Internet Users’ Attitudes Towards Advertising on Facebook

Web 2.0 has created new ways of communicating and searching for information and products via social media, which include social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, and video sharing sites such as YouTube. Statistics show that SNS and blogs account for 23% of the time Americans spend on the Internet (Nielsen, 2011). Females between the ages of 18-34 outweigh males as the most active social networkers, making up the majority of visitors on SNS and blogs (Nielsen, 2011). Currently, there are more than 150 SNS; in May 2011, Facebook was ranked first, with over 140 million unique visitors in the US, followed by Blogger and Twitter (Nielsen, 2011). The rate of penetration of companies in the online social networking scene has increased dramatically in the last few years. Companies use SNS as advertising platforms. Recent statistics show that, in the US, advertising spending on SNS is expected to reach $3 billion, an increase of 55% compared to 2010 (eMarketer, 2011). This figure is expected to rise by almost a third in 2012, and reach $4 billion (eMarketer, 2011). In the UK, advertising spending on social media (for banner ads) accounted for £240m in 2011 (IAB UK, 2012). Statistics also show that Facebook’s global revenues from advertising are expected to reach $5.7 billion in 2012, while MySpace’s worldwide ad revenues are expected to reach $156 million in 2012 (eMarketer, 2011). This study examines attitudes towards Facebook sponsored ads by modelling key determinants including Facebook users’ attitude towards advertising on Facebook, their attitude towards Facebook and their level of attention.