Media Impact of Online News and Blogs Depending on Product Type: Focusing on Popular Products

초록

Consumers today get information from online news and social media. Based on Web data, this study finds out how information activity in these two media, which differ by product type, influences consumer search behaviors and their sales. There are two types of information: information on hedonic goods and that on utilitarian goods. The study examines the amount of media information in online news and blogs provided by Naver, the most popular search engine in Korea. The diffusion pattern of information and the correlation among media activity, search traffic, and sales by product types through time-series regression analysis. Analysis results indicated that information diffusion pattern on the Web by product type resembled the demand life cycle of the product mentioned in previous studies. The relation between media activity and product slightly differed depending on product types. Search traffic of utilitarian goods showed higher correlation with information diffusion pattern of online news than with information diffusion pattern of blogs, while search traffic of hedonic goods showed higher correlation with information diffusion pattern of blogs than with information diffusion pattern of online news. Thus, the study confirmed that, for the purpose of drawing consumer interest and increase sales, objective information is more influential than empirical information for products with strong utilitarian properties, while empirical information is more effective than objective information for products with strong hedonic properties. Accordingly, business strategies using existing media as well as social media should be devised with an understanding for selective media activity by consumers depending on the properties of the product in focus.

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