What makes UGC more popular on social media platforms? Insights from information adoption theory

Wei Zhuang, Qingfeng Zeng, Yu Zhang, Dijia Lin and Weiguo Fan

Behaviour and Information Technology, 2025, vol. 44, issue 8, 1521-1538

Abstract: It is becoming an important marketing strategy for enterprises to utilise user-generated content (UGC) to build brands and promote products on social media platforms, but little is known about the influence mechanism of the popularity of UGC related to brands and products. Drawing upon information adoption theory, this study developed a conceptual model to explain what makes UGC more popular in social media context. Using a dataset of 16,974 records related to the UGC about products from Xiaohongshu app, the most popular user experience sharing platform in China, the empirical study indicates that factors extracted from information quality and source credibility have significant effects on UGC popularity. Interestingly, text length and strength of text sentiment have different effects moderated by product types. In addition, media richness may lead to information redundancy and weaken the effect of text length. The findings offer an insightful understanding into the mechanism of utilising UGC in product marketing on social media platforms.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2024.2361835

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