Consumers’ Reliance on Product Information and Recommendations Found in UGC

ABSTRACTIn the time since the advent of the Internet, the influence of online recommendations on consumer decision making has attracted great attention. YouTube and sites with blogging capabilities, such as MySpace and Facebook, are growing rapidly and frequently feature comments about brands and products. These comments, whether positive or negative, represent a form of user-generated content (UGC). Although recent research on peer recommendations considers electronic word of mouth, few studies focus on UGC. Using interviews with 17 participants, this study examines consumers’ opinions of online recommendations embedded in UGC compared with those of producer-generated content.