SOCIAL MEDIA, COMMERCIALIZATION, AND THE CONTROL OF INFORMATION

Abstract

Much of the research on mobile social media has focused on end-consumer users of the technologies (e.g. Frith, 2013; Humphreys, 2007; Lindqvist, Cranshaw, Wiese, Hong, & Zimmerman, 2011). There has been a shift, however, in the categorization of users. Foursquare, like other social media, has begun attending to the business side of their user-base, that is, business owners or managers who use social media to connect with their customers. As of 2014, there were over 1,500,000 businesses on Foursquare (Foursquare, 2014). While emerging research examines how businesses adopt social media (e.g. Nah & Saxton, 2013; Vaast & Kaganer, 2013), the current study explores these business users in relation to issues of social media, commercialization, and privacy.