Factors influencing users' attitude towards display advertising on Facebook

Background: Researchers have investigated display advertising in the past several years from different perspectives but only in connection to traditional Web sites and not specifically for social networking sites. Facebook is the most prominent social networking site in terms of number of users and its main source of revenue is its online advertising business. Having display advertising in their virtual space is the reason why social networks are able to offer free service and as such the need to understand how users perceive it arises The most important way of understanding users’ perceptions about the advertis- ing messages is by studying attitudes. In order to understand the attitudes toward Facebook display advertising, it is necessary to examine the factors that affect the attitude-toward-the-ad. Ad perceptions, ad credibility, attitude toward advertisers, attitude toward advertising and mood have been identified by previous researchers as clearly influencing the attitude toward specific ads. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate user’s attitude toward display advertising on Facebook by identifying the main factors that influence the formation of attitudes. Method: In order to fulfill the purpose and uncover the main factors that influence the attitude towards display advertising on Facebook, a qualitative research has been conducted. Both a primary and a secondary data search was per- formed. The primary data was collected by carrying out semistructured interviews with students at Jönköping University which resulted in a number of 20 respondents. The secondary data was gathered through the use of the resources available at the university library, both digital and paper based. Internet Web sites have also been reviewed when needed. Conclusions: The authors found that users display an accepting, positive attitude toward display advertising on Facebook. There have been identified five main fac- tors influencing Facebook users’ attitude and these are ad credibility, ad perceptions, attitude toward the advertiser, informativeness and lack of irritation. Moreover, the informativeness factor was found to have the greatest influence in terms of the behavior Facebook users have toward display advertising.