Facebook Advertising: The New Way to Reach College Students?

In lieu of an abstract, below is the first paragraph of the paper. Facebook is an online community that serves to connect students through networks based on their college, university, or similar interests. It was launched in February of 2004 by then-Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, who was interested in creating a network for Harvard students only (The Facebook. 2005). However, so many students signed up that by the fall of 2005, there are over four million college and university students at over 2,500 different schools in different states, territories, and countries around the world "facebooking" each other (The Facebook. 2005). After expanding nation-wide, Facebook creators decided to start selling advertisements on their site in order to make a profit. Facebook then joined the thousands of other websites available online featuring the newest form of advertising: online ads. This article is available in The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research: http://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/ur/vol8/iss1/5 Facebook Advertising: The New W a y to Reach College Students? Erin Dorney Introduction: Facebook is an online community that serves to connect students through networks based on their college, university, or similar interests. It was launched in February of 2004 by then-Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, who was interested in creating a network for Harvard students only (The Facebook. 2005). However, so many students signed up that by the fall of 2005, there are over four million college and university students at over 2,500 different schools in different states, territories, and countries around the world "facebooking" each other (The Facebook. 2005). After expanding nation-wide, Facebook creators decided to start selling advertisements on their site in order to make a profit. Facebook then joined the thousands of other websites available online featuring the newest form of advertising: online ads. Are online advertising trends targeting the major market of college students through methods like Facebook effective and necessary? Are students more or less annoyed with online Facebook ads than traditional online ads? Is online the next prime-time player in advertising? These are some questions that this study of college students aims to address. The thorough examination of Facebook use and advertising practices, as well as the discussion of a student sample survey, results in the discussion of online ads as the most up and coming form of advertising. Because few to no studies have been conducted regarding Facebook (as it is such a new form of media, only about 18 months old), most literature refers to online advertising and college markets in general. Theoretical Perspective: As the popularity of online advertising increases, communication professionals continue to look for ways to explain consumer behavior. One theory that supports the idea of Internet advertising is the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. Developed in the 1980s by Richard E. Petty and John T. Cacioppo, the elaboration likelihood model states that messages are transmitted and received through one of two routes of persuasion: central or peripheral (Moore, 2001). The model was created to explain how persuasive messages alter or change the attitudes of the receiver. According to the model, if people receive messages through the central route, they are easily persuaded by the strength of the message's content. Users have to be motivated to think about the message, able to process the message, and the argument must be strong (Moore, 2001). The peripheral route, on the other hand, states that if receivers are not persuaded by the message, they may be persuaded by the factors surrounding the message; factors that have nothing to do with the content of the message (Moore, 2001). These two different yet equally important routes can be seen in context of Facebook advertising. First, online advertising sales are based on click rates. Click rates are simply the number of times an ad is clicked on from a certain site (whether the person clicking on the ad purchases the item is irrelevant). Websites use these numbers to draw in their advertisers, resulting in profits for the website. Advertisers need to design their ads to draw the most clicks possible, bringing people to the product or service they are offering. Websites need to make ads accessible in order to fulfill click rate quotas to their advertisers. Facebook uses central and peripheral routes to fulfill both of these roles. Some Facebook users will click on advertisements because they like what they see. The product will be interesting or necessary enough, or the ad will be intriguing enough, for them to spend a few minutes investigating it more thoroughly. These users are being persuaded through the central route, simply by the content of the message. However, other users will take a more peripheral approach. Facebook is the newest fad to hit campuses across the country. With over four million members logging in multiple times per day, Facebook is becoming an obsession (Facebook. 2005). Students feel compelled to log online and check their friend lists and comment walls. Because of this, there is a sense of security and almost an addiction to the community networking service. This sense of security sometimes leads users to click on ads that they are