Projects

Overview

The central goal of the proposed research unit is the investigation of the marketing of products in the context of digital social media (DSM). DSM are internet-based applications in which content is jointly and continually modified by users. DSM thus not only encompass social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Snapchat, but also other possibilities of social interaction on digital platforms, such as product reviews or “following” certain users within a network. DSM lead to new and innovative data about social interactions in conjunction with large amounts of data. Nowadays, the digitalization affects most areas of life and thus leaves corresponding data traces, which are discussed under the heading of “datafication”. This development has important consequences for the marketing of products.

Against this background, the research unit examines key questions in three interconnected topic areas. Topic area A analyzes the network structures in DSM. The focus is on explicitly modeling these structures and understanding how interactions emerge. Topic area B examines consumer reactions to communication activities in DSM. That is, it analyzes how individuals are influenced by the overall activity within DSM networks. Topic area C addresses market reactions to marketing activities in the context of DSM.

In the first funding period (2015-2018), the common feature of all projects is the analysis of the effects of DSM on companies in the context of hedonic media products (HMP). In the second funding period (2018-2021), the research unit’s focus will be extended to additional industries, as in the long run phenomena related to the marketing of HMP are expected to emerge in other industries as well. Furthermore, we put a specific emphasis on the phenomenon of datafication.