The Effect of Social Media on Perceived Information Credibility and Decision Making
Abstract
Studies have found that information from celebrities, social media influencers, and people whom they know in real life affects millennial consumers’ purchasing decisions. This study investigates how celebrities, influencers, and people whom consumers know personally impacts the ways in which millennials utilize social media information to gain information about consumer products. The study also addresses factors that contribute to trusting that information. Using data from millennial college students, the authors found that Instagram was most utilized for apparel information, while YouTube was most relevant for cosmetic and hair products. However, information from people whom they knew personally was still deemed more trustworthy than that from other sources. Although research suggests that celebrities and social media influencers’ have a positive impact on raising product awareness, marketers should be cognizant that consumers still trust endorsements from people whom they know personally, above all else, regarding their purchasing decisions. Relying on celebrities and social media influencers to promote products does not substitute for or replace targeted marketing efforts to build consumers’ trust. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
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People hold different levels of trust in each social media platform.
“Prior work comparing trust across different social media platforms has collectively suggested that people hold diferent levels of trust in each platform [19,27,77,109].”
From What Do We Mean When We Talk about Trust in Social Media? A Systematic Review (2023) · cites this paper as [19]
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What Do We Mean When We Talk about Trust in Social Media? A Systematic Review
Zhang, Y., Gaggiano, J. D., Yongsatianchot, N., Suhaimi, N. M., Kim, M., Sun, Y., Griffin, J., & Parker, A. G. (2023) · Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3544548.3581019 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
- Authors
- Cooley, D., & Parks-Yancy, R.
- Affiliations
- Texas Southern University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Parks-Yancy, Rochelle
- Venue
- Journal of Internet Commerce
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-04-22
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 249-269
- ISSN
- 1533-2861 (ISSN-L)
- 1533-287X
- OpenAlex
- W2941000429
- Cited by
- 183
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 33.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Internet Commerce (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Marketing and Social Media
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior and Marketing Influence
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Perception and Purchasing Behavior
- Keywords
- social media, purchase decision, social media influencers, celebrity endorsement, personal recommendations, millennial consumers, Instagram, YouTube, clothing, consumer trust, university students
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