Life Beyond the Like: Uses & Gratifications of Sharing Business Facebook Page Content

One of the main reasons businesses create a Facebook Page is to solidify relationships with existing customers who are Facebook users and to leverage those relationships to gain new customers. Many studies have asked Facebook users to articulate the gratifications they receive when “liking” a business Facebook Page. These studies help explain what gratifications users gain by connecting to businesses via Facebook. To expand on these findings, the current pilot study applied the uses and gratifications theory to identify Facebook users’ motivations to “share” business Facebook content within their own personal network. Understanding users’ reasons for “sharing” will help businesses better engage and encourage “friends” to spread messages; this act of sharing pushes brand messages outside the business’s immediate network where new potential brand “friends” and potential message sharers reside. The results of the pilot study suggested that users “share” business Facebook content in order to gratify the primary needs of diversion, information, and personal identity. The need for relationships, however, was such a strong driver it functioned within these gratifications rather than independently when “sharing” business Facebook content. Adviser: Ming Wan