o<strong>the</strong>rs means <strong>of</strong> communication in order to provide
a social networking environment where <strong>the</strong> consumers can share <strong>the</strong>ir experiences and insights about
products/services. This paper discusses <strong>the</strong> influence <strong>of</strong> using social network in <strong>the</strong> decision making process
while considering purchasing a product or a service.
Keywords: Web 2.0, social networking, decision making, Knowledge sharing, customers
1. Introduction
During <strong>the</strong> last decade, enterprise strategists started to recognize that business success and
performance improvement was more and more related to <strong>the</strong> degree to which new technological
trends were used by companies in order to communicate with potential customers. Marketing is
essential for organisations within this very competitive business world. Therefore, large companies do
not hesitate to spend a consequent budget in <strong>the</strong> branding strategy or marketing specific products or
services. Smaller organisations with limited resources tend generally to use more creative approach
to reach potential customers. The use <strong>of</strong> Internet and Information communication has provided
different mechanisms for more efficient marketing or communication strategies.
The advances in information and communication technology (ICT) have influenced <strong>the</strong> emergence <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> contemporary networking society based upon a decentralized, information-driven and knowledgebased
economy (Castells, 2000). Indeed, <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> information communication technologies has
increased in improving <strong>the</strong> social and business life <strong>of</strong> people. Internet and Web2.0 have brought a
revolution in <strong>the</strong> way people are interacting with each o<strong>the</strong>r or with vendors in order to ga<strong>the</strong>r
information about products or services <strong>the</strong>y intend to buy.
The evolution <strong>of</strong> Internet as a large scale information infrastructure provides opportunities for social
networking where individuals take part in online communication to share information and knowledge
across spatial and temporal boundaries.
Several studies reported that social network websites are more and more used by consumers in order
to communicate <strong>the</strong>ir questions or opinions before or after making a decision to purchase a product
/service.
Internet technologies and web-based applications are continuously developing and advancing. This
innovation has caused improved usability attracting several communities to popular online activities.
Individuals make new friendships differently than before by sharing personal pr<strong>of</strong>iles (e.g.
Facebook.com), exchanging multimedia files (YouTube.com) and by taking part in virtual games
(World<strong>of</strong>WarCraft.com). People share common interests by participating in different discussion forums
and by making <strong>the</strong>ir own blogs. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore, Wikis are increasingly used for easy creation and
frequently updating <strong>of</strong> information content at web-sites (e.g. Wikipedia). People are making and
sharing <strong>the</strong>ir own metadata in terms <strong>of</strong> social tagging and bookmarks (i.e. Folksonomies). Scholars
and practitioners alike suggest that <strong>the</strong>se contemporary trends <strong>of</strong> Internet development represent a
paradigm shift towards <strong>the</strong> second generation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> web conceptualized as <strong>the</strong> Web 2.0
phenomenon (Musser & O’Reilly, 2006).
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