Do social media influence my purchasing choices?

It is given in today’s world that our lives have become more digitalized than in the past. As years go by, it becomes more and more apparent that many services are starting to be transferred into the digital world. Among them is online shopping and advertising as well. Advertisers have now the opportunity to promote their products via social media. Thus, internet users are exposed to thousands of advertisements daily. However, it still remains a controversial issue whether this practice has positive or negative effects in the purchasing process.

It goes without saying that online shopping has gained ground the last years. Especially during covid -times where the stores were closed, online advertising and shopping helped many sellers not to become unemployed and go bankrupt. The main source that sellers utilized were social media. In particular, through them, they had the opportunity to influence people’s purchasing choices easily, cheaply and fast. Even the smaller companies and brands took part in this competitive game. For instance, it was much easier for them to promote their products via Instagram rather than hire a marketing expert so as to help them with advertisements. Someone could argue that this selection could be considered a clever one, since the popularity of social media is ahead of television and billboards.

Nevertheless, opponents of this practice claim that online advertising, most of times, comes into conflict with the law or privacy. To be specific, social media collect information of their users concerning their age, preferences and needs. These data are purchased by companies in order to promote advertisements, which correspond to users’ personal desires. Moreover, the number of advertisements that deluge the internet is enormous. According to a recent study, just 85% of social media users claim that they come into contact with online advertising more than regularly. Related to this reality is the fact that many apps provide the opportunity to get rid of those kinds of stimuli only by paying a fee.

All in all, taking all the aforementioned into consideration I believe that both sides make a point. To a certain extent, advertisements do really have positive effects to sellers, but also can influence customers negatively, since consumerism constitutes one of the biggest problems of humanity. Thus, in my opinion, it is up to each person to make conscious choices and filter the information while browsing the web.

Evgenia Polyzoni ECPE Lampraki