The influence of online social media on consumer preferences of young people aged 22-25 years

Erokhina Lioudmila Dmitrievna PhD in Philosophy Professor, the department of Social Sciences, Far Eastern Federal University 690091, Russia, Primorskii krai, g. Vladivostok, o. Russkii, 10, korpus F, of. 733 logos102@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Fedorov Andrei Aleksandrovich Fedorov Andrey Alexandrovich Master student Department of Social Sciences Far Eastern Federal University 690922, Russia, Primorsky Krai, Vladivostok, Russian Island str., Pos., building F, office 733 fedorov.aal@dvfu.ru

IntroductionConsumer behavior is the object of attention of economic, social, and humanitarian sciences.

In the early 2000s, many studies focused on attempts to find both universal theoretical and methodological approaches for determining consumption and consumer behavior, and approaches of private sciences for determining consumption in certain branches of knowledge ^[1-10].

Along with general research, multifaceted research is being conducted to identify the types, forms of consumption structure, motivation, interest, decision-making, etc. of individual consumer groups. In particular, in the last decade, researchers have shown interest in the factors of formation of consumer behavior of various groups of adolescents and young people. Young people are a powerful driving force of consumer behavior. It is assumed that representatives of this socio-age group quickly exchange information on social media and influence each other in the process of searching and buying goods or services. The choice is often spontaneous and unweighted, due to a high level of maximalism. The consumer behavior of young people as economic subjects is investigated ^{[11; 12]}, the features of consumer behavior of young people in an urban environment ^[13-15], psychological and social factors of the formation of consumer behavior of youth groups with different statuses are identified ^[16-19], the possibilities of managing consumer behavior of young people by means of social policy are projected ^[20].

The desire of young people to communicate with their peers leads to increased use of modern high-tech products, among which social media occupy a special place. This generates a huge number of new ways to influence the consumer decisions of young people. Studies of Beregovskaya T.A., Gridchina A.Ya., Zarifova I.A., Lesnikova T.V., Sukhorukova N.G., Yusef M.A. and others are devoted to this issue ^[21-27].

Research methodsThe purpose of this article is to investigate the influence of social media on the consumer behavior of young people aged 22-25 years.

The appeal to this group is conditioned by the lack of empirical data on the impact of social media on the consumer behavior of young people of this age group. Meanwhile, the age from 22 to 25 years is characterized by the fact that young people at this age already have some qualifications and their own income, most do not have loan obligations, do not have children, in addition, a large number of socio-psychological factors also affect. Thus, they have a great potential to act freely as consumers.

For empirical work, classroom studies of social media and an online sociological survey in the form of a questionnaire were used. The advantage of this method is due to the characteristics of the target group. This method makes it possible to attract respondents to the survey, for whom online surveys are much more familiar and attractive than offline surveys. The online survey method has other advantages: the speed of execution, the ability to quickly make edits, convenient analysis of the results.

The study was conducted in Vladivostok in the period from January to June 2022. The general population of the study is the youth of Vladivostok. Sample population: youth aged 22-25 years, 350 people. The confidence probability is 95%. The confidence interval is 10%.

Research resultsWe asked our respondents a simple question: "Do you shop online?

If so, how often?" It was asked in order to find out the fact and frequency of online purchases by young people, to identify the relationship with income and gender. The respondents' answers were distributed as follows: "very often I commit (several times a month)" – 25%, "often I commit (1 time a month)" – 21%, "infrequently I commit (1-2 times in two months)" – 31%, "very rarely I commit (1-2 times a year)" – 21%, "I never buy online" – 2% of respondents. This tells us that all young people make purchases one way or another, a total of 45.4% make purchases often and very often, are active buyers of goods on the Internet, 52.6% are inactive buyers. Probably, active buyers consider online purchases as entertainment, inactive ones – they buy only if necessary.

But when distributing responses by gender, it turned out that female respondents shop online more often than male respondents (Fig. 1).

Fig.1. Frequency of purchases by men and women on the Internet

Next, we tried to identify which social media and how often our respondents use it. It turned out that a leading place in the frequency of attendance took the social network Vkontakte, further Stories and the YouTube platform of Google and Yandex. They have the greatest potential to influence the consumer behavior of young people. The least popular among young people were the social networks Pinterest, Twitter, Odnoklassniki and the blog platform Yandex Zen, therefore, they have the least impact on consumption

At the same time, despite the popularity of online shopping (47% of respondents find the advantages of this method of shopping), offline shopping turned out to be the most preferred among the majority of respondents (53%). It may be important for buyers to see the item physically before buying. In addition, going to the mall is also a common form of leisure, which includes not only shopping, but also many other activities, which is much more attractive for most young people.

Young people, as it turned out, closely monitor reviews of certain goods and services. YouTube is the most influential media resource where young people are looking for reviews and reviews, followed by the social network Vkontakte, Stories and Telegram.

During the survey, respondents were asked the question: "Are there such famous personalities in social media (bloggers, singers, athletes, etc.) whose advertising you trust?"  The answers were distributed as follows: 59% – trust opinion leaders and are ready to become potential buyers of what they advertise, 41% – do not trust opinion leaders in social media. At the same time, women trust the advertising of famous people on the Internet more often (51%) than men (35%) (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Are there such famous personalities in social media (bloggers, singers, athletes, etc.) whose advertising you trust? 

The consumer behavior of young people is also influenced by various meanings in publications laid down by other users. Publications in Stories, Vkontakte, YouTube videos and other content in any other social networks for shopping, trips, changing their image, style, etc. inspire young people "often" - 30%, "sometimes, inspire – 53%, "do not inspire" – 17%. Girls are more influenced by someone else's content than boys. 35% of girls are ready to constantly monitor images, change themselves, make financial expenses, just to look "no worse than others", 44% succumb to the influence of other people's images from time to time, and only 2% show firmness and independence in consumer behavior. Young men are more skeptical and independent, less prone to the desire to "be like everyone else": 10% often follow other people's thoughts and images, 36% still sometimes deviate from firm principles, and 23% declare that they will never change their lifestyle and behavior under the influence of someone else's opinion (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Do social media posts inspire you to shop, travel, change your lifestyle, etc.?

Quite an important factor in the formation of consumer behavior of young people are the marks ("likes") of their friends and acquaintances under the publication on social networks. Moreover, for 57% of respondents, the evaluation of a publication by acquaintances significantly increases or decreases interest in content with information ("I like what my friends like on the Internet"), and for 43%, their friends' ratings are "not particularly interesting". But the answers only mean that all respondents are not indifferent to the opinions of other members of social networks, and they have a great influence on consumption. This conclusion is also confirmed by the refusal to purchase something or any service after viewing the feedback of friends on social media: 42% "Often" refuse to consume goods and services in such cases, "infrequently" – 30% "very rarely" – 25% "never" – 3%.

As a result of the analysis of the answers to this question, it was revealed that publications liked by friends arouse more interest among female respondents (women – 50%, men – 38%). (Fig. 4). Accordingly, after viewing the content, women are more likely to refuse purchases with negative ratings (27%) than men (13%).

Fig. 4. Does the mark that your friend appreciated it increase your interest in the publication?

Additionally, the question was asked "How often would you like to repeat what you see in the photos of your friends or acquaintances on a trip / in a fitness club / in new clothes / in the theater, etc.?" in order to find out the significance for respondents of the actions that are revealed in the publications of added friends. The answers were distributed as follows: "often" – 19%, "infrequently" – 34%, "very rarely" – 37%, "never" – 10%. This means that the publications of friends have a fairly large impact on the respondents, thereby influencing their consumer behavior. Female respondents more often would like to repeat what their friends show on the Internet in their publications: often – 23%, infrequently – 25%, rarely – 29%, never - 4%. Similarly, the responses of men are distributed as follows: often – 6%, not often – 26%, rarely – 29%, never - 11% (Figure 5).

Fig. 5. Do you often want to repeat what you see in your friends' posts?

The most influential type of content in social media for young people, according to the survey results, is as follows: "video" – 59%, "photos, pictures" – 29%, "text" – 8%, "audio" – 4%. Thus, for the majority, it is video content that is of the greatest interest, therefore, it is the most influential type of content. The photo content was also quite significant. Audio content turned out to be the least preferred (Fig. 6).

Fig.6. Which social media content is more interesting to you than others?

The question "Do you publish shopping photos on social media?" was asked in order to find out the susceptibility of young people to conspicuous consumption. The answers were distributed as follows: "Yes, I publish regularly" – 8%, "Yes, I publish rarely" – 30%, "No, I do not publish" – 62% (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7. Do you post photos of purchases on social media?

As a result of the analysis of the answers to this question, it was revealed that women are more likely to post photos of purchases on social media.

Conclusions.Modern forms of influence on consumer decisions come from a deep human need for recognition, to be a part of society.

 From the point of view of sociology, consumption is very closely related to the need to belong to a certain consumer stratum. The scope of the consumer's activity, various life situations affect the consumer's need through a system of dispositions. In other words, the importance of consumption of an object is predetermined by a system of value orientations that are determined by the social group (layer) in which the consumer is located. The formation of values currently largely depends on the development of digital technologies, which are increasingly penetrating into various spheres of society, including the sphere of consumption. In the virtual world of the Global Network, today there is a huge variety of social media that have captured almost all spheres of modern human life. Social media really has a strong influence on the consumer behavior of young people.  It is necessary to study modern forms of influence on consumer decisions and find out how much social media influence consumer decisions of young people of different age groups. This will make it possible to take into account their interests and hopes in the formation of social policy.