Spillover Effects Make Consumers with Weak Social Ties Effective Targets

Spillover Effects Make Consumers with Weak Social Ties Effective Targets

  • JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH
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Summary

Chinese researchers have found that social media advertising can make a significant impact on people who are socially connected to the viewers of ads—even more so than on the targeted viewers. This effect is strongest among consumers with weaker rather than strong social ties, and it challenges targeting methods rooted in customer centricity models.

Author bios:

Zhen-Zhen Wang (wangzzjas@outlook.com) is an assistant professor at the School of Communication, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China. Her research interests include computational advertising and the ethics of algorithms. Previously, Wang was a member of an advertising effectiveness measurement team at Tencent, whose popular products include instant messaging software such as WeChat and mobile games such as Honor of Kings.

Zhihua Zhu (zhihuazhu@tencent.com) is a data scientist at Tencent, Shenzhen, China. He is a leader of an effectiveness measurement team in Tencent’s advertising and marketing services department.

Xiaoke Xu (xuxiaoke@foxmail.com) is a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China. His research interests include computational communication and social network analysis.

Naipeng Chao (npchao@szu.edu.cn) is a professor at the School of Communication, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China. His research interests include computational communication, new media studies, and network communication.