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Forums
Perhaps the forums came before the social media; a forum is a Bulletin Board BB, discussion
board and discussion forum. They entirely focus on discussion among members, brings
together a common interest in having members of the community. The discussion on the
forum is called thread, usually established by members to participate by sharing news,
opinions, photos and questions. Today consumers exchange their ideas in discussion forums
that are offered by social networks users to community members for the purpose of asking
for help if needed, information and suggestions before buying a particular product from
particular firm. Research has shown that potential consumers are more interested to get
other's user recommendations rather than producer information (Ridings & Gefen, 2004).
Content Communities
The main purpose of Content communities is to allow users to share online multimedia
material, usually users just need to create an account but not any profile page, users upload
their wide range of materials, videos (e.g., YouTube),Photos (e.g., Flicker), power point
presentations(e.g., Slideshare) and including text (e.g., BookCrossing). Kaplan and Haenlein
(2010), suggested different classification of social media sites which can based on the
structure and features of each medium, it provides a precise way to label sites like YouTube
and Flickr as belonging to a distinct category, separate from SNS like Facebook and
MySpace.
Microblogging
According to Merriam- webster dictionary [13], Microblogging is "blogging done with severe
space or size constraints typically by posting frequent brief messages about personal
activities". A micro blog could share a sentence, embedded video, or clink to content
residing on another website. Twitter is the best example in this field; users can send and
read short messages up to 140 characters called "tweets". Many organizations have been
using Twitter to tap into the business prospects, influencers, and customers; customers can
choose to follow the twitter updates of anyone they want to hear from (Weinberg, 2009).
Social Media and Consumer Behavior Relation
Nowadays, Internet and online communities have transformed prospective consumers,
existing consumers, societies, and firms with wide spread of easy accessible information,
that makes better social networking and enhanced communication abilities and no doubt
this enhancement provide great importance and financial support for commercial activities.
In last one decade the usage and popularity of social media has grown up, social media and
its massive popularity have revolutionized marketing practices such as advertising and
promotion (Hanna, Rohn and Crittenden, 2011).
Google (2014) conducted a research in major industrial countries like the U.K, U.S, France,
Germany, Japan, Canada, Brazil and Australia associating with the customer journey to
online search and purchase, the research has shown different marketing channels influence
the customer at different level to make final purchase. In all the targeted countries, social
media serves as an assisting channel in which to buying phases of awareness, consideration
and purchase.
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