Master’s Thesis: Engagement and Motives to follow Facebook Pages among adolescents and emerging adults
Student: Yulia Shcherbakova, 10488472 Supervisor: Miruna Doicaru
Master's Programme Communication Science: Youth and Media Graduate School of Communication
University of Amsterdam January 31, 2014
Abstract
Existing research on Facebook showed that engagement behaviours towards the site and particular tools, such as groups or instant messaging, can be predicted by socio-demographic parameters, as well as by uses and gratifications. However few studies were aimed to
understand what makes users engaged in the activity of the Facebook Pages they follow. Facebook Pages, representing different companies or organisations, are important
communication tools often used to target young people, who are considered to be the most active users of the site. The current study aims to fill the gap in research and understand whether adolescents and emerging adults show different level of engagement with Facebook Pages they follow and whether these differences could be explained by differences in initial motives that drive users to follow certain Facebook Pages. By engagement in this study we mean the frequency of giving ‘likes’ to status updates from the Facebook Pages followed by user. The study was conducted by the means of online survey among 68 Facebook users (30 participants of 15-17 years and 38 participants of 18-29 years). The participants were asked to indicate 3 Facebook Pages of their choice and evaluate the motives to follow these Pages and engagement. The results showed that adolescents ‘like’ the posts of the Pages they follow more often compared to emerging adults and this relation may be explained by the
adolescents’ higher need for entertainment, which, in turn, is related to higher levels of engagement.
Engagement and Motives to Follow Facebook Pages among Adolescents and Emerging Adults
Facebook is the most popular social network site around the world by the number of the unique visitors per day as well as the amount of time spent on the site (ComScore, 2013). One of the main reasons of Facebook popularity is the diversity of tools that allow the site to embrace majority of internet users and stay on top, despite other social media appear
frequently and gain popularity within first months. Moreover the site unites individual users with organizations, businesses, companies, celebrities or brands. Individual users
communicate through their Profiles, and organizations communicate through the Pages (Facebook, 2013). Facebook users can interact with Pages on the two different levels. At first level individuals can choose to follow a Page. At the second level, users can engage in the higher level of interactions with Page by marking as ‘like’, commenting or sharing status updates (Facebook, 2013). Facebook is mainly viewed as a place for people, not for brands (Fournier&Avery, 2011). Nevertheless, the number of Pages followed by an average user increased from 4-5 in 2009 to around 70 pages in 2012 (Socialbakers, 2013), which is more than a half of an average number of personal friends per user (Facebook, 2013). This
statistics shows that Facebook Pages became significant part of Facebook users’ experience, and at the same time that the interest of companies to this tool is increasing.
Existing studies (e.g. Zhang, Sung, & Lee, 2010; Treadaway & Smith, 2009) on Facebook Pages show that growing company fan-base on Facebook (users which follow a Facebook Page of the company) is beneficial for the brand awareness, while keeping followers engaged ensures their loyalty to a brand. By engagement the authors mean frequency of various interactions with Page’ activity, such as giving ‘likes’ to status updates. Consequently, other studies (e.g. Burns, 2010) explored various predictors of engagement with a Page, such as social identity, self-disclosure, brand trust, satisfaction, and attachment and brand
consciousness. As can be seen, these predictors are either related to social-demographic parameters or to the brand. However none of the studies employed uses and gratifications approach for understanding the nature of relationships between individual users and Facebook Pages. Similarly to the studies on other digital tools, such as instant messengers (Quan-Haase & Young, 2010), sharing links (Baek et al, 2011), web-sites (Ko, Cho & Roberts, 2005), Facebook groups (Park, Kee & Valenzuela, 2009), uses and gratifications approach may help to understand which users needs have to be satisfied by a Facebook Page (hence, which type of content should be presented on a Facebook Page) to ensure their engagement. Information on the Facebook Help Centre (2013) says, that users can follow the Pages by marking them as ‘liked’ in order to receive updates from these pages. But is it the main reason why individual users “like” Pages? Are they actually interested in following and interacting the Page’ activity when giving a “like” to a company? What are the predictors of motivation to follow a Page and interact with it? In this study I would like to address these questions.
The studies on digital tools (e.g. Quan-Haase & Young, 2010; Baek et al, 2011; Ko, Cho & Roberts, 2005) predominantly focus on young people. These age group is also called ‘digital natives’, because from the very young age they were surrounded by computers and gadgets and thus, are very quick and active in using and adopting the technologies (Montgomery et al, 2013). Moreover, young people cite ‘friends’ and ‘internet’ as the strongest sources of
influence on their purchase decisions (PiperJaffray, 2013). Existing studies on socio-demographic aspects of internet usage show that age is a strong predictor of internet
behaviour and frequency of Facebook usage in particular (Park et al, 2009). In these studies age range of the ‘young people’ group is commonly defined as 18 to 29 year old (Quan-Haase & Young, 2010; Baek et al, 2011; Ko, Cho & Roberts, 2005) or 15 to 29 year old (e.g. Van den Bergh, 2013; McAndrew & Jeong, 2012). In the current study we would like to
follow the developmental approach, which states that two subgroups – teenagers (up to 18 year old) and emerging adults (from 18 to 29 year old) – have different media preferences which stem from the cognitive and socio-emotional aspects of development of these groups (Bukatko, 2007; Bukatko, 2007; Steinberg, 2007; Arnett, 2004). Accordingly, we expect that following Facebook pages by these age groups is driven by different motives, which result in different level of engagement between adolescents and emerging adults.
Hence, the research questions of the current study are:
R1. What is the difference in the level of engagement with Facebook Pages between adolescents and emerging adults?
R2. Which motives are related to higher level of engagement with Facebook Pages among adolescents and emerging adults?
Age and Engagement with the Followed Facebook Pages
Facebook users can interact with Pages on the two different levels. On the first level
individuals can decide to add a Page into personal network by starting following them. As a result users will see status updates of this Page on their Newsfeed. Consequently, on the second level, users can engage in the regular interactions with Page by following, marking as ‘like’, commenting or sharing status updates (Facebook, 2013). ‘Liking’ status updates is the most commonly performed active engagement behaviour on Facebook, as can be seen from the study by Gummerus et al (2013). This is the fastest way to actively express the
engagement with the information and share it with friends at the same time. Therefore, in the current study we will investigate the variation of giving ‘likes’ as an indicator of engagement with the Pages followed by the participants.
Previous studies (e.g. McAndrew & Jeong, 2012) showed that the frequency of Facebook use in general and performing particular Facebook activities are related to the age of users. For example, younger people are more likely to interact with Facebook groups by sharing posts of thr groups or checking the links compared to older users (McAndrew & Jeong,
2012). While most of the studies on Facebook define age range of the ‘young people’ group as 18 to 29 year old (Quan-Haase & Young, 2010; Baek et al, 2011; Ko, Cho & Roberts, 2005) or 15 to 29 year old (e.g. Van den Bergh, 2013; McAndrew & Jeong, 2012), in this study we would like to follow the developmental approach (Bukatko, 2007; Steinberg, 2007; Arnett, 2004) and compare two subgroups – teenagers (up to 18 year old) and emerging adults (from 18 to 29 year old). Teenagers are commonly considered to be the most active users of Facebook who embrace the full variety of its features (Monteiro, 2011, Lenhart et al, 2010). The study by Pechmann, Levine, Loughlin, & Leslie (2005) explained higher
susceptibility to advertising stimulus among adolescents compared to emerging adults by greater emotional volatility, caused by the neurobiological changes specific for this age group. Additionally, study by Baumgartner & Laghi (2011) argues that adolescents show higher level of affective response to various kinds of stimuli compared to emerging adults because they may tend to jump to the conclusion quicker on the basis of incomplete
information, while emerging adults prefer to delay their response until more information is processed.
Based on the previous research on socio-demographic predictors of engagement in branded communication (e.g. Gummerus et al, 2013; Pechmann et al, 2005) we expect that
adolescents are more actively engaged in giving ‘likes’ to the posts of the Pages they follow, compared to emerging adults:
Hypotheses 1: The frequency of giving ‘likes’ to the posts of the followed Facebook Pages is expected to be higher among teenagers compared to emerging adults.
Age and Motives to Follow Facebook Pages
The nature of the interactions on Facebook as media reflects the proposition of the uses and gratifications theory, which states that users actively select specific media to gratify
their specific needs (Katz et al., 1974). The uses and gratifications theory was extensively employed to investigate the motives for using Internet and Social networks in general (Joinson, 2008), Facebook and some of the Facebook interactions in particular, such as friendship formation (Ellison, Steinfeld & Lampe, 2006), participating in groups
(Park, Kee & Valenzuela, 2009), sharing links (Baek et al, 2011), instant messaging (Quan-Haase & Young, 2010). The following motives of using Iiternet and social network sites in general and Facebook in particular were identified in the previous studies: information, entertainment, interpersonal utility, work/education, self-gain, socializing, self-expression, self-image (Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2010; Baek et al, 2011; Burns, 2010).
Previous literature suggests that users of different ages may act out of different motives (Park et al, 2009; Steinberg, 2007; Bukatko, 2007).
According to Piaget, adolescents enter a formal operational stage of cognitive development, which is characterised by the ability to think in an abstract, hypothetical way (Bukatko, 2007). Accordingly, adolescence becomes a period of identity formation, when children try to think about themselves in an abstract way, define themselves as belonging or opposed to various groups. This, in turn, leads to media choices which help adolescents to build and express their own identity. Core feature of Facebook – creating a personal profile with the explicitly stated interests (‘liked’ Pages) - embraces this specific need of teenagers and makes the site particularly relevant for this age. Therefore, some of the motives which drive
teenagers to follow certain Facebook Pages may include self-expression and self-image.
Another important aspect of adolescence is changes in hormonal level (Bukatko, 2007). Alongside with critical changes in social life, such as changing school, peer, parental and
academic pressure, first romantic relationships, and shift in relationships with parents, this makes adolescents experience large range of emotions very intensively. To cope with this new scope of emotions teenagers may use various emotion regulation strategies, including expressing the feelings, distraction, thinking positively (Silk, Steinberg & Morris, 2003). These strategies can be applied on the social networks, where users can follow Pages out of entertaining motives to distract themselves.
Key defining characteristics of emerging adults as opposed to adolescents stem from changes in socio-demographic situation. Arnett (2004) defined several characteristics of emerging adults, some of which may help explain the uses and gratifications of Facebook by this age group. First of all, emerging adults become much more independent from parental control. As a result, main communication circle significantly shifts from parents to peers. Consequently, maintaining social connections becomes a part of a daily routine. Together with instability, expressed in frequent changes of location, occupation or social circles, this makes social network sites particularly relevant to this age group due to the possibility to maintain connections, socialize with different groups of friends. Based on that, we hypothesize that emerging adults may show high scores on socializing motive to follow Facebook pages.
On the other hand, another important characteristic of emerging adults is self-focus, as a step before committing themselves to enduring relationships with others. Strong prevalence of personal interests above the interests of a family/household/peer group interests shapes their behaviour as consumers. Social network sites in this case are used as a personal dashboard or filter bubble, where users can choose relevant sources of information to see in the Newsfeed (Praiser, 2011). Based on that, we hypothesize that emerging adults may follow certain Pages also because of information, interpersonal utility, work/education, self-gain motives.
Based on these observations and previous research on the use and gratifications (e.g. Joinson, 2008; Ellison, Steinfeld & Lampe, 2006) and on the developmental characteristics of
adolescents and emerging adults (e.g. Steinberg, 2007; Bukatko, 2007) we drew the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 2 (1-3): The importance of entertainment (1), self-expression (2) and self-image (3) motives is expected to be higher among adolescents compared to emerging adults. Hypothesis 2 (4-8): The importance of information(4), interpersonal utility(5),
work/education(6), self-gain(7) and socializing(8) motives is expected to be higher among emerging adults compared to adolescents.
Motives to Follow Facebook Page and Engagement
Previous research also shows that gratifications for the media use are related to the way the consumer uses the media in terms of frequency of exposure or use (e.g. Baek et al, 2011; Quan-Haase & Young, 2010). For example, information sharing was found to be a significant predictor of sharing links on Facebook (Baek et al, 2011), while entertainment and
socialization motives for using Facebook are found to be positively related to the frequency of profile updates (Quan-Haase & Young, 2010). Similarly, we expect that various motives predict the frequency of giving ‘likes’ to status updates of Facebook Pages followed by users. Based on the results of previous studies on motives and interaction on Facebook (Baek et al, 2011; Quan-Haase & Young, 2010) we draw the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 3(1-4): The importance of information, entertainment, socializing motives is expected to be positively related to the frequency of giving ‘likes’ to status updates of the Facebook Pages followed by users.
Hypothesis 3(5-8): The importance of self-expression, self-image, self-gain, work/education and interpersonal utility motives is expected to have no significant relation to the frequency of giving ‘likes’ to status updates of the Facebook Pages followed by users.
The Effect of Age on Engagement through Motives to Follow Facebook Pages Previous studies demonstrate relationship between age and engagement to various stimulus (e.g. Gummerus et al, 2013; Pechmann et al, 2005), age and motives to use Internet and Social Network Sites (e.g. Joinson, 2008; Steinberg, 2007; Bukatko, 2007), motives and engagement (e.g. Baek et al, 2011; Quan-Haase & Young, 2010). More specifically, teenagers are more susceptible to various stimulus compared to emerging adults
(Baumgartner & Laghi, 2011), while their media preference are likely to be driven by their need for self-expression, self-disclosure and emotional regulation (Bukatko, 2007). Emerging adults may suspend their affective responses to stimulus (Baumgartner & Laghi, 2011) until they will receive more information, while their media preferences can be related to the need of information, socializing, personal gain (Arnett, 2004). While the studies based on the uses and gratifications approach (e.g. Baek et al, 2011; Quan-Haase & Young, 2010) show that motives predict the engagement behaviour (e.g. sharing links, visiting web-page etc.), none of the studies explored motives to follow Facebook Pages in relation to the frequency of giving ‘likes’ to the status updates (engagement). Since we expect entertainment motive to be positively related to age and engagement, we expect the effect of age on engagement to be mediated by this motive and other motives to show no mediation effect:
Hypothesis (1-2): Entertainment motive to follow Facebook Pages mediates the effect of age on engagement.
Hypothesis (3-8): Information, entertainment, socializing, interpersonal utility,
work/education, self-expression, self-image motives to follow Facebook Pages have no mediation effect on the effect of age on engagement.
Method
Participants
Adolescents (N = 30, age range 15-17 years , 13 boys, 17 girls, Mgender = .57, SDgender = .50)
were recruited with the help of the management of the middle school in the Netherlands. Passive informed consent procedure was used. The management of the school disseminated the full informed consent information to parents/guardian in a timely and effective manner by means of a letter drafted by a researcher. Emerging adults (N = 38, age range 18-29 years, 15 men, 23 women, Mgender = .61, SDgender = .50) were recruited through the public invitation on
Facebook. Informed consent was requested from the participants at the beginning of the survey.
The participants of both age groups had to fulfil the following criteria: use Facebook, follow at least one Facebook Page.
Procedure
Online self-reporting survey method was employed for the purposes of the study.
Adolescents, the students of the middle school in the Netherlands, were invited in the small groups of 10-15 people to the classroom equipped with computers with internet access. Each participant was provided with unique link to the online-survey and opportunity to access their Facebook Page on the computer. In the beginning the researcher introduced the survey and explained the task. All the participants had an opportunity to ask questions during the survey completion. The researcher and a representative from the school were present at the
classroom during survey to maintain order and answer questions.
Emerging adults were invited to fill in the survey through public and private messages on Facebook, which contained a unique link to the online-survey.
The online survey was identical for adolescents and emerging adults. In the survey the participants were asked to list any 3 or fewer Pages they follow on Facebook. Participants were provided with the opportunity to access their personal Facebook profile in order to choose Facebook Pages to discuss in the survey and provide information about the number of the Facebook Pages they follow. No other stimuli were used. Then the participants were asked to evaluate various motives to follow each of the Facebook Page they indicated, frequency of giving ‘likes’ to the status updates of these Pages.
The eight motives to follow Facebook Pages were adopted from the previous research on the uses and gratifications on internet (Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2011; Baek et al, 2011; Burns, 2010). The motives were assessed on 5-point scales (1= not important at all and 5 = very important). The motives are: information motive (six statements; for example, ‘To learn new things’, Cronbach’s α = .86, M = 3.11, SD = .89), entertainment motive (four statements, for example ‘To pass time’, Cronbach’s α = .92, M = 3.22, SD = 1.12), interpersonal utility motive (two items, for example ‘To meet people with same interests as mine’, Cronbach’s α = .91, M = 2.24, SD = 1.19), work/education motive (two statements, for example ‘To promote the organization where I work/study’, Cronbach’s α = .94, M = 1.76, SD = 1.07), self-gain motive (two statements, for example ‘find bargains on products and services’, Cronbach’s α = .93,M = 1.86, SD = 1.03), socializing motive (five statements, for example ‘Feel like I belong to a group’, Cronbach’s α = .81, M = 2.16, SD = .89), self-expression motive (one statement, ‘To show other people what I like / what I am interested in’, M = 2.76, SD = 1.39), self-image motive (four statements, for example ‘This Page has a positive impact on what others think of me’, Cronbach’s α = .93, M = 2.29, SD = 1.10).
Engagement, or frequency of giving ‘likes’, was measured for each Facebook Page mentioned by a participant with the statement “How often do you “like” posts from the
Page?”. Responses were assessed on a 5-point scale ranging from 1= never to 5 = much more often than some other Pages I follow (M = 2.59, SD = 1.37).
Based on the previous studies on Facebook and brand communication on internet (e.g. Burns, 2010; Quan-Haase & Young, 2010; Baek et al, 2011), we also measured several variables, which were controlled for when assessing the impact of age on engagement through motivations. These variables are: gender, category of the product/company represented by each indicated Facebook Page (utilitarian or hedonic), attachment to the product/company represented by each indicated Facebook Page, self-disclosure on Facebook.
Age (M = .56, SD = .50) and gender (M = .59, SD = .50) were used as dichotomous variables. Category of the product or company represented by each indicated Facebook Page was assessed with the HEDUI scale, adopted from the study by Voss et al (2003). The scale was measured on 7-point bipolar scale ranging from 1 = utilitarian descriptive to 7 = hedonic descriptive (ten items, for example 1 = effective and 7 = ineffective, Cronbach’s α = .75, M = 3.94, SD = .75).
Attachment to the product/company represented by each indicated Facebook Page was adopted from the study by Burns (2010). The scale included two statements (for example ‘I feel strongly connected to this organization / business / brand / celebrity / site’, Cronbach’s α = .85, M = 3.48, SD = 1.05).
The Self-Disclosure scale was adopted from the study by Burns (2010). The scale included three items (for example ‘I display my favourite things on Facebook’, Cronbach’s α = .75, M = 3.39, SD = .98).
The attachment and self-disclosure scales were assessed on 5-point scale ranging from 1 = not at all to 5 = very much.
Data Analysis
The obtained dataset was restructured in a way that each case of the dataset represented one Facebook Page indicated by respondents. As a result, the dataset, used for analysis included 193 cases, among which 81 case represented Facebook Pages followed by adolescents (N = 48 Pages followed by girls, N = 33 Pages followed by boys, Mgender = .59, SDgender =.49), 112
cases represented Facebook Pages followed by emerging adults (N=67 Pages followed by women, N = 45 Pages followed men, Mgender = .60, SDgender = .49).
The mediation model with Age as independent variable, engagement as dependent variable and eight motives as mediating variables, was tested with the PROCESS macro tool for SPSS (Hayes, 2013). The tool uses bootstrap method, developed by Preacher&Hayes (2004), to estimate the indirect effect. This method provides greater power compared to Sobel test and doesn’t require the assumptions of normality to be met(Preacher&Hayes, 2004). Therefore it was considered to be more appropriate for the current study.
Results
Age and Engagement with the Followed Facebook Pages
In order to see whether teenagers indeed get more engaged with Facebook Pages they follow compared to emerging adults, a linear regression was run with engagement as a dependent variable and age as a dummy independent variable, controlled for gender, self-disclosure, attachment, category, frequency of Facebook use and number of followed Pages.
The regression was significant, F (7, 185) = 3.72, p < .001, and, therefore, can be used to predict Engagement with followed Facebook Pages. Strength of the prediction was moderate (R2 = .12). The hypothesis was confirmed: Age has significant moderate association with engagement, b* = - .27, t(192) = - 2.00, p = .047, 95% CI [- .53, - .01]. Hence, adolescents on average ‘like’ the content of the followed Pages significantly more often compared to
emerging adults, when gender, self-disclosure, attachment, category, frequency of Facebook use and number of followed Pages are assumed to be held constant.
Age and Motives to Follow Facebook Pages
In order to see whether the importance of entertainment, self-expression, self-image motives is higher and the importance of information, interpersonal utility, work/education, self-gain and socializing motives is lower among adolescents compared to emerging adults, eight linear regressions were run with eight motives as dependent variables and age as a dummy independent variable. All regressions were controlled for gender, self-disclosure, attachment, category, frequency of Facebook use and number of followed Pages.
All regressions were significant: information, F (7, 185) = 6.42, p < .001; entertainment, F (7, 185) = 7.30, p < .001; interpersonal utility, F (7, 185) = 3.7, p < .001; work/education, F (7, 185) = 6.20, p < .001; self-gain, F (7, 185) = 3.80, p < .001; socializing, F (7, 185) = 7.48, p < .001; self-expression, F (7, 185) = 4.59, p < .001; self-image, F (7, 185) = 5.68, p < .001. Therefore these regressions can be used to predict motives to follow Facebook Pages. Entertainment motive had significant negative association with age, b* = - .25, t(192) = - 2.45, p = .015, 95% CI [- .46, - .05].
Socializing motive also showed significant negative association with age, b* =- .17, t(192) = -2.09, p = .038, 95% CI [- .33,- .01]. Information, interpersonal utility, work/education, self-gain, self-image had no significant association with age.
Therefore the hypothesis was confirmed only in relation to the entertainment motive: The importance of entertainment motive is significantly higher among adolescents compared to emerging adults when gender, self-disclosure, attachment, category, frequency of Facebook use and number of followed Pages are assumed to be held constant. Socializing motive is
significantly higher among adolescents compared to emerging adults, what is opposite to the expectations.
Motives to Follow Facebook Page and Engagement
In order to see whether the importance of information, entertainment, socializing motives is related to higher levels of engagement, and the importance of self-expression, self-image, self-gain, work/education and interpersonal utility motives has no significant relation to the level of engagement, a linear regression was run with engagement as a dependent variable and eight motives as independent variables. The regression was controlled for gender, self-disclosure, attachment, category, frequency of Facebook use and number of followed Pages.
The regression was significant, F (15, 177) = 3.46, p < .001, and, therefore, could be used to predict Engagement with moderate strength (R2 = .23).
The results showed that engagement is significantly related to entertainment motive, b* = .24, t(192) = 2.46, p = .015, 95% CI [ .05, .43], and to selfimage motive, b* = .20, t(192) = -2.21, p = .028, 95% CI [ -.37, -.02]. Other motives had no significant association with engagement.
Therefore, the hypothesis was confirmed relatively entertainment, self-expression, self-gain, work/education, interpersonal utility motives: Entertainment motive showed significant positive association and self-expression, self-gain, work/education, interpersonal utility showed no significant association with the frequency of giving ‘likes’ to status updates of the followed Facebook Pages. At the same time, information and socializing motives were expected to have positive relation to engagement, while the results showed no significant relation. Self-image motive, despite the expectations, demonstrated significant negative relation to engagement.
The Effect of Age on Engagement through Motives to Follow Facebook Pages In order to test whether information, entertainment, socializing, interpersonal utility, self-gain, self-expression, self-image motives mediate the effect of age on engagement, a linear regression analysis was conducted with engagement as a dependent variable and age as a dummy independent variable, controlled for eight motives, gender, self-disclosure, attachment, category, frequency of Facebook use and number of followed Pages.
The regression was significant, F (15, 177) = 3.46, p < .001, and, therefore, was appropriate for explaining Engagement with moderate strength (R2 = .23).
The results showed that the effect of age on engagement is diminished when the motives were controlled. Bootstrapping revealed that the indirect effect of age on engagement score through entertainment was significant, with a bias-corrected 95% bootstrap confidence interval of -.18 to -.01.
Therefore, the hypothesis was confirmed: Entertainment motive to follow Facebook takes the main effect of age on engagement. It seems that the mediation is significant, because the bootstrap confidence interval does not include zero. Other motives did not appear to mediate the effect of age on engagement, in line with our expectations.
Discussion
The aim of the current study was to investigate the difference between adolescents and emerging adults in terms of engagement with Facebook Pages they follow and whether these differences could be explained by specific motives which drive them to follow these Pages. We hypothesised that age is related to the frequency of giving ‘likes’ to the status updates of Facebook Pages followed by the participants through entertainment motive, and additionally tested information, interpersonal utility, socializing, work/education, gain,
self-expression and self-image as potential mediators, based on their expected relationship with age the level of engagement.
Based on the previous research on socio-demographic predictors of engagement with various stimulus (e.g. Gummerus et al, 2013; Pechmann et al, 2005) we hypothesized that adolescents are more frequently involved in giving ‘likes’ to status updates of the Facebook Pages they follow compared to emerging adults. The results demonstrate that adolescents indeed ‘like’ status updates from the Pages they follow significantly more often compared to emerging adults, therefore the hypothesis is supported. This finding is in line with the previous studies (e.g. McAndrew & Jeong, 2012; Lenhart et al, 2010) that demonstrate that younger people in general are more active users of internet and social network sites. The results are also in line with the study by Pechmann et al (2005) which shows that adolescents have higher
susceptibility to various stimuli. Similarly to this study, a possible explanation to the fact that adolescents react on Facebook posts more frequently compared to emerging adults may be related to the neurobiological changes specific for this age group. Even small stimulus may be enough for adolescents to react, while emerging adults may need more information to express their opinion about the stimulus. Our findings contribute to the research base by demonstrating that adolescents and emerging adults, predominantly viewed as one age group, have different levels of engagement with Facebook Pages.
Further we hypothesised that the differences in the level of engagement could possibly be explained by various motives which drive users to follow certain Facebook Pages, and these motives are specific for each age group. Basing on the previous studies on the use and gratifications (e.g. Joinson, 2008; Ellison, Steinfeld & Lampe, 2006) and on the
developmental characteristics of adolescents and emerging adults (e.g. Steinberg, 2007; Bukatko, 2007) we expected entertainment, self-expression, self-image motives to be higher and information, interpersonal utility, work/education, socializing to be lower among
adolescents compared to emerging adults. The findings demonstrate that entertainment and socializing motives are significantly more important for adolescents compared to emerging adults, when they decide to follow certain Facebook Page, while other motives are equally important for both groups.
High importance of entertainment motive to follow Facebook Pages among adolescents is in line with our expectations, based on the developmental approach. For example, the study by Silk et al (2007) demonstrated that entertainment is one of the important strategies for
teenagers to cope with new level of emotional intensity, caused by changes in hormonal level as well as in socio-demographical changes, such as new school, academic pressure etc. This may provide possible explanation to why entertainment motive to follow Facebook Pages is more important for adolescents compared to emerging adults.
The current study also demonstrates that socializing motive to follow Facebook Pages
(measured with statements ‘feel less lonely’, ‘feel like I belong to a group’) is more important for adolescents compared to emerging adults. Initially we hypothesized that this motive is more important for emerging adults because of the shift in the social situation - living independently from their parents and need to have more contact with their peer groups. The negative relation of socializing motive and age can possibly be explained by the specifics of the composition of the socializing scale. Out of five statements, the scale included two statements which refer to loneliness and need to belong (‘feel less lonely’; ‘feel like I belong to a group’). Teenagers may score higher on this scale, because, according to the
developmental studies, loneliness and need to belong to a group are particularly relevant for adolescents (Bukatko, 2007) which may define their decision to follow certain Pages. The study by Sheldon et al, 2011 demonstrate that people tend to join social networks to feel less lonely, which may also be relevant for the decision to follow Facebook Pages.
Next, we expected that among all the investigated motives to follow Facebook Pages information, entertainment, and socializing motives are positively related to engagement, while other motives have no relation to engagement. These expectations were based on the previous studies on motives and interactions on Facebook (Baek et al, 2011; Quan-Haase & Young, 2010), which showed that these motives may predict some interactions on Facebook. The hypothesis was confirmed in relation to entertainment motive. The results of the current study show that those users who decided to follow certain Facebook Page ‘like’ status updates from these Pages more often compared to other motives. At the same time, those users who decided to follow certain Facebook Page because of information or socializing motives do not show significantly different levels of engagement, similarly to
self-expression, self-gain, work/education and interpersonal utility motives. Lastly, those users, who decided to follow Facebook Page due to self-image motive show lower levels of Engagement with those Pages. This may be due to the fact that Pages rated high on self-image only describe certain interests (e.g. ‘Tennis’, ‘Pink Floyd’ etc.), rather than represent organisations or company which actively generate posts to engage users. As a result users simple have fewer opportunities to see and interact with the status updates of these Pages.
The Entertainment motive was found to be positively related to the level of engagement with Pages. This result is in line with our expectations and congruent with previous research. For example, the study on consumer engagement on Facebook (Gummerus et al, 2012) shows that entertaining factor is important for the users’ engagement on Facebook.
Finally, the results of the study allowed to establish significant effect of age of Facebook users on engagement through the Entertainment motive to follow certain Facebook Pages. This shows that teenagers tend to interact with Pages more often compared to emerging adults, because they tend to follow Pages which satisfy their need for entertainment which, in return, is a strong predictor of an afterwards engagement with the Page.
The current study demonstrates that entertainment is an important factor of engagement with Facebook Pages among adolescents. They tend to search for the Pages which will satisfy this need and eventually interact with these types of Pages more often.
The findings from our study have important implications for the companies and organizations that target adolescents. In order to reach adolescents it is essential to build communication on a Facebook Page in a way that will satisfy their need for entertainment and socializing. Facebook Page should allow them to entertain (e.g. ‘cheer up’, ‘feel relaxed’, ‘feel
entertained’ or simply ‘pass time’), as well as socialize (e.g. feel ‘feel like they belong to a group’, ‘Feel less lonely’ etc). However, in order to maintain the high level of engagement, and high rate of ‘likes’ in particular, the communication should be focused on entertainment. Entertaining elements, such as videos, photos, quotes, polls or discussions may help to bring followers in a good mood and encourage them to interact with the Page. Hence, regular entertaining activities may possibly help the Page stay in the Newsfeed of their followers as well as help to draw their attention to other messages.
The study has some limitations that needed to be considered in the future studies on Facebook Pages.
One of the limitations is that the scope of the study did not allow to look into the content of the pages, listed by participants. An additional content analysis could provide more
information on the intensity of communication of the Facebook Pages mentioned by the participants. Controlling for the average number of posts generated by Page would allow to provide additional explanation for the frequency of giving ‘likes’ to Pages.
Further, content analysis of information presented in status updates from the Pages indicated by the participants (e.g. positive or negative content; textual, pictorial or video content etc.) could provide more insights in explaining the motives to follow these Pages and ‘like’ the
posts, as well as more specific recommendations for the companies and organisations targeting young people on Facebook.
Another limitation is related to a small sample, limited by a personal network of the
researcher doesn’t allow to generalize the findings to the whole population. Future research should examine sample representative to the Facebook users in general or Facebook users of particular countries.
Overall, the current study contributes to the body of research on the uses and gratifications of various Facebook features. The findings demonstrate that behaviour of young people
(engagement with Facebook Pages) is predicted by their needs (Entertainment), while needs are different across the age groups (adolescents vs. emerging adults).
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