Unpacking the social media phenomenon

Journal of Public Affairs
Volume 12 Number 2 pp 109–119 (2012)
Published online 14 March 2012 in Wiley Online Library
(www.wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pa.1412

■ Special Issue Paper

Unpacking the social media phenomenon:
towards a research agenda
Jan H. Kietzmann1*, Bruno S. Silvestre2, Ian P. McCarthy1
and Leyland F. Pitt1
1
Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada
2
Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

In this paper, we highlight some of the challenges and opportunities that social media presents to researchers, and
offer relevant theoretical avenues to be explored. To do this, we present a model that unpacks social media by using
a honeycomb of seven functional building blocks. We then examine each of the seven building blocks and, through
appropriate social and socio-technical theories, raise questions that warrant further in-depth research to advance
the conceptualization of social media in public affairs research. Finally, we combine the individual research questions
for each building block back into the honeycomb model to illustrate how the theories in combination provide a
powerful macro-lens for research on social media dynamics. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Social media continues to have a tremendous im- social networks, wikis and a plethora of other
pact on how people behave online; how they search, consumer-oriented services and platforms continue
play, converse, form communities, build and main- to grow.
tain relationships; and how they create, tag, modify Of course these interesting social media develop-
and share content across any number of sites and ments are impacting research, particularly studies
devices. In response to the ever-increasing penetra- of at the intersection of public affairs and social
tion rate of social media services and the fierce media marketing (Terblanche, 2011), online commu-
competition among new entrants and incumbents, nities (Jones et al., 2004; Bateman et al., 2010),
new business models emerge regularly, where government activities (Waters and Williams, 2011),
firms blend unique technologies and business the development of opinion leaders (Crittenden
models to build competitive advantages (Godes et al., 2011) or individual customer behaviour
et al., 2005; Godes et al., 2009; Gnyawali et al., (Thomas, 2004; Hughner et al., 2007; Leskovec
2010). For instance, so-called ‘freemium models’ et al., 2007; Büttner and Göritz, 2008; Zhao et al.,
that offer basic services for free but advanced 2008; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010; Kilduff and
features at a premium, ‘affiliate models’ that drive Brass, 2010; Neilson, 2010; Ozanne and Ballantine,
consumers to associate websites and Internet- 2010). In order to provide a managerial foundation
advertising models are all being replaced by new for understanding these new services, consumers
models that make use of an advanced understand- and their specific engagement needs, a honeycomb
ing of monitoring behaviour on social media. For framework (Figure 1) was recently presented
instance, ‘personalized retargeting’ services follow (Kietzmann et al., 2011). Its usefulness as a lens
and bring back consumers who did not complete for understanding social media through seven
their purchases on a retailer’s site, and ‘promoted functional building blocks has since been discussed
tweets’ allow advertisers to expose regular, personal widely in scholarly and practitioner-oriented publi-
tweets (i.e. public, text-based posts of up to 140 cations. We argue that the same honeycomb model
characters) to a wider yet highly focused audience. can serve a very important role for developing
At the same time, content-sharing sites, microblogs, sound research agenda for social media in public
affairs and for identifying and combining appropriate
theoretical lenses.
*Correspondence to: Jan H. Kietzmann, Beedie School of Business, This honeycomb model helps explain the implica-
Simon Fraser University, 500 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC,
V6C 1W6, Canada. tions that each block can have for how firms should
E-mail: jan_kietzmann@sfu.ca engage with social media in three important ways.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

110 J. H. Kietzmann et al.

In fact, each building block of the model presents
an important social media phenomenon that can be
understood using a number of theories. In this
section, we briefly present one theory for every
building block to (i) provide an example of an inter-
esting lens for understanding each building block;
(ii) help build research agenda for social media;
and (iii) illustrate the methodological usefulness of
the honeycomb model for building powerful and
novel combinations of theoretical approaches for
studying social media platforms, consumer engage-
ment, content sharing and community needs.

IDENTITY

This functional block describes the extent to which
users choose to reveal their identities in a social
media setting, or alternatively, the degree to which
sites allow or require identities to be shared. Such
identity can be associated not only with elements
such as name, age, gender, profession and location
but also with more subjective information that
Figure 1 Social media functionality reveals users through the conscious or unconscious
‘self-disclosure’ of personal information (Kaplan
and Haenlein, 2010). In this sense, users with their
First, the model describes different specific facets virtual (re)presentations (Schultze and Leahy, 2009)
of the social media user experience. Each social share thoughts, feelings, likes and dislikes in an
media platform, for instance, is driven by primary, effort to be understood as the person they desire
secondary and tertiary building blocks, which or believe themselves to be (Donath, 1999; Swann
inform the rationale of important social media et al., 2000; Ma and Agarwal, 2007).
design decisions. Second, using the social media Beyond pragmatic suggestions of how firms
honeycomb model as an analytical lens allows should be aware of the implications of using
managers to conduct a focused a priori study of their identity as part of a social media presence, this
firms’ specific ‘community needs’, whose findings building block offers a wealth of highly interesting
can then educate the design or use of an appropriate research approaches. Using dramaturgy as an
social media platform. Third, the model can be analogy, Goffman’s (1959) work is a prime example
used on an ongoing basis, as a lens for monitoring of how social theory can help understand identity
how dynamic changes of the community’s needs and motivation behind complex human perfor-
vis-à-vis changes of the social media tools present mances, including of course behaviour in online
implications for the firm. The seven building blocks communities (Moisio and Arnould, 2005). Goffman
of the model are neither mutually exclusive nor do uses a theatre-and-play metaphor to describe how
they all need to be included in a particular social an interaction is a performance by one actor that
media context (Kietzmann et al., 2011). They are shapes and is shaped by the actor’s environment
constructs that allow managers and researchers to and target audience. Part of this performance is the
understand how different social media functionalities identity of an actor as the ‘totality of the person’s
can be configured. thoughts and feelings in reference to oneself as
an object’ (Zhao et al., 2008: 1817). The creation of
identity then reflects a process in which an individ-
UNPACKING THE RESEARCH ual claims an identity that subsequently needs to be
OPPORTUNITIES OF SOCIAL MEDIA endorsed by others (Zhao et al., 2008).
In an online world, ‘it is possible for people to
In this paper, we now re-use the social media honey- reinvent themselves through the production of
comb model and the seven constructs of identity, new identities’ (Zhao et al., 2008: 1818), in other
presence, relationships, conversations, groups, reputations words, through claims that cannot easily be vali-
and sharing to outline how social media presents dated online. In the social media context, Goffman’s
challenges for researchers and to discuss their analogy of the theatre allows researchers to focus
usefulness for advancing our understanding of on (i) the various roles single ‘actors’ can play and
community relations, corporate social responsibility the diversity of identities they adopt on different
and political strategy and marketing, among others. platforms; and (ii) the choices they make with

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Public Affairs 12, 109–119 (2012)
DOI: 10.1002/pa

Unpacking the social media phenomenon 111

respect to ‘self-disclosure’ (as it relates to real factual contacts. Combined with the growth of social media
information) or ‘self presentation’ (which can relate offerings, this leads to a tremendous number of
to fictitious information). identities online, as people belong to any number
There is a lack of research that investigates of communities. In this sense, new forms of organiz-
how the same actor manages different identities on ing are required, which are likely not subject to the
different stages online, for instance, by using a same constraints as traditional social structures
handle to protect his or her privacy (e.g. on blogs), (Butler, 2001; Ma and Agarwal, 2007; Schultze and
‘personal’ identity for self-promotion or staying in Orlikowski, 2010). Given this increasingly complex
touch with friends (e.g. on Facebook) or by present- social media environment, platforms have started
ing a ‘professional’ identity for self-branding (e.g. to allow users to organize their contacts into ‘groups’,
on LinkedIn). As consumers explore more social which are used for audience segregation and for
media platforms, managing the multitude of differ- circumventing ‘embarrassment’. This building block
ent profiles (i.e. partial identities) requires finesse, as represents the extent to which consumers can form
sharing a particular identity or sending messages to and join communities and sub-communities that can
the wrong audience would lead to what Goffman be open to anyone, closed (approval required) or
(1959) calls ‘embarrassments’. As more and more secret (invite only); and the degree to which they
consumers of social media engage in constant and can control their membership (Tinson and Ensor,
conscious role and audience segregation and choose 2001; Godes and Mayzlin, 2004) or even group
which elements of their person to reveal, which to moderate the amount of influence some social media
hide and which to embellish, opportunities are customers or groups exert (Iyengar et al., 2011).
created for using Goffman’s work for research that Scholars of social identity argue that behaviour in
yields answers to questions such as the following: groups is different than the collective behaviour of
individuals. In social identity theory, a key argu-
• There is no single identity for a single social media
ment is that individuals have a number of iden-
consumer, as people wear different masks when
tities, ranging from highly individual to highly
they claim their identity for each social media
collective. Tajfel and Turner (1979) posit that it is
platform (Zhao et al., 2008). This results in partial
the social context that shapes whether an individual
or ‘unreal’ identities becoming endorsed by others.
interacts with others more on an individual inter-
Beyond single-platform research, how can scholars
personal level or a highly collective intergroup
of social media understand the highly complex
level. One key component of this social context is
phenomenon of identity construction and manage-
group distinctiveness or the rationale by which
ment across platforms?
individuals set up or join particular groups and
• Audience segregation breakdowns occur when
not others. Group members hold their group and
different, possibly contradictory, identities of the
their peers in high esteem, often leading to ingroup
same person become known across social media
favouritism, and might feel animosity towards
platforms. How do these ‘embarrassments’ unfold,
those belonging to other groups.
and how do others react to the incongruent infor-
Applying elements of social identity theory to
mation about one of their peers? Do they truly lead
social media holds a number of promises. For public
to embarrassments, or are they normal occurrences
affairs researchers and social media analysts, group
in the social media context? If they are, how will
behaviour and the degree to which individuals
this affect our face-to-face interactions and our
participate and engage with the group are still diffi-
design of social media platforms?
cult to understand (Forman et al., 2008). Through
• How can researchers study identity, confidentiality
introducing a continuum on which group partici-
and self-disclosure on non-anonymous sites that
pation ranges from highly individual to highly
require a high degree of accuracy and information
collective, social identity theory might help under-
declaration? How can researchers study identity
stand the traffic flow and ‘stickiness’ of different
and self-presentation on anonymous sites that
sites. Social identity theory also adds to the under-
permit a high degree of discretion? How can
standing of identities by placing them in a wider
we separate claims of self-disclosure from self-
social context, and introduces ingroup and outgroup
presentation? Given the ambiguity and non-
behaviour (Tajfel, 1974) as an interesting additional
accountability of actors for their identity claims,
lens for examining the multiplicity of identities and
how do communities endorse (or not) the identities
audience segregation. In social media, how an
created by others? How can social media system
individual chooses which platforms and tools to
design facilitate this process?
use and which groups to start or join is often investi-
gated through quantitatively measured network
externalities (Butler, 2001). In other words, the value
GROUPS of a social media site increases as the number of its
users increases. By investigating how belonging to
The more ‘social’ one’s network becomes, the bigger a social media platform or group within it leads to
the group of consumers, friends, followers and a particularly positive association, social identity

DOI: 10.1002/pa


theory supports cross-group studies of attitudes and among others. Structure and flow (Granovetter,
behaviour within one group (the ingroup) towards 1973; Borgatti and Foster, 2003), two particular
outgroups. properties from social network theory, help exam-
The processes and outcomes of group decision ine, for instance, social media behaviour through
making have been studied for decades (Wheeler the importance of different relationship traits
and Valacich, 1996). Consumer group research (Neilson, 2010). The structural property of relation-
on ethics and environment (Shaw and Clarke, ships refers to users’ social graphs, how many
1999), health (Allsop et al., 2004), fashion (Workman connections they have and where they are posi-
and Kidd, 2000), food consumption (Hughner et al., tioned within their network of relationships.
2007), among others suggest that such groups Research shows that users are more likely to be an
are particularly influential through their tremen- influential member (also known as ‘influencers’) in
dous communication power. As these often offline their network the denser and larger their portfolio
groups continue to be transformed into social media of relationships is, and the more central their
communities, an organization’s ability to capitalize position in the network. The flow property of
on their power hinges on its ability to understand user relationships refers to the types of resources
how these are formed and maintained. Relevant involved in individual relationships and how these
questions focus on the role of groups and the advan- resources are used, exchanged or transformed. It
tages and dynamics of group creation and membership describes tie strength (Granovetter, 1973), in other
could include the following: words, the strength of a relationship where strong
tie relationships are ‘long-lasting and affect-laden’
• What communication shifts occur during the trans-
(Krackhardt, 1992: 218) and weak ones are ‘infre-
formation of offline or online consumer groups to
quent and distant’ (Hansen, 1999: 84). Granovetter’s
social media groups? What is the impact on firms,
work proposes that strong ties within close intimate
and what response mechanisms are appropriate?
social circles are ineffective compared with weak ties
• Given the complexity of the construct of identity
(i.e. acquaintances) for connecting social networks.
in social media, what attributes do users consider
Social network theory’s structural and flow prop-
when they decide which groups to join? What
erties were developed long before the emergence of
are the advantages and disadvantages, from a
the Internet, let alone the popularity of social media.
member perspective, for the participation in open,
However, the theoretical propositions are highly
closed or secret groups?
relevant for social media firms seeking to define an
• How is boundary maintenance managed for
appropriate interaction environment for their users,
social media groups, and by whom? What are
including such design elements as privacy controls,
the advantages and disadvantages of belonging
to an ingroup in social media? (How) can these message routing, friend introductions and informa-
be managed by existing group support systems? tion prioritization (Gilbert and Karahalios, 2009).
On some social media sites, tie strength matters
little, and users can interact in a fairly informally
and without structure (e.g. on blogs). In other
RELATIONSHIPS cases, how individual users associate hardly matters
at all (e.g. Twitter and YouTube). Of course, many
This building block addresses the extent to which sites that rely on highly formal, regulated and struc-
users can be related to other users. We define ‘relate’ tured connections, such as LinkedIn, are often built
as two or more consumers who have some form of around the notion of tie strength and connect users
relationship that leads them to converse, share with their intimate friends, with ‘influencers’ and
objects, meet up or simply just list each other as with weak ties that will become important peripheral
a friend or fan (Constant et al., 1994; Miranda network members.
and Saunders, 2003). Of course, a discussion of Research projects that shed light on the nature of
identity and groups is directly impacted by the relationships, the network position of individuals
relationships that exist within social media plat- and the impact of tie strength for their overall
forms. Especially when individuals have networks connectivity would be useful for answering such
that span hundreds or thousands of members questions as:
(followers, friends, etc.), the sorts of relationships
they maintain are important. • What are the unintended consequences and the
Social network theory has been operationalized negative results of tie strength? For instance, how
to understand relationships in detail in various does false information or ‘embarrassment’ affect
contexts, and Kilduff and Brass (2010) highlight relationships within and across social media net-
topics including leadership (Pastor et al., 2002), works? How can social media designs circumvent
teams (Reagans et al., 2004), social influence this?
(Sparrowe and Liden, 2005; Aral, 2010), trust (Ferrin • What relationship contradictions emerge in ‘multi-
et al., 2006), power (Brass, 1984), attitude similarity plex’ relationships; that is, when users are con-
(Rice and Aydin, 1991) and diversity (Ibarra, 1992), nected by more than one type of relationship

DOI: 10.1002/pa


(e.g. they are work colleagues and friends)? How media setting, reputation plays a tremendous role,
are these managed by social media consumers? particularly on platforms where trust is important
• Are ties in social media the same as ties in the (S. C. Rice, 2011) and ‘trusting beliefs’ need to be
‘traditional’ online and offline worlds? Given formed quickly (McKnight et al., 2002). However,
the diversity of identities, can there be a duality because information technologies are not (yet) very
of strong and weak ties, where one is both an good at determining such highly qualitative criteria,
intimate friend and an acquaintance? social media sites rely on ‘mechanical Turks’ to
accumulate word of mouth, that is, tools that
REPUTATION automatically aggregate information originally pro-
vided by users to determine trustworthiness and
Reputation is ‘a tool to predict behaviour based reputation (Godes and Mayzlin, 2004). In many
on past actions and characteristics’ (Dingledine cases, although users might seek trust-building
et al., 2003: 1). Because individuals cannot draw information around functional, social and expres-
from enough personal historical data for such sive reputations, this is often only hidden in
predictions, the reputation of other individuals, of data presented quantitatively, through the sheer
a firm or of a product is a socially shaped opinion numbers of followers for people, view counts for
based on aggregate experiences, shared through videos, likes for contents on Facebook, through
word of mouth, coverage in the popular press and ratios and averages of peer ratings, thumbs up
so on (Dellarocas, 2003; Godes and Mayzlin, 2009). versus thumbs down or through cumbersome
In essence, reputation is about how trust between archives of qualitative feedback via endorsements.
parties is developed, assessed and maintained Reputation is a complex phenomenon, and social
(Pavlou and Gefen, 2004; Dellarocas, 2005). Rela- media often collapses its three dimensions into
tionship management, for firms often pursued simplistic metrics. The development of more
through branding, becomes a conscious act of appropriate reputation tools and effective institu-
linking positive real or perceived perceptions, images tion-based trust mechanisms (Pavlou and Gefen,
and experiences to a firm or a product. A good 2004) would certainly have an important impact
reputation then affects future actions favourably, for platforms built around reputation and trust
perhaps through brand recognition during a pur- between buyers and sellers, involving employers
chasing decision. However, this linkage is also and employees and among private community
dangerous in the sense that negative associations members. Social media service sites are starting to
affect a reputation adversely. improve their ability to analyse user-generated
This construct of reputation and trust (Putnam, contents from across social media platforms; none-
1995; Bourdieu, 2007) has been placed in the context theless, their effectiveness as ‘tool[s] to predict
of online behaviour studies (Büttner and Göritz, behaviour based on past actions and characteristics’
2008; Brunk, 2010). A body of literature discusses (Dingledine et al., 2003: 1) is limited by the inability
elements that constitute reputation across three dimen- of users to share their experiences appropriately. ‘To
sions (Habermas and McCarthy, 1985), on the basis build a good reputation system, we must find
of Plato’s worlds of the Good, the True, and the ways to use these data without naively believing
Beautiful, where in their quality’ (Dingledine et al., 2003: 3), and ques-
tions that investigate how the engagement needs
the enduring respect of the ancient community
of a community may inform the improvement of
would only be accorded those citizens who
reputation management systems could include the
served the world of truth in their activities,
following:
showed themselves to be virtuous citizens in the
world of good and also demonstrated the requis- • How does the multiplicity of reputations (similar
ite inner and outward grace in the world of the to identities) take shape in a social media setting,
beautiful (Eisenegger, 2009, p. 12). and how do individuals manage them? How could
new information systems support the management
In Habermas’ (1985) theory of communicative
of this multiplicity?
action, these are reflected in propositional truth,
• How are reputations of virtual entities connected
normative rightness and subjective truthfulness.
to real beings? Is there a need for this connectivity
Eisenegger (2009) relates them to separate reputation
in social media?
dimensions on the basis of an individual’s or firm’s
• Do the three dimensions of functional, social and
continuous demonstration of competence (functional
expressive reputations translate into the social media
reputation), on whether individuals or firms act
context? Do their levels of importance change?
responsibly as good social citizens in accordance to
social norms (social reputation) and is distinctive
enough, with an attractive, even fascinating, profile PRESENCE
capable to inspire others (expressive reputation).
The Internet has added several new dimensions Presence is the extent to which consumers know
to this age-old concept (Dellarocas, 2005). In a social if other consumers are accessible at a specific time.

DOI: 10.1002/pa


It may include knowing where others are (in the platforms enable different levels of presence percep-
virtual or real world); and for instance, whether tion. On the other hand, within social media plat-
they are available, busy or taking a break. In the forms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube,
virtual world, this happens through status choices presence is an element that matters less. On the basis
such as ‘available’, ‘hidden’ or ‘idle’. The manager- of these considerations, we call for further exploration
ial implication of presence is that firms should of some intriguing research avenues as follows:
evaluate the relative importance of consumer
• What is the importance of physical or virtual
availability and location for their businesses. Virtual
availability and location for firms within and across
presence is directly associated with a desire to
different social media platforms and industry
communicate synchronously, engage with others in
settings?
real time and have more influential interactions
• What is the interplay between consumer presence
(Elaluf-Calderwood et al., 2005).
and interactivity within different social media
This building block presents interesting challenges
platforms?
for research. Research on interactivity (Rafaeli, 1988;
• What is the implication of interactivity and
Newhagen and Rafaeli, 1996; McMillan and Hwang,
‘perceptual illusion of nonmediation’ for a positive
2002; Sundar et al., 2003; Fortin and Dholakia, 2005)
consumer attitude towards a particular technology,
offers interesting insights for presence within social
company or offering?
media contexts. Here, interactivity is defined in terms
of the immediacy of the responsiveness and the
degree to which the communication resembles
human discourse (H. Li et al., 2002). According to CONVERSATIONS
Li et al. (2002), the concept of interactivity has been
investigated within areas such as computer-mediated This block of the honeycomb model is defined as the
communications, Internet and virtual reality, Internet extent to which consumers communicate with each
marketing and advertising, among others. Consistent other in social media settings. Many social media
with previous literature (e.g. Liu and Shrum, 2002; environments are designed to enhance conversa-
McMillan and Hwang, 2002), Sundar et al. (2003) tions, where consumers come to meet others, find
also highlight the importance of interactivity and a job or discover true love or stay abreast of trend-
argue that a high interactivity environment gives ing topics and new ideas. Although a social media
consumers considerably more control and choice, space where people communicate is of course
provide a richer sense of feedback and two-way very interesting to firms (Constant et al., 1994;
communication and imbue a greater feeling of Parent et al., 2011), understanding voluntary know-
responsiveness and flow. ledge contribution between strangers interacting
Despite the fact that presence and interactivity are through technology-mediated communication (Ma
intrinsically related, the definition of presence is and Agarwal, 2007) is very difficult. Trying to make
controversial and varies within the literature (see, sense of the sheer volume of data that comes out of
e.g. Steuer, 1992). Lombard and Snyder-Duch the ‘social media firehose’, and knowing when to
(2001) argue that presence in the virtual world is participate as a firm, is almost impossible without
closely related to perception. We draw on Lombard appropriate analytical tools and capabilities.
and Ditton’s (1997) work that states that the various The discourse on environmental velocity within
presence definitions share the central idea of organizational literature is very promising for
the ‘perceptual illusion of nonmediation’. For the understanding consumer conversations on social
authors, the term ‘perceptual’ implies that it is asso- media. Drawing upon research on industrial
ciated with continuous feedback ‘from the human dynamics (McCarthy et al., 2010), we argue that
sensory, cognitive, and affective processing systems’ differences in the frequency and direction of a
(Lombard and Ditton, 1997: 10). An ‘illusion of non- conversation can have major implications for how
mediation’ occurs when a person fails to recognize firms monitor and make sense of the ‘conversation
the presence of a medium in his or her commu- velocity’. The frequency is the number of conver-
nication environment (Lombard and Ditton, 1997). sations over a specified period, and the direction
According to the authors, a medium that becomes concerns the mood, tone or inclination of the
invisible (producing the perceptual illusion of conversation towards a brand or an issue. If con-
nonmediation) is analogous to an ‘open window’ versations are implemented in a high-velocity
and can allow a richer social interaction, producing fashion, it means that there is a great amount
a sense that there is no border between the ‘two of new information readily available each time
sides’ of the medium. (frequency) about a large variety of topics and
Within social media contexts, the perception of opinions (direction). The velocity of conversation is
presence can vary depending on the platform an indicator that can be used to determine the
used. For instance, social media platforms such extent to which a consumer conversation might go
as Foursquare, MSN, Skype and Trapster allow users ‘viral’ (Leskovec et al., 2007; Bampo et al., 2008; Aral
to share their status updates and check-ins. These and Walker, 2011).

DOI: 10.1002/pa


There is ample theoretical support for the idea linkages between people (Engeström, 2001), for
that word of mouth, or ‘word-of-mouse’, impacts example, favourite movies, similar cars, travels to
social media consumers’ actions (Reingen et al., the same country and common employers (Berthon
1984; Banerjee, 1992, 1993; Bikhchandani et al., et al., 2008). There are at least three fundamental
1992; Foster and Rosenzweig, 1995; Godes and managerial implications that the sharing block
Mayzlin, 2004). Thomas Jr. argues that the growing offers to firms whose ambition is to engage in social
importance of online environments and social media: first, there is a need to identify these linkages
media allowed the emergence of buzz marketing— or to select new objects that could mediate their
‘the amplification of initial marketing efforts by shared interests (e.g. photos for Flickr and videos
third parties through their passive or active influ- for YouTube consumers); second is related to the
ence’ (2004: 64). This may exacerbate ‘herding’, a degree to which these objects can or should be
phenomenon in which individuals make the same shared (e.g. copyright concerns, legality, offensive
choices influenced by the opinion of others (Van or improper contents); and third, what motivates
den Bulte and Lilien, 2001; Mayzlin, 2006; Li and consumers to share these objects of sociality.
Hitt, 2008). Van den Bulte and Lilien (2001) find One important theoretical lens to enhance
strong evidence of social contagion and decompose our understanding of the sharing block of the
the adoption process of certain trend into two honeycomb focuses on either intrinsic or extrinsic
different phases: an ‘awareness phase’—in which motivation of the users to share contents (Amabile,
social media consumers make sense of the topic 1997; Ryan and Deci, 2000; Lakhani and Wolf,
and an ‘evaluation and adoption phase’—in which 2005). Intrinsic motivation is driven by an intense
they make their decision and adopt (or not) the interest and involvement in the activity itself,
new product, service or technology. curiosity, enjoyment, peer recognition, a personal
Thus, conversation velocity within social media sense of challenge, accomplishment or belonging,
settings influences collective intelligence, which is whereas extrinsic motivation is driven by the desire
defined as groups of individuals ‘doing’ things to achieve some external reward that is apart
collectively that seem intelligent (O’Reilly, 2007; from the activity itself such as money, deadlines,
Malone et al., 2010). On social media platforms such directives, threats, competition pressure, expected
as Facebook and Twitter, members establish rela- evaluation, surveillance or job promotion (Amabile,
tionships and conversations that may be embedded 1997; Ryan and Deci, 2000).
in trust, similar tastes and viewpoints, and other Research on motivation is very rich and has
types of affinity. In a high conversation velocity been used in a number of areas such as education
environment, consumers evaluate numerous indi- (Pintrich and Schunk, 2002), work behaviour
vidual inputs (high frequency) on the basis of a (Gagné and Deci, 2005), learning (Cordova and
diverse range of topics (discontinuous direction) to Lepper, 1996) and performance (Elliott and Dweck,
make their individual choices. On the basis of the 1988). According to Amabile (1997: 44), ‘although
aforementioned discussion, the following questions combinations of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations
would help educate the conceptualization of are common, one is likely to be primary for a given
consumer conversations on social media. person doing a given task’ and as extrinsic motiv-
ation increases for a particular activity, intrinsic
• What are the implications of conversation velocity
motivation must decrease. Deci et al. (1999) corrob-
(low versus high) to consumer adoption of new
orate with this idea, arguing that there is a negative
trends, products/services or technologies?
impact of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivations,
• How should firms entrain their social media
which may also have an important implication
activities to follow and respond to conversations
within social media contexts. In fact, on the basis
with different velocities?
of the user-generated content phenomenon, Nov
• What is the interplay between conversation
(2007) argues that to understand what inspires
velocity and the ‘herding’ phenomenon? How
these social media consumer contributions, it is
can information systems design evaluate the
necessary to investigate what motivates them to
information quality and system quality (McKinney
share contents.
and Yoon, 2002) on social media?
Within social media contexts, motivation may
present a key element to be understood by firms
willing to engage with consumers. The sharing
SHARING approach each consumer uses may vary in fre-
quency, or the number of times a consumer shares
This building block is associated with the extent to contents over a certain period, and intensity, which
which consumers exchange, distribute and receive is associated with the quality of the contribution in
contents (Ozanne and Ballantine, 2010). The term terms of the time and effort spent (e.g. answering
social often involves exchange of contents and infor- a simple question at wiki.answers.com would be
mation between people. In many cases, however, different than producing an elaborated video for
the act of sharing is associated with particular YouTube). On the basis of these arguments, sharing

DOI: 10.1002/pa


within social media contexts may present several • What is the interplay between intrinsic and
opportunities for further research. Some of the extrinsic motivations when consumers share
questions associated with these areas are as follows: contents on a particular social media platform?
• What kind of motivation is associated with differ-
• How and why different motivations (intrinsic or
ent levels of frequency (low versus high) and
extrinsic) impel consumers to share objects within
quality (low versus high) of how social media
different social media platforms?
consumer share content?

DISCUSSION

The evolution of Web 2.0 has shifted the power
online, from the static corporate content of the past
to dynamic interaction driven by the active par-
ticipation of consumers. In a social media setting,
this has lead to human conversations across a
landscape of publishing sites (blogs, wikis), social
networks (Facebook, LinkedIn), mircoblogs (e.g.
Twitter), lifestreams (e.g. FriendFeed), livecasts
(e.g. Justin.tv), social games (e.g. FarmVille) and
content-sharing sites (e.g. YouTube), among others.
With Facebook now being the ‘Number 1’ most
visited website (Leitch, 2011), the popularity of
social media is hard to ignore.
This paper suggests that researchers focus on the
fundamental building blocks of social media to
understand how consumer behaviour is changing.
With this goal, the honeycomb model suggests
identity, presence, relationships, conversations, groups,
reputations and sharing as key constructs for under-
standing social media and community engagement
needs. In the research context presented here, this
honeycomb model offers four contributions to social
Figure 2 Social media lenses media research and theory:

Figure 3 Research agenda for YouTube and Facebook

DOI: 10.1002/pa


• Public affairs researchers can use the honeycomb from sharing, conversations, groups and reputation
construct and the seven building blocks as a (Figure 3).
starting basis for understanding social media
and are encouraged to expand the model to fit As social media activity will continue to soar,
social media consumer engagement needs, firms and researchers will increasingly face the chal-
lenges of understanding emerging features and
technological change or their particular research
interests. In this regard, it is not our contention their implications for individuals, communities,
that the seven building blocks we discuss here firms and social media platform designers. In this
context, we hope that our paper will generate
are the only ones, but we recognize them as
highly important ones across a range of social greater progress in understanding the symbiotic
media services and platforms. For example, for relationship between social media consumers and
different social media functionalities. We also hope
increased granularity, ‘trust’ and ‘image’ could
become building blocks in addition to ‘reputa- that this paper stimulates a discussion of the useful-
tion’ for a researcher who look specifically at the ness of the social media honeycomb model,
the building blocks we decided to emphasize and
intersection of public affairs and marketing on
social media. the theories we chose as examples. We would
• By providing one example of an appropriate like to see more work on improving the honey-
comb model, identifying where appropriate other
theory for each building block (Figure 2), we
provided an example of an interesting lens for functional building blocks and developing new
understanding engagement needs and how these theoretical lenses for each block to help energize
and direct the much needed agenda for public
might be changing over time. By adding three
representative research questions for each build- affairs research on social media.
ing block, we ambition to help build research
agenda for social media. In the spirit of the topic,
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