When Online Visibility Deters Social Interaction: The Case of Digital Gifts

Abstract

One of the defining features of online social networks is that users’ actions are visible to other users. In this paper, we argue that such visibility can have a detrimental effect on users’ willingness to exchange digital gifts. Gift giving is an intimate activity that comes with social risk, and the public nature of online environments can deter interactions that usually occur in smaller, more intimate settings. To study the effects of online visibility on the decision to give, we analyze a unique dataset from a large online social network that offers users the option of buying a digital gifting service. We find that purchase rates of the service increased with the number of ties that users kept on the network, but decreased with the extent to which those ties were connected to each other. We argue that the latter effect is due to the fact that, when a user's ties are connected, any gift sent between the user and one tie is visible to their mutual contacts. We explore how characteristics of users’ networks moderate the effect of online visibility, and argue that firms should take consumer network structure into account when designing digital products and promoting engagement online.

Impact of the Price of Gifts From Patients on Physicians’ Service Quality in Online Consultations: Empirical Study Based on Social Exchange Theory

“…Our study contributes new knowledge in several key ways. First, despite previous research about the impact of online gifts in social networks and live broadcast platforms [33,[52][53][54][55], few scholars have paid attention to the gifts provided in online health communities. Furthermore, research related to gift-giving behaviors in an online health community verified that online gifts from patients could improve the speed of physicians' answers during the consultation [8], but ignored the potential effect of gift price.…”

Conspicuous political brand interactions on social network sites

“…inconspicuous), also that visibility hinders brand interaction (Shmargad and Watts 2016). However in contrast to prior knowledge of the self-concept was the lack of interaction between visibility levels (conspicuous versus inconspicuous) and the proximity to the undesired social-self (close versus distant).…”

“…However, their study focused on positive guiding selves, neglecting the role of the undesired selves. The increased visibility of gift giving through SNS, caused by greater density in social ties, resulted in a reduction of gift purchase due to increased scrutiny and social surveillance (Shmargad and Watts, 2016). Importantly, conspicuous consumption on SNS largely occurs in the presence of 'context collapse', where interactions are viewed simultaneously by an imagined audience of multiple others with different expectations of a desired image (Marwick and Boyd, 2011;Vitak, 2012).…”

Learning Social Media Content Optimization: How Can SMEs Draw the Users' Attention on Official WeChat Accounts?

“…In Yang and Kent (2014), "Visibility refers to the public presence of an individual or organization in the media, and has an influence on organizational perceptions in times of crisis, buying preferences, and trust." In Shmargad and Watts (2016), the visibility is that one's actions are visible to other users in the media. In Osch and Steinfield (2018), visibility is defined as the relative ease with which, a user could locate relevant information and individuals within the organization.…”

“…In Drèze and Zufryden ( 2004 ), visibility is “the extent to which a user is likely to come across a reference to a company's website in his or her online or of?ine environment.” In Li et al ( 2019 ), the term “social visibility” refers to the visibility of the product's consumption or usage to one's interpersonal networks online or offline. In Yang and Kent ( 2014 ), “Visibility refers to the public presence of an individual or organization in the media, and has an influence on organizational perceptions in times of crisis, buying preferences, and trust.” In Shmargad and Watts ( 2016 ), the visibility is that one's actions are visible to other users in the media. In Osch and Steinfield ( 2018 ), visibility is defined as the relative ease with which, a user could locate relevant information and individuals within the organization.…”