Research Findings

My research is now complete, just putting the finishing touches on my dissertation before i hand it in.
On the whole, this research has made a significant contribution to what is currently understood regarding symbolic consumption, brand communty, and the emerging roles of consumers as producers of value.
I would like to say a big thankyou to the Behance Network and all community members for allowing me to conduct a netnography of this online brand community.
Through the research process i have revealed that online brand communities generate brand culture in a number of ways including through the construction of self, through forming emotional member-brand and member-member relationships, through the sharing of stories describing the experiential aspects of brand consumption and production, and through the practice of rituals.
Through the variety of ways in which the Behance Network brand is consumed and produced, community culture and consequent brand culture is both generated and sustained.
The research findings highlight the growing role of consumers as producers, whereby the Behance Network brand would have little to no value without the community which the brand surrounds. Contrasting earlier literature describing the nature of online brand community, this research describes a brand around a community; a brand which provides a virtal platform which empowers consumers to generate and sustain the culture.

Research Information Sheet

INFORMATION SHEET
Social network sites and brand consumption

Who is conducting the research?
Miss Lorien Latimer
Lorien.Latimer@student.griffith.edu.au
Supervised by:
Dr Sharon Schembri
s.schembri@griffith.edu.au
Department of Marketing Griffith Business School, QLD 4222
Contact Phone: (07) 5552 8081 or 5552 8713

Why is the research being conducted?
Social network sites and brand consumption is a new area of research. This study aims to better understand online consumer activity as related to brand consumption.

What you will be asked to do?
As a participant of this study you will be a registered and active forum member. The primary researcher, Lorien Latimer will also be a registered and active forum member. You may at times interact with Lorien online.

Your confidentiality
To ensure confidentiality, all collected data will be de-identified in any publication resulting from this research. All data collected will be de-identified and kept in a secure place.

Your participation is voluntary
You are free to choose if you want to participate in this study and you are free to withdraw from at any time without comment or penalty. If you would not like your contributions used for this research project please leave your email address in the comments section below and confirmation of your non-participation will be sent to you.

Questions / further information
You are welcome to contact the research supervisor, Dr Sharon Schembri on (07) 5552 8081 with any further questions in relation to the research. An executive summary of the results of this research will be available both on this blog and/or by email request to s.schembri@griffith.edu.au from July 2010.

The ethical conduct of this research
Griffith University conducts research in accordance with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans. If you have any concerns or complaints about the ethical conduct of the research project you should contact the Manager, Research Ethics on 3735 5585 or research-ethics@griffith.edu.au .

Feedback to you
You are welcome to request a summary of the results of this study via email from s.schembri@griffith.edu.au after July 2010. To ensure your anonymity, all personal information will be kept separate from the data in this summary.

Privacy Statement
The conduct of this research involves the collection, access and / or use of your identified personal information. The information collected is confidential and will not be disclosed to third parties. A de-identified copy of this data may be used for other research purposes. However, your anonymity will at all times be safeguarded. For further information consult the University’s Privacy Plan at www.griffith.edu.au/ua/aa/vc/pp or telephone (07) 3735 5585.

Brand community Literature Review

This research aims to understand the postmodern consumer and how they bring meaning to their life through participation in online social network sites and their associated brand communities. From this understanding, marketers will be able to better use social network sites and their associated communities as effective branding tools.
The discussion begins with a review of literature regarding the postmodern consumer, outlining two different views of postmodern society. This brief description of the postmodern consumer leads to the discussion of how consumers add meaning to their lives through consumption. Hirschman and Holbrook (1982) highlight the importance of the experiential aspects of consumption, and Belk (1988) describes how the consumption of our possessions contributes to the construction of our extended self. Elliott and Wattanasuwan (1998) extend on Belk’s (1988) argument, proposing that brands are symbolic resources for the construction of both self identity and social identity. Not only do consumers consume brands in order to construct their identity, but Fournier (1998) proposes that consumers become attached to brands and develop relationships with brands. This leads to the discussion of the phenomenon of postmodern brand community and how it influences consumption behaviors and motivations. Cova (1997) introduces the notion of the linking value of consumption, which is followed by a deeper look at the phenomenon of brand community within the postmodern age. The reviewed literature regarding community includes Schouten and McAlexander’s (1995) notion of subcultures of consumption, and Belk and Gulner’s (2005) brand cult. This is followed by an introduction to Muniz and O’Guinn’s (2001) concept of brand community. McAlexander, Schouten and Koenig (2002) build on Muniz and O’Guinn’s brand community idea, proposing an extension of the brand community model. Research centered on the idea of brand community is reviewed, including case studies on European car clubs (Algesheimer, Dholakia & Herrmann, 2005), the Warhammer brand community (Cova, Pace & Park, 2007), and the HUMMER brand community (Luedicke, 2006). Cova and Pace (2006), through their analysis of the Nutella online brand community, build on the Muniz and O’Guinn theory of brand community, suggesting tribes to be a form of postmodern brand community. The notion of tribes is extended to the online context by Kozinets (1999) as e-tribes. This review of brand community literature shows however, a lack of research regarding new forms of online brand communities. This leads to the question of how can social network sites and their associated communities be used as effective branding tools, which this research aims to address. To begin this review of community, a description of the postmodern consumer is provided.
Postmodernism has emerged as both a critique of modernism and as a new cultural movement (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995). Within the postmodern paradigm, a number of different perspectives on representing the postmodern consumer have emerged (Goulding, 2003). One perspective presented by Baudrillard (1988) and Jameson (1990) is that postmodern society is alienating, with fragmented consumers seeking compensation through the consumption of signs, spectacles and the superficial. Consumers are characterized by confused identities and the fragmentation of self. This dystopian and alienating view of society has spurred the growth of a counter- argument. In contrast to Baudrillard’s (1988) description of the alienating society whereby consumers are in search of an identity or a meaningful self, Firat and Venkatesh (1995) view consumers as free, with fluid identities. Firat and Venkatesh (1995) present the notion of liberatory postmodernism, which has a less pessimistic view of consumers and society. Liberatory postmodernism supports the notion that consumers look for symbolically rich and creative consumption and experiences in order to construct multiple identities.
Theories of postmodernism share a common acknowledgement that the central role of consumption is symbolic in nature, not predominantly based on functional utility or price (Burton, 2002, Cova, 1997). The notion of consumption for symbolic meaning is supported by Hirschman and Holbrook (1982) through their development of the experiential perspective. The experiential perspective explores the symbolic meaning of consumption, focusing on the consumption experience from an emotional perspective. This experiential view of consumption contrasts the traditional information processing model of consumption introduced by Bettman (1979). The information processing model views consumers as logical decision makers, neglecting important consumption phenomena such as the emotional, sensory and aesthetic components of the consumption experience (Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982). The experiential perspective supports an investigation into the more emotional and psychophysical symbolics of consumption. The acknowledgement by Hirschman and Holbrook (1982) that all products may carry a symbolic meaning was first proposed by Levy (1959). In the work ‘Symbols for Sale’, Levy (1959) argues that the consumer is not as functionally orientated as he used to be, buying things not only for what they can do, but also for what they mean (pg. 205, Levy, 1959). The notion of objects symbolic nature is recognized by Levy (1959) as appropriate when it joins with, adds to, or reinforces the way the consumer thinks about him or her self (pg. 206, Levy, 1959). Elaborating on the relationship between symbolic objects and self reflection, Thompson (1995) describes the self as a symbolic project whereby the individual constructs the self through available symbolic material. Symbolic material is woven into a coherent account of who they are in order to form a narrative of self-identity. Symbolic consumption and consumers reflection on self is also a central idea in the research by Belk (1988).
The concept of the extended self is introduced by Belk (1988) as a way of considering the symbolic importance of consumption in our lives. Belk (1988) argues that possessions are a major contributor to identity and examines the relationship between possessions and sense of self, proposing that they can be instrumental to maintenance of self. The argument put forward by Belk (1988) proposes that consumers are the sum of their possessions, and both consumers impose their identities on possessions and possessions may impose their identities on consumers. Furthermore, Belk (1988) states that goods can become an extension of the self and are used to socially differentiate oneself from others. The notion of the extended self was partly influenced by the work of Sartre (1943). In his major work ‘Being and Nothingness’, Sartre (1943) maintains that the only reason we want something is to enlarge our sense of self and that the only way we can know who we are is by observing what we have. Therefore, possessions are all important in creating and knowing who we are. The function of possessions, symbolic consumption and the construction of self is further examined by Elliott and Wattanasuwan (1998), who propose that the symbolic meanings of objects operate in two directions.
Symbolic consumption operates not only inward for the construction of self identity, but outward in constructing the social world and social identity (Elliott and Wattanasuwan, 1998). Both inward and outward constructs develop through an inseparable relationship where self-identity must be validated through social interaction and that the self is embedded in social practices (Jenkins, 1996). The symbolic meaning of our possessions are an integral feature of expressing our own identity and perceiving the identity of others. Furthermore, brands can be used by the consumer as resources for the symbolic construction of the self. This notion is supported by Holt (2002), who recognizes that the symbolic meanings embedded in brands make it possible for brands to be used to negotiate identity concerns as they have psychological and social properties. It is the social symbolic properties of brands which indicate that consumers can form relationships with brands (Levy, 1985; Fournier, 1998).
Fournier (1998) argues that brands can and do serve as viable relationship partners. Brands can deliver on important identity concerns, thereby expressing a significant aspect of self. In line with the notion that possessions create identity (Belk, 1988; Elliott & Wattanasuwan, 1998), through Fournier’s (1998) research, brands were shown to be of great importance to the consumers self. Furthermore, the strong attachment and relationship consumers form with brands possess a linking value, forming a communal link between individuals in an otherwise fragmented and individualist postmodern society (Cova, 1997).
Cova (1997) argues that postmodern consumers use consumption to form links with others in the context of one or several communities, which then provides meaning to their life. One explanation for postmodern consumers desire for community aligns with Baudrillard (1988) and Jameson’s (1990) notion of the alienating postmodern society. Individualism and isolation within society has generated a need to compensate for the lack of community through the consumption of signs and symbols. In order to satisfy desire for community, postmodern individuals seek products, services and brands less for their functional value than for their symbolic linking value (Cova, 1997). A growing counter movement to the extreme individualism of postmodernity is reflected through consumers search for social bonds (Patterson, 1998). Cova (1995) argues that the postmodern consumer has been cut off from the spirit of community, and the severe social dissolution has generated the re-emergence of consumers’ desire for community.
Consumers are looking to new conventions for collective value. In particular, consumption and the power of brands as mosaics of meaning (Lannon, 1995) generate a sense of community in an individuated world (Patterson, 1998). The linking value of brands does however require a common understanding or shared meaning among individuals (Patterson, 1998). This supports Elliott and Wattanasuwan’s (1998) notion that individuals form interpretive communities’, through their shared interpretation of the meaning of the brand (Elliott and Wattanasuwan, 1998). One interpretation of shared commitment to a consumption activity is Schouten and McAlexander’s (1995) theory of subcultures of consumption.
Schouten and McAlexander (1995) introduce the theory of subcultures of consumption through an ethnography of Harley Davidson motorcycle owners. Their research defines a subculture of consumption as a distinctive subgroup of society that self-selects on the basis of a shared commitment to a particular product class, brand, or consumption activity. Other characteristics of a subculture of consumption include a hierarchal social structure, a set of shared beliefs and values, and unique jargons and rituals. An important characteristic of subcultures of consumption is the social structure of the group. According to Schouten and McAlexander (1995) the most committed hard core members of a subculture function as arbiters of meaning and opinion leaders.
Belk and Tumbat (2005) introduce the notion of a brand cult to better describe the extreme of brand-focused devotion encapsulated through Schouten and McAlexander’s subcultures of consumption. The notion of brand cults introduces a religious motif, not present in other accounts of brand community. The Apple brand is used by Belk and Tumbat (2005) as an example of extreme brand focused community, aptly named the cult of Macintosh. Cult of Macintosh community members are fiercely loyalty, reveling in the Apple brand CEO Steve Job’s visionary leadership as if he were a religious leader. Research by Chalmers and Arthur (2008) into hard-core members of consumption-oriented subcultures also highlight that members enact their sub-cultural identities through reverence to objects or brands. Hard-core members of consumption-oriented subcultures exhibit high level of devotion to the focal consumption activity and consumption community to a point where it dominates their lifestyle.
In common with Cova (1997), Schouten and McAlexander (1995), Belk and Tumbat (2005), and Chalmers and Arthur’s (2008) accounts of brand community however are three core components or markers of community. The first element of community is the intrinsic connection that members feel toward one another and the collective sense of difference from others not in the community. The second indicator is the presence of shared rituals and traditions which perpetuate the community’s shared history, culture and consciousness. The third marker of community is a sense of moral responsibility.
A more contemporary view on consumption and communities is Muniz and O’Guinn’s (2001) brand community. According to Muniz and O’Guinn (2001), a brand community encapsulates the three core components or markers of community, however the focus is on the idea of communal consumption and the characteristics of brand communities. Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) argue that brand communities have important differences from subcultures of consumption (Schouten and McAlexander (1995). Schouten and McAlexander (1995) describe a brand with a socially fixed meaning to which a community or individual would subscribe to in order to transform or create their self identity. Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) however argue that brand communities have an active interpretive function, with brand meaning being socially negotiated and constructed.
Brand communities are the focus of Muniz and O’Guinn’s (2001) research and are described as specialized, non-geographically bound communities based on a structured set of social relationships among brand admirers. These communities are viewed as contributors to the brands larger social construction, playing a vital role in the brands ultimate legacy. Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) argue that attempts to build community through consumption practices are more than mere compensatory acts to add life meaning in an otherwise isolated and individualist society. In line with Firat and Venkatesh’s (1995) notion of the liberated postmodern consumer, Simmons (2008) proposes that postmodern consumers adore being individual with the power to reinvent themselves through their consumption, however they do not want to experience this in isolation. This perspective draws from both Baudrillard (1988) and Firat and Venkatesh’s (1995) notions, whereby the postmodern consumer is encouraged through alienation to form social bonds, however identities are fluid and multiple.
Expanding on existing research on brand community, McAlexander, Schouten and Koenig (2002) argue that the notion of brand community proposed by Muniz and O’Guinn’s (2001) needs to be extended in order to encapsulate a more complex web of relationships. Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) describe a brand community as a social aggregation of brand users and their relationships to the brand itself as a repository of meaning. This notion however overlooks important relationships including the relationship brand community members have with their branded possessions, the brand marketing agents, and the institutions that own and manage the brand (McAlexander et al, 2002). McAlexander et al (2002) also promote the perspective that brand community is customer-centric and that the existence and meaningfulness of the community is a quality of customer experience rather than the brand itself. The acknowledged importance of experiential elements of brand consumption aligns with Hirschman and Holbrook’s (1982) experiential view of consumption. In contrast to Schouten and McAlexander’s (1995) description of subcultures of consumption, where only the most committed members’ arbiter meaning, McAlexander et al (2002) acknowledge that the creation and negotiation of meaning is shared by all community members. A second divergence from Schouten and McAlexander’s (1995) subcultures of consumption theory is the acknowledgement that not only may communities be stable and enduring, but they may also be temporary or periodic.
The way in which different aspects of customers’ relationships with a brand community influence their intentions and behaviors is further examined by Algesheimer, Dholakia, and Herrmann (2005). The context of cars was selected because they are known to elicit high levels of emotion and involvement in many consumers which is conducive to brand community participation. The framework of brand relationships’ upon which Algesheimer et al’s (2005) research is based is consistent with McAlexander et al’s (2002) view of consumer integration within a brand community. This view acknowledges consumers relationship with the brand, community members, and also with the product and the company. Algesheimer et al (2005) argue that a consumer’s relationship with a brand precedes and contributes to his or her relationship with the brand community. Consumers first discover the value of a brand for its functional and symbolic benefits. This idea contrasts research by Cova (1997) which argues that individuals’ consume products and services for their linking value as opposed to their functional value, in order to compensate for a lack of community in our individualized society. Regardless of whether the functional attributes of a brand are valued prior or post the symbolic and linking value of brands, both arguments are focused on an understanding of the internal processes of brand community. It is also important however to consider the impact of the surrounding social environment.
The importance of understanding the internal brand community processes is argued by Luedicke (2006) to have provided a single-sided and incomplete picture of the brand community, which his research aims to amend. Luedicke (2006), through the investigation of the HUMMER brand community, argues that brand communities are dependent on their social environments. This dependence is formed through consumers’ acceptance of the design, functions, and advertised meanings of a brand, as well as by alluding to cultural stereotypes. This view contrasts Muniz and O’Guinn’s (2001) brand community, and Holt’s (2002) notion on consumer culture and branding. Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) describe brand communities as free to form, proliferate and dissolve, and brand community members hold the independence to accept or reject any meaning which marketers or the brands culture has to offer (Holt, 2002). Through Luedicke’s (2006) exploration of the relationships between band community and social environment, the influence of product characteristics, marketing efforts, and media are highlighted as key determinants of a brand communities success or failure. Whilst Luedicke (2006) examines the HUMMER brand community to understand the external social environment, Cova Pace and Park (2007) examine the Warhammer brand community in order to understand the geographic dimensions of global brand communities.
Global brand communities are believed to be able to transcend national and geographic boundaries (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001).Brand community studies by Schouten and McAlexander (1995), Belk and Tumbat (2005), and Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) have addressed how different communities co-create meanings regarding the brand. These studies however emphasize homogeneity of brand meaning within a particular brand community, brand cult or subculture. Cova, Pace, and Park (2007) consider the possibility of geographic diversity inside a band community. The notion of multiple interpretive sub-tribes within a brand community is put forward in order to understand how a global brand sub-culture can generate heterogeneous values and meanings. Localized brand sub-tribes give variable meanings to a particular brand which highlights the influence of geography on the interpretation of brand meaning. While Holt (2002) argues for the need to understand brands form a societal or cultural level, Muniz and O’Guinn (2005) highlight the importance of understanding the community or sub-cultural level. Cova, Pace, and Park (2007) reveal through the analysis of the Warhammer brand, that interplay exists between these levels, and it is more important to understand links between global brand, brand community, subcultures and sub-tribes. Each local sub-tribe reinterprets brand meaning as a function of its own culture; however global brands still play a cultural role in the facilitation of social interactions and experiences. The use of the term tribe was proposed by Cova (1997) in relation to the linking value of consumption, and re-emerges through Cova and Cova’s (2002) research on the tribalization of society.
Research by Cova and Cova (2002) steers away from the concept of community entirely; arguing that the concept suffers from an excessive modernist influence since in characterizes a body of people with something in common without implying the existence of non-rational bonds. In its place, the concept of tribes and tribalism is revisited in order to describe the grouping of people held together around a shared passion or emotion. Dissimilar from the concept of brand community described by Muniz and O’Guinn (2001), tribes are not based on a structured set of social relations among brand admirers. This is not to say that a tribe cannot be organized around a shared passion for a cult-object or brand. When a tribe is organized around a same passion for a brand, it exhibits many similarities to a brand community. However unlike brand communities, tribes may be organized around a broader scope of shared passion and emotion and are less commercially confined.
Postmodern tribes are formed through the linking value of consumption (Cova, 1997). The notion of brand communities introduced by Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) are relatively stable groupings with strong degrees of commitment. In contrast, Cova (1997) describes tribes as unstable, unbound, shifting, and fluid, held together through a shared consumption practice. Dissimilar to brand communities, tribes are ephemeral in nature, with postmodern individuals belonging to several tribes reflecting the fragmentation of postmodern society.
Also, in contrast to the hierarchical social structure of subcultures of consumption described by Schouten and McAlexander (1995), tribes are in a constant state of flux, not fixed by any of the established parameters of modern society. The static position of the individual within a social hierarchy is replaced by a dynamic and flexible positioning within and between multiple tribes to which the individual belongs. The postmodern tribes described by Cova and Cova (2002) have clear differences from archaic and more traditional tribes as well, particularly their ephemeral nature, confined only by conceptual boundaries rather than physical boundaries.
The conceptual nature of postmodern tribes is increasingly evident through the growth of online brand communities or brand tribes. Cova (1997) views the influence of technology such as the internet as an instrument which will likely increase the isolation of the individual, however a paradox is present. Although increasing individual isolation, technology such as the internet can also favor communication and the circulation of people in the so-called cyberspace. Through the analysis of the online Nutella brand community, Cova and Pace (2006) highlight the growing empowerment of consumers in re-appropriating the meaning of a brand online. Brand tribes are described as a group of people that posses a common interest in a specific brand and create a parallel social subculture with its own values, rituals, vocabulary, and hierarchy (Cova and pace, 2006). The online formation and presence of passionate and united tribes has led to a re-balancing of power in company-consumer relations. Through the Nutella brands act of inviting subcultures to co-create the brands ideology through an online community, the Nutella brand has enabled what Wipperfurth (2005) terms a co-created brand hijack. Examples of brand hijacks include Schouten and McAlexander’s (1995) Harley Davidson subculture of consumption, and Belk and Tumbat’s (2005) cult of Macintosh. An online tribe brand hijack however is argued by Cova and Pace (2006) as harder to control. The growing role of consumers as empowered producers is addressed through Kozinets (1999) notion of virtual communities of consumption.
The notion of virtual communities is extended into the realm of consumer research through the description of e-tribes (Kozinets, 1999). E-tribes are groups based on social affiliations and more specifically upon consumption activities. E-tribes differentiate themselves from tribes by being social aggregations that emerge online rather than off-line. Both Cova (1997), Cova and Cova (2002), and Cova and Pace’s (2006) tribes and Kozinets (1999) e-tribes however share a common acknowledgement that society is retribalizing. Postmodernity is a period which will encourage a move away from individualism and alienation towards a search for social bonds (Simmons, 2008; Cova, 1997) and the retribalization of society (Cova and Cova, 2002; Kozinets, 1999).
Examples of Harley Davidson, European car clubs, HUMMER, Warhammer, and Nutella have illustrated the presence and characteristics of different forms of brand community. Social recomposition in the form of brand communities has been spurred through the postmodern conditions of social dissolution and extreme individualism. Through the review of literature devoted to the description of brand community, there is an opportunity to further our understanding of the dynamic nature of brand communities within the online context. Understanding online brand communities and how they bring meaning to postmodern consumers’ lives will aid marketers’ decision making with regards to branding practice and the establishment, growth and fostering of brand community. The proliferation of online brand communities and the lack of research relating to their nature leads to the research question of how can social network sites and their associated brand communities be used as effective branding tools.

DP Dialogue Intern Position Application

Name: Lorien Latimer

Qualifications:
• Higher School Certificate
• Advanced Diploma of Photography
• Bachelor Degree in Business - majoring in marketing, minoring in economics
• Currently completing the GBS Honours program whereby I will be conducting a research project and writing a thesis in relation to the field of social media marketing.

Employment History:
I have just completed a 6 month internship with the digital marketing department at Gold Coast Tourism. Through my association with the organisation I have also been employed as a contractor on a regular basis to assist with online marketing projects.

Current Position:
I graduated from university one week ago and am commencing my honours program in the coming week. I also work part time at Officeworks for financial support whilst studying.

In 5 Years Time:
I hope to work in the area of creative online marketing strategy. I would love to have the opportunity to work for a company such as Google, however as long as I am in an environment that is challenging, inspiring and creative I will be happy.

What Is Social Media?
In short, social media can be described as collective goods produced through computer-mediated collective action. These ‘goods’ take the form of conversations, collaborations, forums, reviews and critiques. The action of producing this collective intelligence is created through the combining of technology, telecommunications and social interaction, with the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio.

What % of people trust advertising?
The essential question is more so the degree of trust. A small percentage of people trust advertising to the highest degree and an increasingly large amount of people trust traditional advertising to a small degree.

Best brand delivered social media experience:
Marketer and author Seth Godins use of social media has stood out as a unique and successful method of reaching and persuading consumers. He motivated fans to purchase his book prior to its official release by offering them exclusive access to his online ‘Tribe’. He used the motivational factor of exclusivity to create a buzz around the product.

How I will fit the 120hrs into my life:
I would visit the organisation 1 or 2 days a week for 14 or so weeks until 120hrs have been completed.

Are Newspapers Dead?
In their traditional form, no, but they’re in palliative care or death row of sorts. The concept behind newspapers as journalistic sources of news, is however increasingly present in the online environment. Therefore newspapers are transforming their physical shape.

Analysis of Multimedia Social Media

Multimedia social media encompasses all video, photo, art, music and audio sharing. The dominant channels within this category are YouTube, Flickr, Metacafe and Photobucket, however many others exist.

YouTube
YouTube is the most dominant site within the multimedia category, with over 70 million videos uploaded for the internet community to view, share, rate and comment on. The site began as an application on the social network site MySpace, however the rapid growth in popularity spurred its break from the social network, making it the individual channel it is today.
In relation to using YouTube to broadcast advertising messages, the success rate in reaching widespread diffusion is relatively low. It appears that the site attracts amature videos of poor quality and often odd in nature. Research suggests that users strive to establish an affinity or feeling of connection and openness between those experiencing and those producing the multimedia content. For this reason, authentic, unscripted and real videos gain more attention than those of a commercial nature. One strategy is for organisations to act as motivators. Through encouraging their audience to engage in social media, it benefits the organisation through raising brand awareness through association.