Like it or not Consumer responses to word-of-mouth communication in on-line social networks

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate how source, network, relationship, and message/content factors affect how consumers respond to a word-of-mouth (WOM) communication in an online social network. Design/methodology/approach - Hypotheses were addressed using two online surveys. The first of these examined persuasive WOM communications on Facebook, the second investigated WOM communication on Twitter. Findings - It was found that closeness to the source of a persuasive communication may have less of an impact on message acceptance in online social networks compared to traditional WOM. The number of persons in a product network, as well as whether those members of a product network are also members of one's friend network, are important factors that determine message acceptance. Originality/value - The paper demonstrates differences between online versus traditional WOM, and has important implications for marketing practitioners.