Social Bookmarking Soulmate

On the quest to finding my social bookmarking soul mate, I searched on the Delicious website. There was no one out there that could relate to my interests. After finding someone that had tagged an article I found interesting, I went to their page of tags. Although they had tagged my article, the rest of their topics were completely unrelated to mine. After a few hours of searching, I took a different approach and decided to search specific tags that brought interesting sites to my attention. Upon doing so, I was much more satisfied with the results.


I typed in consumer behavior and psychology and received a wide variety of sites that related perfectly to my topic. I had succeeded in finding my “tag key word soul mate.” I scrolled down and nearly every article was relevant to potential research in the field of consumer behavior. By doing this, I was exposed to other tags that would make it even easier to find sites of interest. Tags that were grouped with the ones I typed in included: marketing, decision making, emotion, persuasion and branding.


One article that was tagged with the following key words: consumerism, choice, consumer behavior and psychology, I found very useful. Forty-nine other delicious users tagged this article-Six Psychological Reasons Consumer Culture is Unsatisfying It interestingly explored the trend of consumers leaning towards experiential purchases over material items. People now find greater satisfaction with experience based purchases because they are often difficult to compare. The article further explored that material objects are more likely to be re-evaluated as being necessary. After a few days with the product, the consumer might choose to return it. The study concluded that there is less opportunity for re-evaluation and buyer’s remorse with an experiential purchase. (When you pay thousands of dollars for a vacation, you are kind of forced to enjoy it, or else your money is wasted). Another reason was brought to light that I’m sure many people can relate to. As soon as you purchase the latest gadget – a new or cheaper model is brought to the market. This is sure to create customer dissatisfaction and annoyance. (I know this has happened to me on several occasions)


Another article, Consumer Behavior: the Psychology of Marketing had 459 tags (content was actually written by a USC Marshall professor, Fight On!). That article was one that I stumbled on to when I was looking for my social bookmarking soul mate. I explored the users that had tagged that article and I discovered that most of their interests were not similar to mine. To get back to the point, this article was very useful in that it covered all aspects of the psychology behind consumer purchases.


Although I failed in finding a bookmarking soul mate, I did find another useful site to help me participate in research: Delicious.com My readers will definitely be able to find useful AND interesting information relating to consumer behavior. Typing in a couple of relevant key words provides a gateway into an amazing database of resources. The best part is, users have already ranked the usefulness of the site/page, and the researcher (you and me) can gage this by the numbers of times it’s been book-marked. Research has never been easier. Now, the only hard part is actually taking the time to READ through the resources!

2 comments

The following comment was written on "Social Commerce Today" blog. The article was entitled: How Social Commerce Works: The Social Psychology of Social Shopping.

 I thought this was a great article and it brought to light several issues that consumers deal with. Your article did a great job on applying theories to actual phenomenon occurring today. For example your “follow the crowd theorem,” made me analyze several factors that influence our buying action. I believe the iPhone is one item that many people purchased just because the “crowd” was doing the same. I tend to be annoyed by those who do things just because everyone else is doing them. But your article is helping me be a bit more understanding. The social media aspect of marketing has become so crucial because when items are “recommended” by others or we see things as top-rated, the consumer is more inclined to buy those items.

The power of social media and the media in general is playing such a prominent role and your article helps address this. You’ve provided many classic experiments that made me realize the extent to which an individual can be psychologically manipulated. Your article made me recall an episode of the Tonight Show with Conan o Brien where he told his viewers to purchase frivolous, random items (Steven Segal CD, chicken calendar). To his surprise, he attained a huge following and people actually bought what he told them to buy. He then began to recommend items every week. The success of his campaign was apparent when you looked at the “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought…”section; all of them were listed. This just goes to show the power of influence.

Here is the second comment in response to Scientists Find that Low Self-Esteem & Materialism Goes Hand in Hand.  

I think it is extremely unfortunate that materialism affects young children the way it does. Kids are peer pressured into giving into the latest crazes, simply because their friends deem it to be cool.   Unfortunately, if self-esteem is never learned then these habits carry on to adulthood.  I am currently doing research on materialism and its relation to self-esteem.  Your article brought to light that the cost of materialism far extends the cost of the material item itself.  Self-esteem and feelings of self-worth may be far more damaging.  The cost to the environment is another giant to tackle.

The issue of consumerism is really a double-edge sword.  As you mentioned above, purchasing is beneficial and healthy for the economy as a whole, but detrimental to the individual.  The hard part is finding a balance and means of self-control when faced with a purchasing dilemma.  There is definitely a link between esteem and impulse buying.  People compensate for their lack of self-worth through showing off their material goods.  But the momentary gratification soon fades and then they are left with little else.  We just need to remember that our personal value is intrinsic rather than extrinsic.