1. Does user generated content set the agenda on social media?

User generated content ranges from product reviews, homemade YouTube videos, reactions to newly released entertainment pieces, and much more. Platforms especially designed for ordinary people to communicate with one another, such as social networking sites, are infiltrated with user generated content. Often times such content is controlled by social media “influentials” who regularly post self-generated content to be consumed by his or her followers.  Although the motive behind each post is unclear, it is clear that the content is being consumed by thousands of people and being shared amongst one another for further consumption by their friends. There used to be a clear distinction between user generated content and advertisements. It was easy to tell who had commercial motives and who was being paid to send out certain messages. However, with paid reviews and hidden endorsements by ordinary but popular individuals, it is becoming more difficult to tell.

When a phenomenon occurs, one can tell what is going on even without watching the news or reading the newspaper because people post things and talk about it actively through social media. Therefore, I believe it has the ability to influence the salience of topics on the public agenda. This would be interesting to practitioners and academics alike because this is an application of agenda setting to a new context. Society at large would be interested because they would have control over the salience of topics rather than it being decided for them.

2. Does branded user generated content improve recall?

Branded user generated content or eWom are preferred over traditional advertising because they are information thought to be from a more credible source. Just like traditional advertisements, user generated content is often viewed as entertaining but seen as an uncommercial act without other hidden motives which makes it more trustworthy and accepted. Credibility and recall are related yet the recall of user generated content has yet to be studied. Therefore, this area would be interesting to explore.

This would be important to marketers in the profession because one of their aims in their marketing efforts is brand/ad recall. Another strategy to improve recall would be important to them and they could explore a new context that has not been studied before. This is also important to academics because it is an unexplored area in the field with potentially great implications for the world of advertisers and marketers who are trying to increase recall. Academic research that can be applied practically is valuable so scholars would be intersected in studying this topic. Finally, the society at large would be surprised to see how much user generated content they are unknowingly consuming each day through medium like social media and their recall of the ads seen.

Do disguised advertisements in social media decrease ad avoidance (fatigue)?

Many advertisements on social media are not as apparent and in-your-face as they used to be. In fact, they are disguised to look like entertainment pieces. Disguise advertising "are those that individuals may not perceive as being sponsored because the source of the message is unclear, or because they are presented as editorial material, rather than advertisements" (Nebenzhal & Jaffe, 1998). Social media has provided a platform where it is easy for marketers to implement this strategy. By doing so, marketers could combat a common phenomenon of ad avoidance online.

Nebenzhal, Israel D., and Eugene D. Jaffe. "Ethical Dimensioins of Advertising Executions." Journal of Business Ethics 17.7 (1998): 805-815.