Facebook users are not influenced by their Friends? ?Likes?, says Harvard study

by Swati on December 25th, 2011

Facebook is getting sued for its ?Like? button feature, that shows site users the brands and products that their friends like. According to the US District court, these advertisements violate California law on commercial endorsements, which prohibits the non-consensual use of a person?s name, voice, signature, and photograph for advertising purposes.

However, if the recent research conducted by researchers at the Harvard university is to be believed, then Facebook?s advertising ?mission that aims to influence users to like or endorse brands that their friends ?like? is going to fizzle out soon. According to this study, Facebook users befriend people with common interests, but do not adopt the tastes and likes of their friends.

To conduct this research, Harvard scientists tracked the Facebook activity of hundreds of college students over four years. Information about the social networking activities of these students, including who they were ?friends? with, and what they ?liked? online was collected annually. This data was then combined with academic and housing data on each of the students.

According to the researchers, students who shared particular tastes in music and movies were likely to befriend one another, instead of these tastes passing from one friend to another.

?In the past three years we?ve been pounded over the head with the idea that everything spreads and everything is contagious, and your peers can influence you in so many ways. Students who share some tastes in music and in movies are indeed more likely to become friends, but it?s very rarely the case that students adopt the preferences of their friends,? explains researcher Kevin Lewis of Harvard University.

This Harvard study debunks the commonly held belief among advertisers and marketers that Facebook users can influence others and encourage their friends to ? Like? the things that they ?Like?. However, considering the complexity of analyzing social networking data and the online behavior of Facebook users, one cannot say how accurate and reliable these study results would be.

So, what do you think about this study? Share your ideas in the comments.

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