Post 10 : Excessive Digital Consumption

Post 10 : Excessive Digital Consumption

Excessive digital consumption.

We are currently living within a media revolution, as content and consumption have become increasing digital and audiences have become excessive. The balance of power is shifting from the content owners to other platforms; from producer to the consumer. Organisations need to ensure that their online content offerings meet both consumer needs and differentiate from services or products provided by competitors.

Addicted to online shopping?

An online shopping addiction refers to the excessive amounts of time and money that consumers spend interactively purchasing goods, often on items that are unnecessary and even used. The growth in this ‘Have it now culture’ (Debegri Knott, forthcoming) has become the norm within our society and has resulted in the success of multinational brand like EBay and Amazon.

The EBay addiction

This new wave of EBay addicts feel a sense of accomplishment when they discover they are the highest bidder and begin to bid on items that they don’t even need, they just want to experience the rush of winning. But is it a real addiction? There is no such diagnosis as “EBay” addiction, the term has been incorporated into respectable criteria.

Dr Wood, addictions expert commented,

“The label addiction is being over used and incorrectly applied”

(BBC News 2007)

Acceleration of desire

Does EBay usage help consumers frame, stimulate and sustain desire?

I believe consumers are addicted to the excitement that is created through buyer and seller interaction. Let’s face it, we are all aware of the adrenalin rush instigated by gambling, similar highs can be obtained by buying and selling online. I must admit, I do get excited when an item that I am selling climbs incrementally in price – will I make a profit I ask myself.

The creators of EBay have been very clever to help raise the excitement bar for the seller by providing information on how many potential buyers are ‘watching’ the item. By providing this confidential information the buyer’s excitement is elevated as they now have a fair idea that the last minute bidders are lurking in the background and are ready to pounce at any moment.

In terms of exiting desire, on the rare occasion consumers may get bored with their EBay experience and consumption of unnecessary goods. By using my own experience as an example, consumers can often go through phases of excessive consumption but the intensity of desire will inevitably decline after a long period. 

After an EBay purchase, consumers may be faced with the feeling of cognitive dissonance (Harvey 1990) as conflicting thoughts may enhance the feeling of regret. Why did I purchase that item? The cynical process of desire often highlights that dreaming about a product is more satisfying than the ownership of the product itself. Let’s be honest, we always want what we cant have.  

Storage of consumer data

I have often noticed when using the interactive shopping facility, that the site has a record of all the products I have ever purchased. As a result, I am often bombarded with future purchase suggestions of similar products. EBay can almost build consumer profiles by recording what particular users regularly buy. Is this an invasion of privacy? Or is EBay simply just trying to help.

Creating your own ‘PR’ on EBay

What’s your EBay reputation? ‘The communication protocols makes it possible for participants to provide ratings about transaction partners to the central authority and obtain scores for each participant, based on received ratings’ (Joseng, et al.2006). The sellers’ trustworthiness is dependent on the EBay feedback score and evaluations. I would only purchase an item from a seller who has at least 80% + positive feedback. Reputation is very important; you don’t want to be messed around when you are making online transactions. You could be stuck with a dodgy seller. 69% of buyers chose to purchase goods from reputable sellers (ISTC-CNR, 2009).

Privacy

The EBay Trust and Safety team claim they are devoted to making EBay a safe and reliable place to trade goods. The site provides consumers with a number of education resources, such as policies and trust-building programmes. These features aim to maintain security and prevent fraud. The organisation states that they are working to develop the technology and skills to fight fraud and empower their online community, helping them to understand and conduct safe practices. EBay’s trading policies are rooted to the original values of the EBay brand:

·                     -       Creating a level playing field.

·                     -       Providing information transparency

·                     -       Providing economic opportunities for community

·                     -       Encourage open / honest / accountable transactions.

According to Altman (2000) there is an optimum level of privacy. Too little would result in audience isolation, however too much privacy could result in crowding. I believe that EBay are currently provided audiences with the desired level of privacy. As a regular user of the service, if I was purchasing an expensive item, I would to view the buyer’s reputational profile before I continue with the transaction.

In summary, excessive digital consumption is a controversial area of discussion, as the industry of which it stands is complex and growing rapidly. Can EBay be categorised as an addiction? Or are we just going through a excessive purchasing phase? Either way E-consumption is a key resource that provides PR practitioners with further fields for examination in terms of reputation and processes of pro-sumption.

Overall it is therefore important for practitioners to analyse both consumer interaction within these processers and wider socio-political concerns that would impact the way in which consumer data is being interpreted.

References

Books

Cohen. A (2003). The Perfect Store: Inside Ebay. London: Brown and Company. p 300.

Weiten.W (2007). Psychology: Themes and Variations. 8th ed. USA: Wadsworth. p 48

Websites

Ebay UK. (2011). About Ebay. Available: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/aboutebay.html. Last accessed 20th March 2011.

Soteriou.H. (2007). Can you be addicted to eBay?. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6519521.stm. Last accessed 20th April 2011.

Post 9 : Measurement of Social Media

How can you measure the effectiveness of social media?

Standard ‘Engagement’ Metrics:

In most cases today, if you are leveraging social media, you are driving traffic back to your web site. Here are some general ‘engagement’ metrics that brands can use once their visitors arrive:

• -       Total time spent per user
• -       Frequency of visits
• -       Time spent on site
• -       Depth of visit
• -       Conversions

There are a number of web analytics tools to help track these metrics, such as Omniture and Google Analytics which is free!

In terms of the Innocent ‘Big Knit’ campaign that I mentioned in my previous post, the success of the campaign can be measured through press coverage, increase in sales and overall amount of money raised for the Age UK charity.

Social media regulations

There has been a rapid expansion of surveillance and data mining technologies in order to protect the privacy and security of network users.

UK regulation

•Data protection Act (1998)

•As of March 1^st, 2011, UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (the CAP Code) expanded to include online, including the rules relating to misleading advertising, social responsibility and the protection of children.

How are social networking sites protecting it’s users?

Facebook

Encourages self-surveillance and regulation of the self. The site provides users with a recommended privacy default setting which encourages its consumers to select the “Friends Only” option. This option will limit the amount of information visible other non-friend users.

Facebook work hard with other regulation bodies in order to provide its users with a safe environment to communicate with friends.

TRUSTe Program. Facebook has been awarded TRUSTe's Privacy Seal signifying that this privacy policy and practices have been reviewed by TRUSTe.

Post 8 : Being Social

Being Social

‘To participate in online social networking is also about the act of sharing yourself or your constructed identity with others’ (Albrecht Lund, 2008).

How does an organisation break into the social media platform?

Well firstly, it’s important to define your brand before you sign up to any social networking service. What exactly does your brand stand for? Does it hold a certain vibe or distinctive brand value? It is important for an organisation to determine its key spoken or unspoken messages and select a target audience. 


Once this stage is complete, all other elements such as profile photos, page colours and content should match up and reinforce the definition of the brand.

Selection of a social media platform

There are a number of social media outlets that your can join, many of them are specific to your topic or industry, however it may not be necessary to join them all. The selection is dependent on time and resources therefore brands may wish to establish presence in a couple of networking sites.

It is important to choose a social network that works with your audience. For example a corporate organisation may select Facebook and LinkedIn. If you’re a tech-savy brand you may choose Twitter and Facebook.

The innocent brand values focus on operating a truly sustainable business, with an aim of having a positive effect of the world around them.

Innocent products has positive health benefits and focus on keeping ingredients as pure, natural and healthy as possible, reinforcing the ‘Innocent brand value’.

The Big Knit Campaign

Innocent knitted 800,000 little woolly wonders that are placed on the of their smoothie bottles and for every bottle sold, innocent drinks and Sainsbury’s gave  25p to Age UK to help people in their later life stay warm in winter.

Over the past seven years, people all over the world have been knitting in aid of the annual Big Knit campaign. To date, Innocent have received 2 million little hats and raised over £800,00 for Age UK.

The selected social media platforms taken by Innocent include Twitter, Facebook and campaign blog, providing Innocent fans with regular updates on their success.

Post 7 : New Public Spheres

 So lets start with a definition…

“The public sphere is an arena where people can get together and freely discuss and identify shared problems and, through that discussion, produce solutions that influence elite actors” Dahlberg (2001).

In terms of analysing communicative spaces, interactive discussions can be hugely influential. Arguments can be developed for personal expression and promote citizen activity.

Impact of Twitter and Facebook and recent protests

The rock band, Rage Against the Machine won the most competitive battle in years for the Christmas number one in 2009. The bands single, Killing In The Name, sold 500,000 downloads beating X Factor winner Joe McElderry’s The Climb by 50,000 copies to clinch the top spot.

The success of the campaign followed a Facebook campaign designed to prevent Simon Cowell's ‘music machine’ dominating the number one position over the Christmas period. Quite frankly I believe audiences within the public sphere were fed up with Simon Cowell taking control over the UK music charts. Audiences involved with the interactive campaign wanted to take the power for themselves and in particular, over elite powers.

Today (March 2011) the Facebook group has over 860,000 members and has received support from celebrities including John Lydon, Lenny Henry and Bill Bailey.

Simon Cowell acknowledged the Facebook campaign and commented that it was dismissive of the public as it was directed at him (Guardian Dec 2009)

The campaign provides us with evidence of the power of the public sphere. Facebook users from all over the world shared a similar viewpoint and were determined to prevent Simon Cowell from shaping our music industry. Promoting the power of interactive citizen activity.

Post 6 : Online Consumption

Online consumption

So this week, I shall be exploring the practical issues that are a consequence of excessive digital consumption. Firstly, can purchasing goods online become addictive? I personally will admit to my EBay addition. The site offers audiences with an interactive market place where buyers can purchase great value products and sellers can pretty much get rid of anything.

EBay’s success is driven by the growth of ‘have it now’ digital consumption. From my own experiences, building up your feedback rating can become fairly addictive. The savings are amazing, when my friends head down to the local Top Shop, I can search for the same branded goods on EBay for better value. 

Seller’s trustworthiness depends on their Ebay feedback scores. In terms of building up reputation: 69% of buyers chose to make purchases from reputable sellers, for example 90% positive feedback (ISTC-CNR, 2009).

Acceleration of consumer desire

EBay offers consumers the chance to acquire desired goods more easily. The extensive product range that is on offer further encourages audiences to process digital virtual representations and suspend moral blocks.

Consumer desire is a cyclical process, once the desired product has been purchased, the consumer with further desire for a more exclusive good.  Dreaming about a product can be more satisfying than the ownership of the product itself.

When an item is promoted on a website, the key element that will accelerate the consumption process is reputation. There is an increased role for PR as trust and reputation for online websites such as EBay will have a significant impact on consumer consumption.

Privacy

Browsing history and online behaviour is a key site for data gathering, the EBay organisation however, claim they record the history of your purchases for consumers future purchasing benefits and will not disclose personal information to other organisations.

Post 5 : Search Engine Optimisation

So…. Search engine optimisation, how does it work?

SEO has been defined as the process of improving visibility of a website or web page in search engines, for example, Google, Ask Jeeves, Bing and Yahoo.  The search will go through an organic or algorithmic process in order to reach the desired search results. The greater the frequency or height that the site appears in the search results will have a significant impact on the number of visitors the site will receive from search engine visitors.

Other forms of search engine marketing (SEM) target paid listings. Google for example, place sponsored links at the top, using the same format as real results, therefore giving the impression that they are part of the organic search.  It has been suggested by Smith (2008) that consumers are desensitised to advertising and 75% of online searchers will happily skip over these sponsored results and go straight to the organic outcome.

I would describe the Google Ad words tool as a genuine piece of technology innovation.

Google 2010 income statement shows total revenue of $29.2 billion (97%) of which came from advertising revenues (Google finance 2010) Amazing stuff really!

What do practitioners need to look out for ?

Well firstly, Ad Words can be costly, so as a PR practitioner is it important to set a budget that you can stick to.

• -       Cost of Customer Acquisition
• -       Use in conjunction with traditional PR / marketing channels.
• -       React to trends not individual conversions.

Why is Google’s reputation so good?

Google’s online credibility is down to their excellent reputation management service, seeking to effectively address any online activity that could have a negative affect on a businesses reputation. Google achieve this by keeping all positive information at the top of search engine rankings. By providing consumers with effective SEO, the company is now regarded as the number one online search facility.

Post 4 : The Art of a Seamless Brand

“I LOVE FACEBOOK”

The interactive phenomenon gives users the chance to share content and become connected with audiences all over the world. By taking away this fear of communication users can openly connect with past and future friends. The love of Facebook has spread across the globe with over 600 million active users (Facebook 2011).

The site has been ranked as the most used social networking service (Entertainment Weekly).

Facebook as a seamless brand

Can the Facebook brand be entirely seamless?

Well…… due to the high frequency of users and continuous improvements being made to the site, audiences are often presented with this message:

The integration of users online has had an impact on the delivery service of Facebook. However, I speak on behalf of myself and other users of a similar age that we see through these small technical faults and love the brand for the amazing service that it provides.

The Facebook brand has created a seamless communication experience for users. There is just too much love for service that Facebook provides!

Below is an individual story taken from the Facebook story board, which provides evidence of the seamless service that Facebook offers it’s consumers around the world.

Raj Mengwal

Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Wednesday 23^rd February at 06,57

‘I would like to thanks Facebook for giving us the opportunity to keep in touch with all our friends. It has enabled to me find friends from all over the world and get in touch with old school friends.  Facebook has reunited us! I would therefore like to thank you for the service that you provide. Keep it up!’