SENSIVITY INDEX OF VIRTUAL COMMUNITY CONTENT

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to propose a methodology to examine social commerce using the analysis of factors that shape the perception of social media information by the Internet users. The method used in the study consists in combining the sensitivity index with the formalized observation of the activities of the Vkontakte social network users. Three virtual communities were chosen as tools of social commerce. Post, a virtual community entry with photos, audio or video, is used as an entity. Consequently, three groups of factors that weaken or do not have any substantial effects on the dynamics of the users’ perception of the Internet content are revealed. Factors that strengthen the sensitivity of the content involve content personalization and originality, development of the corporate spirit, emphasis on cohesion of workers and clients. Factors that weaken the content sensitivity are gender stereotypes, falsification of work using photos taken from the Internet, et cet. Factors that do not have any effects include entertainment information, complex promotions, and moderate feminism. These factors allow determining the current state, trends and problems of the social commerce management. The article also provides the author’s interpretation of the content sensitivity curve. The topics for further studies are proposed.