Because fundamentally, social recognition is a natural human need. On a basic level, wanting acknowledgement from peers online does not come from a different place to wanting the same in person. However, online, this recognition is public – which introduces the dynamic of gaining acknowledgements from friends and family into the world of the wider public eye.
There is a strong consumer priority placed in online social acknowledgement. Dominant part of the social media users agree that they like when people acknowledge their posts, photos and comments.
Source: nVision Research | Base: 1000-5000 online respondents per country aged 16-64 (Indonesia & S. Africa 16-54), 2015 February
Disagree strongly
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Agree strongly
Consumers’ need to share easily an exciting self-generated content is a driver not only for social media behaviours whilst travelling, but for choice of destination and activity even before travelling.
Consumer Capital Trend
This trend comes at the dawn of consumer awareness of their own value to brands when it comes to social media.
Consumers are responding to brands in turn to capitalise on the situatuion, from making complaints to becoming brands amabassadors
Increasingly consumers are aware of a different type of exchange of online capital: the personal data
Reasons to authorize a company to use your personal data
So that they can provide special offers / discounts relevant to things I like
So that they can provide me with personal recommendations for products I might like to buy
So that they can provide me with helpful advice and tips relevant to me personally
So that they can learn from my previous purchases / … and better tailor their services to me as a result
So that they can provide me with funny or amusing content
Source: nVision Research │ Base: 1000 online respondents per country aged 16-64 (Brazil, Italy, Spain 16-54 / China, India 16-44), 2014 September
Peer Power
How consumers are forming communities today and how they are beginning to perceive communitarian values?
The online peer groups are highly influential to consumers, whether it be their own personal networks or the wider world of consumer reviewers, travel bloggers and similar.
There is a strong belief that peer sources are both more relevant and more authentic.
Consumers can seek out “someone like me” and be inspired on their own terms.
What is truly being demanded is a sense of validated aspiration that comes from selecting a trusted, non-corporate brand.
Brands can borrow the existing trust in peers by fashioning themselves as more peer-driven, start-up-friendly or even simply entrepreneurial than traditional institutions
Connected communities
The connected communities trend examines the specific willingness consumer have to engage with strangers. Whilst our global cohort of travellers has been shown to be extraordinarily risk-averse in attitude, certain behaviours feel almost like exceptions: the prevalence of Airbnb on the guest and host side, the success of online hashtag-driven meetups, the ongoing staying power of hostels.
% of respondents who used or are interested in a peer-to-peer household item lending service or rideshare carpooling service.
Source: nVision Research | Base: 1000-2000 online respondents per country aged 16-64 (Indonesia & S. Africa 16-54), February 2015
Millenials
Gen X
Baby Boomers
Across markets, high interest and uptake levels can be seen in Millennials in particular; Japan is the only exception. This contradicts a particular youthful attitude that is stereotypical of the Millennial generation: a market openness towards this level of shared service with peer strangers.
Real face-to-face peer contact is an excellent intersection of many crucial consumer needs in travel: authenticity, adventure, spontaneity, learning, shareability and ultimately something to remember
Real face-to-face peer contact is an excellent intersection of many crucial consumer needs in travel: authenticity, adventure, spontaneity, learning, shareability and ultimately something to remember
Asking solo airplane travellers their conversation level preferences when they book, so that they can be seated with like-minded solo travellers is just one possibility that would attract customers