CIA 1

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Under the guidance of

Prof. Sivakantha Setty

CHRIST (DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY), BANGALORE

December 2021

Done by:

SHEETAL RANI

SECTION – N

REGISTRATION NO. – 2128151

 TITLE

The extent to which implementation of “dislike” button and “pay-for-like”

button can increase the attractiveness of Facebook as a medium of advertisements.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The research aims to provide Facebook with new features that has the potential
to attract more users and advertisers. This is research is comprehensive research. It
analyzes the situation and also the response received from the target audience in
the market on new functions like ‘Dislike’ which are socially urged.

The ne functions such as ‘Dislike’ and ‘Pay-for-Like’ are technically possible as

suggested by this study. A similar function ‘Like’ already exists in Facebook, and
not to forget ‘Dislike’ button already exists in YouTube. Thus, indicating no need
of new innovation in technology. The new payment method might require a new
system of data counting for charging the advertisers according to the number of
likes. But the database required to analyze the charging system already exists i.e
no. of ‘likes’ in the advertisements. Thus, indication there is no need of new
servers in the system to implement the features.

Furthermore, the research is ready to go as soon as the grant approval is received

as the research is based on the database of the existing Facebook users. It saves
time and effort to search target respondents.
 INTRODUCTION

Facebook is the leading American social media platform providing social media
networking services. Facebook is owned Meta Platforms. It was founded by Mark
Zuckerberg in 2004. It consists of a massive depository of data that records both
our reactions to events and the evolving customs with the scope that the historians
only imagine. The website preserves the images of millions of users lives for all the
social researchers.

Other than Facebook “Google+”, “twitter” and “Instagram” are few other
examples of social media platforms. Generally speaking, the goal of all these
platforms is to build social relations and networks for mutual benefits and
gratification. All these social media platforms promote the idea of self-expression
through the features provided by them and involve people in different kinds of
communication on their platform. Looking at the large user base of these platforms
it is a very popular place for advertisers and companies to post their ads in order to
promote their products and services.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The negativity effect and user behavior on Facebook and Social Networking
Society is developing at a fast rate with the help of emerging new technologies
and as a part of it, social networking can be seen as one of its components. This has
not only provided people with the opportunity to express themselves but has also
enabled the chance of creating a wide circle of relationships while managing their
intimacy and privacy. This has made the business sector to enter deep into the field
of social networking and use it as its weapon towards success which is not hidden
from anyone. The advertisements of brands and companies to display their
products and services can be seen on every social media platform, let alone
Facebook. Some advocate this to be the inevitable trend of development as
suggested by some theories in social psychology such as Negativity Effect.
Especially advertisers’ benefit from this as it suggests that placing advertisements
on social media platforms can result into adverse effects to their products and even
the overall revenue of the company. Some users may react to these posts and
advertisements with dislikes and negative comments, and they are termed as
“haters” according to the Negativity Effect.

The opportunities brought from ‘Like’, ‘Comments’ and the proposed

‘Dislike’ button
The development of biased consumer psychology may not be a favorable factor
attracting more advertisers towards Facebook, but it can turn out to be a fruitful
opportunity if they are able to handle it in a positive manner. It has the potential to
turn into a powerful tool for strategic brand management and advertisement, even
facing the negativity effect. The “dislike” button is an additional way for the users
to express themselves even if it is a negative point of view. This is a way of
encouraging the users to contribute more into the involvement towards the
platform.

At present Facebook only allow users to only “like” and “comment” on the
platform. The users who are willing to express negative thoughts usually do it
through comments. The purpose of introducing a “dislike” button is to potentially
increase the involvement on the platform with just one click. Not to ignore the fact
that this might have its own advantages and disadvantages.
 ‘Like’, ‘Dislike’ and ‘Comment’ – all are appealing to advertisers
‘Like’, ‘Dislike’ and ‘Comment’ are all features provided by Facebook and are
used in campaigns and advertisements by advertisers to evaluate the involvement
of the viewers and the impact being created. The average number of ‘Likes’ and
‘Comments’ generated daily by the users can be approximated to about 2.7 billion.
These are some of the indicators of ‘involvement’ which is explained in the Theory
of Involvement by Muehling, Laczniak & Andrews, 1999. ‘Involvement’ can be
defined as the measure of the effectiveness of communication to the target
audience. The more the number of responses, reflects that a greater number of
Facebook Users have viewed and assessed the advertisements. ‘Like’ button can be
an indicator of true and successful transmission of message through
advertisements. Thus, the new payment method “pay-for-likes” is suggested by the
research which will attract more advertisers after they look at the reach to the
estimated number of target customers. This means, the more the number of ‘Likes’,
the more payment made by the advertisers on each single advertisement made of
the platform.

Google advertising, its type and revenue – the main competitor of Facebook
The range of advertisement display at Google very wide as compared to its
competitors. The types of Google ads that are usually found are, ‘Text Ads’,
‘Image Ads’, and ‘Ads in video ’on YouTube and ‘Ads in mobile web of games’.
One of the main causes of Google’s position at the top of social networking sector
is the enhanced and effective performance in providing such wide range of
advertisements.
 OBJECTIVE

Facebook doesn’t perform the best in attracting traffic to the advertisements

placed on it. This created the need to increase the overall advertising revenue of
Facebook and its financial performance. This is one of the few unattractive features
of Facebook that often doesn’t come into the limelight. As a result, we have
divided our objective into the following two parts:
1. General objective: To find out ways that can increase the attractiveness
of advertisements posted on Facebook.
2. Specific objectives:
a. To study the implementation of a “dislike” button and its
effectiveness to increase the traffic towards advertisements posted
on Facebook.
b. To study the implementation of a new feature “pay-for-like” in
attracting more advertisers towards Facebook.

HYPOTHESIS

1. PART I: The heavy users, especially the younger section of Facebook

users with higher click ratio are more likely to click on an advertisement
if displayed with a “dislike” button.
a. Dependent variables:
i. The click ratio before the implementation of the “dislike”
button. ii. The click ratio after the implementation of the
“dislike” button.
b. Independent variables:
i. Age of the Facebook User
 1. Classification: Interval Variable
2. Age groups: There are five age groups-
a. Under 18
b. From 19 to 25
c. From 26 to 35
d. From 36 to 45
e. Above 45
ii. Gender of the Facebook User
1. Classification: Nominal Variable
2. Gender types: Male or Female iii.
Occupation of the Facebook User
1. Classification: Nominal Variable iv.
Time spend on Facebook
1. Classification: Interval Variable
2. Four groups:
a. Under one hour
b. From one to three hours
c. From three to five hours
d. Above five hours
e.
2. PART II: The products of the advertisers which match the population of
Facebook users tend to show interest in advertising on the platform if
provided with lower interest rates on changing the payment system.
a. Introduction of a new payment system
i. Variables: Budget, Preference, Product, Target Market, and,
Type of Business
1. Budget
 a. Classification: Interval Variable
b. Eight groups:
i. Under $1 per $100 sales
ii. From $1 to $10 per $100 sales
iii. From $11 to $20 per $100 sales iv. From $21 to $30 per $100 sales v. From
$31 to $40 per $100 sales vi. From $41 to $50 per $100 sales vii. From $51 to
$60 per $100 sales
viii. Above $61 per $100 sales
2. Type of business (Nominal variable)
3. Preferred way of advertising – via internet or not
(Nominal variable)

RESEARCH DESIGN

Type of research design: exploratory design

Aim: to discover and implement the new features i.e., “dislike” button and
“payfor-like” button. It also aims to understand the motivation, attitude and
behavior of the Facebook Users.
Type of research method used: Quantitative Research
Aim: to find the relationship between variables and hypothesis using
mathematical and statistical techniques.
The main emphasis: Administering formal standardized and predetermined
response questions to the number of respondents.
Target Respondents: Facebook users and advertisers on Facebook Survey
methods:
1. Online survey methods: Data collection through online survey methods
are usually cheaper than the other survey methods.
a. Web based surveys: The surveys are posted on a particular site
where the respondents submit their responses.
b. E-mail surveys: This is a self-administered technique of data
collection. Also called as “mass-mailing”. It relatively takes a
shorter period of time.
c. Facebook invitations and events: This can be used to reach out a
large number of people on the platform.

2. Telephone administered methods: In this survey method telephone

technology is being used to perform question-and-answer exchange with
the respondents.
a. Text-based formats
b. Voice-based formats
c. Combination of both

3. Mail panel survey: The questionnaire is sent to the advertisers who have
agreed to proceed for the research. They are also promised that this
research has the potential to increase the response rates and directly reach
the target audience.

4. Fax survey: In this method the questionnaire is sent to the companies and
advertisers by a fax machine.
5. Experiment: This experiment is done to study the cause-effect
relationship of the variables. The first step of the experiment is to provide
 a “pay-for-like” feature for the advertisers and reduce the price-per-unit of
advertisement to attract more advertisers to participate in the experiment.
The second step is to give them the choice of three payment methods and
evaluate which one attracts a greater number of advertisers. This will also
help to evaluate which type of products are best for the “pay-for-like”
feature.

ASSUMPTIONS

TIMEFRAME

The following timeframe is assumed to be the working schedule to carry out the
research. The aim is to finish the research within a quarter due to the short product
lifecycle of social media industry and rapid development in technology. A short
work schedule helps to ensure the accuracy and representation of the data collected
from the respondents.

Time/period Task Task

Category
Week 1 Preparation Getting familiar with the subjects and setting up
the database
Week 1 Data Searching the participants
collection
Week 2 to 7 Data Conducting the survey and collecting data
collection
Week 7 to 8 Data Summarization of the survey
collection
Week 8 Transition Database transmission
Week 9 to 11 Data Analysis Processing data by statistical models
Week 11 to Data Analysis Analyzing data and generating result
12
Week 12 Data Analysis Final report formation

BUDGET

REFERENCES

1. Ahluwalia, R. (2002, September). How Prevalent Is the Negativity Effect in

Consumer Environments? Journal of Consumer Research, Vol.29, Issue 2,
270-279
2. Muehling, D. D. , Laczniak, R. N. , & Andrews, J. C. (1993). Defining,
operationalizing, and using involvement in advertising research: A review.
Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 15 (1), 21-57
3. LaPointe, P. (2012). Measuring Facebook’s Impact on Marketing : The
Proverbial Hits the Fan. Journal of Advertising Research, Vol.52, No. 3,
286-287.
4. Lipsman, A., Mudd, G., Rich, M. & Bruich, S. (2012). The Power of Like:
How Brands Reach (and Influence) Fans through Social-Media Marketing.
Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 52, No. 1, 40-52.
5. Holiday, R. (2012, May 17). Why I Lost My Faith In Facebook Advertising.
Forbes, Leadership, CMO Network. Retrieved from:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanholiday/2012/05/17/why-i-lost-my-faith-
infacebook-advertising/
6. Peck, R. (2012, August 27). How Facebook Could Generate $7 Billion In
Extra Revenue. Business Insider, Tech. Retrieved from:
http://www.businessinsider.com/five-huge-revenue-opportunities-
forfacebook-2012-8
7. ZenithOptimedia. (2011, December). Report: Google Controls 44 Percent Of
Global Online Advertising. Retrieved from:
http://searchengineland.com/report-google-controls-44-percent-of-
globalonline-advertising-103743

PLAGERISM REPORT