Designing social network application specialized for word ... · influence of word-of-mouth marketing. Also, a time limit of 3 seconds is set for word-of-mouth videos. A time as short

Designing social network application specialized for word-of-mouth video sharing to reflect the latest

youth trends

Arisa Fujinoki Graduate School of Information Sciences and Arts

Toyo University Tokyo, Japan

[email protected]

Takayuki Fujimoto Graduate School of Information Sciences and Arts

Toyo University Tokyo, Japan

[email protected]

Abstract—The word-of-mouth information is becoming indispensable to our life. In recent years, we have not heard it directly, however the number of the opportunities to see it on the Internet has increased. It is now often the case that the items introduced by the users with great influence disappear from the store shelves. The word-of-mouth information has great power to influence our buying behavior now and so did it in the past. Many websites and applications regarding the word-of-mouth information have been released. Social networking sites (SNSs) are one kind of them. However, out of a number of the word-of-mouth reviews, there are false reviews that companies or vendors have made. They are not reliable because they are not real consumers' voices. However, in regards to a text review, it is difficult to judge whether the review was written by a company or a real consumer.

In this research, we propose an SNS application that takes 3 seconds video method. By utilizing the video content, the method prevents the system from the spread of fake reviews based on marketing strategies and it leads to improve the reliability and accuracy of the word-of-mouth videos. By setting a time limit of 3 seconds, it is possible to pick up only the users’ first impressions of the products. Through this research, we aim to encourage consumer purchasing behavior to be more active.

Keywords—IT Introduction; Information design; smartphone app; SNS; video; word-of-mouth; purchasing behavior

I. INTRODUCTION When consumers purchase products or select restaurants,

they often refer to word-of-mouth sites. Since the posting is a voluntary action of consumers, it cannot be said that objectivity is high. Therefore even with the same goods, it goes without saying that there are reviews with both of good reputation and bad reputation. However, out of them, there are reviews based on stealth marketing / word-of-mouth marketing using agencies, and advertising reviews by sellers. While reliability is regarded as important for the word-of-mouth, it has a harmful effect on purchasing behavior if there are non-consumer-based reviews. Also, since the review is character information, it is difficult to judge whether it is a real word-of-mouth that a consumer posted. Besides that, although the text reviewer can describe

the detail, it also can often be redundant and the review is not very intuitive.

There are two major problems regarding today's word-of-mouth information.

⑴There is a pseudo-review that is not a genuine consumer post.

⑵Accuracy disparity due to expressive power of sentences

In order to solve the above two problems, this research proposes social networking site (SNS) application based on video method. By using the video for the word-of-mouth information, it is possible to prevent the system from the influence of word-of-mouth marketing. Also, a time limit of 3 seconds is set for word-of-mouth videos. A time as short as 3 seconds tends to convey intuitive impressions and can provide more accurate information than sentences. For product search, a barcode reader by a camera equipped on a smartphone is used. By scanning the barcode, the user can view and post word-of-mouth information on the item.

The main users of SNS of this research are supposed to be a digital native generation. Regarding word-of-mouth videos, we recommend postings in which the user shows his or her face to ensure reliability. In the digital native generation, there is little resistance to show their faces. In addition, they have great information transmission capabilities. We supposed that it is possible to provide proper information for consumers and to activate their purchasing behavior by combining these factors.

II. BACKGROUND Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have

spread widely all over the world during the past few years. Since their screens are large and operability is superior, browsing of the websites is now easier than before. This availability greatly improved the convenience of our lives. Consumers use the different devices according to the place or by time of day, and there are environments where people can get the goods that they want anytime anywhere.

Int'l Conf. on Advances on Applied Cognitive Computing | ACC'18 | 17

ISBN: 1-60132-470-7, CSREA Press ©

There is also a change in the way of consumer purchasing behavior. The previous general procedure was a purchase after checking the details of the desired item on the official website. However, there are few cases in which information is collected from just one media recently. Many people collect information from multiple media such as word-of-mouth sites, SNSs, and portal applications.

Many people use SNSs as media for information gathering. It is the merit of information gathering on SNSs that information on "real customers’ opinion" is updated in "real-time". Users can acquire all kinds of information around the world. The SNS postings updated timely are precious information source. There is also certain kind of information that can be obtained only by SNSs, for example, too niche information to be taken up for the usual news. As the postings can be updated immediately, SNSs meet the users' needs to obtain the latest information.

III. PURPOSE

A. Possibility of video method There are many cases where people refer to the word of

mouth on the Internet when purchasing items. In fact, word-of-mouth information is useful in many ways. Since the expression method is only by characters, plenty of information can be shared, but it cannot be said to be intuitive. Detailed information is certainly important. However what consumers are asking for is whether the product is good or bad. Therefore, in this research we propose to share word-of-mouth information with 3-second video method. By setting a short time limit of 3 seconds, the users will be able to convey only frank thoughts and evaluations for products. Because the restriction is set up by default, it becomes easier to extract information that consumers are really seeking.

In addition, out of word-of-mouth reviews, there are many fake reviews that are not posted by the real consumers, for example there are advertisement reviews, affiliate reviews, reviews on stealth marketing, and etc. This kind of information is posted for the benefit of companies or individuals and it is not truly useful for consumers. If the word of mouth takes a video method, it becomes difficult to post those kind of fake word-of-mouth reviews.

B. Synergy between SNS and word-of-mouth SNSs have several merits. The remarkable point is that the

users can share the sense of close distance each other. Of course, people who really know each other can communicate as friends, and the users can communicate even with someone anonymous, just because of having the same hobby. There are also some SNSs on which celebrities, presidents of well-known companies or politicians have accounts. Since the users can see famous people’s everyday life, the common users can have close feeling and familiarity to the famous users. On SNSs, by using not only the comment function but also the direct message function, more intimate communication is also possible. From these, word of mouth shared on SNSs from the familiar people will increase consumers' purchase motivation

many times more than the advertisements directed to the unspecified majority on television or magazines.

By multiplying SNSs and word of mouth, it is possible to drive the big markets at less cost. In recent years, more and more people have spent money for rather "experience" than "possession". How to approach is important to make the economy goes well and revitalize consumption behavior.

IV. RECENT SNS APPLICATIONS

A. Popular service among digital natives Out of recently released applications, there are many

applications that have become popular on a global scale. Among these services, there are also services that have aspects as the video SNS like one that we proposed in this research.

• Tik Tok

Active users: Approximately 100 million people

It is a 15 seconds-video sharing application. The user can shoot, process and share videos. What are shared are lip sync videos. The users take self-shots and match their lip movements with vocal music. Approximately 85% of the users are said to be 24 years old or younger, and the average total number of the video play of the day exceeds 1 billion. The user can post the videos easily because 15 seconds set for the video is short and he or she can save the shooting time and editing time greatly. Among many teen users, 15 seconds means convenience that they can shoot at break between classes casually. The audience can also view 15 seconds-videos at small pockets of time. "Toutiao", Tik Tok’s company acquired a similar preceding application’s company, "musical.ly" in November, 2017 and gathered more users and public attention.

• Instagram

Active users: Approximately 800 million people

Fig. 2. Screen of “Tik Tok”

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It is a photo/video sharing application. Many users send postings or their daily lives or postings of specified genres such as pets, fashion, cooking, and interiors. You can browse not only celebrities but also the business or brand accounts. With updates in 2016, the length of the video that can be posted became 60 seconds, and the video content has been enriched. Popular content is content that cannot conveyed well in photos such as makeup process, dance, sports, etc. Because it is specialized for photography, compared to other SNS applications such as Twitter or Facebook, the hurdle for posting photos is somewhat high. It is a SNS with great influence so that the word, "instagrammable (photogenic)" is prevalent. A user who is supported from many followers and has great influence is said to be “insta-famous” or called “Instagram influencer”.

• Live.me

Active users: 30 million people

It is a live distribution application. It is deployed mainly in the United States and other 63 countries including Southeast Asia. Easiness with which the live distribution is completed with only 3 taps is the key of its popularity, and the main users are teens. A viewer can communicate with a distributor by making comments, and there is also a group distribution function that allows multiple people to simultaneously distribute the live. It is also possible to send gift items to the distributors and they can be converted into cash.

• Mercari

Active users: 50 million people

It is an e-commerce application in flea market style. Prominent feature is that the users can easily exchange communication with smartphones. There is a live distribution function called "Mercari channel", and it is possible to sell the items that the user is selling in real time while commenting on them by his or her own. In terms of being able to see the face of the seller, the function leads to purchase promotion of goods rather than checking the just displayed items.

• YouTube

Active users: 1.5 billion people

It is the world's largest video sharing site. There are many video genres, and many product review videos are also posted. “YouTuber” refers to a creator, who can produce the unique videos and receive advertisement income by the videos that he or she posted. YouTuber has a great influential power because the sales of the goods that he or she introduced or reviewed can increase in considerable number of cases.

B. Three elements to increase accuracy and reliability Three elements can be listed as remarkable features of

prevalent services.

⑴High demand for video content

⑵Showing user's face

⑶Simplicity of use

First, the high demand for the video content is a feature that is common in all services. In the early days, only text information was able to be exchanged over the Internet. The images were added over many years, and in recent years it became the age of the videos. As a merit of using the videos, it is easier to understand the videos than images or the text information, and the impressions from viewing the videos tend to remain. The video with which the user can receive information "just by watching" is acceptable to a wide range of ages from young people to the elderly. In addition to that, we can also acquire information from ears as well as eyes. The effect of the sounds is great. It is possible to control the conveyed image such as brightness and calmness.

Second, showing the user's face can be said to be a trend of recent prevalent services and applications. By showing their own faces, they can gain strong name recognition and it becomes easy to obtain “like” or to get registered as the viewers’ favorites. Besides, the reliability of information also increases. There are many consumers to make purchase decisions like this: "I will buy this product because I rely on this person to introduce the product." Also, viewers tend to have familiarity with the users who show their faces. Although the communication is over a device, it is often the case that the audience has a sense of affinity to the distributor as being closer than an celebrity. If appears popular users who are supported by a large number of followers among the users, that will lead to promoting consumption behavior more. Although an act of showing one’s face is a risk, it seems that its hurdle is certainly lower than before.

Third, simplicity of use is now an indispensable to SNS. People actually use SNS to kill time when they are bored. However, SNS have great potential market values. With these services, the users can express their world in several steps, which are simple and easy, and anyone can perform operations. It is therefore easy for prospective consumers to use SNS for reviewing or checking the products.

These three elements are incorporated in the SNS application of this research. First, the application takes the video method. It requires the user to post word-of-mouth

Fig. 3. Screen of “Live.me”



reviews with videos. Watching the videos are easier to receive information than previous word-of-mouth reviews by text. The audience can receive information on the word of mouth as if they see the reviewer in person, with his or her phrases, tones, etc. Since each is a short video of 3 seconds, the user will be able to browse several in sequence without difficulty. In addition, as for word-of-mouth videos in which the reviewer shows his or her face, information can be conveyed not only by the voice but also by the expression of the face. The third, simplicity of use is reflected to the points that the user can watch the reviews of the product by just scanning the barcode and the ease of posting the videos.

Three important features for SNS can be applied to the actual communication. For example, text messages are prone to cause misunderstandings. Voice calls are easier to communicate with each other than text messages. With regards to video calls, you can talk to the partner seeing his or her face directly. The video call is the closest method to direct communication out of them. In order to improve the accuracy and reliability of the word-of-mouth, the three elements: the video method, showing the reviewer’s face, and simplicity of use are very important.

V. APPLICATION PROPOSAL

A. Novelty Most existing word-of-mouth information is textual

information. It is possible to tell the details, however it is not intuitive. There are two kinds of novelty regarding this research. One is the adoption of the video method with time limit as the way of expression of word of mouth. Consumers can absorb information not only by sight but also by hearing. The impression greatly changes just with the difference in phrases and accent. The other is the users’ showing their faces on word-of-mouth videos and that is recommended by default on the system. By the users’ showing their faces, the reliability of the word- of-mouth information can be strengthened. It can also be expected to prevent fake review postings by companies. Through these kinds of novelty, the proposed system in this research enables the users to share high quality word-of-mouth information. In other words, the consumers can obtain highly intuitive and reliable word-of-mouth information.

B. Assumed user There is a term, "digital native generation". It means the

people who have grown up with the technology of PC, mobile phones and the Internet as a matter of course from the time of their birth. The main target of this research is the generation. In the modern age, SNSs are usually used widely among generations. Among them, the digital native is good at the ability to share information online. They are also happily uploading a video of their faces. Certainly there will be someone like influencers among them. There is a difference in affinity with communication means based on information communication technologies by generations, however the tendency seen among young people is likely to spread to the entire consumers. We suppose that we can contribute to further activation of consumption behavior at the forefront by targeting the digital native generation.

C. Overview When the application is launched, the screen shown in

figure 4 will be displayed. From the left, the icons are: my page, the camera to scan the barcode of the item, the product search, and the browsing history. On the homepage, the word-of-mouth videos by the reviewers whom the user is following are displayed in the timeline.

What is displayed below is the product information on the reviewed product in the video above. If the user taps here, the page will be switched to the page where the user can view other review videos for that product. When one review video finishes, the next word-of-mouth movie will start automatically, but the user can skip or repeat the video by tapping the arrows displayed on the top and bottom. For easy and intuitive usability, the minimum necessary menu items are set.

Fig. 4. Startup screen



D. Possibility of tip functionTipping is to give performers or street musicians money to

express appreciation for their arts and music, or praise to the performed entertainment. This system is incorporated into this research.

Since the procedure is to be completed on the app, it is impossible to send/receive actual money. In this research, we plan the use of the virtual currency, which has become popular rapidly in recent years. Two merits can be cited. First, you can save time and efforts to solve the currency differences. Therefore, it is possible to exchange data beyond the concept of the countries. Second, the remittance fee is reasonable and, money transfer is quick. Regarding ordinary money, in many cases, the remittance fee is more expensive than money that he or she wants to transfer through the bank. Since the virtual currency does not have issuers, money transfer can be dome with almost no charge. For those reasons, it is possible for the user to carry out the tip transaction more easily.

Fig. 4 shows the procedure in the application when checking the received tips.

① Notification on the home page: When the userreceived tips, the notification number isdisplayed on the upper right of the link icon toMy Page as a notification. The user can tap hereto make a transition to My Page.

② Notification on My page: Notification number isdisplayed at the upper right of "TIP" icon. Bytapping here, the screen will be switched to thepage (Fig. 5- (3)) that displays the exchange ofmoney in the application.

③ Unread: If the tip notification is unread, a redcircle is attached as a sign on the left side.

④ Receives tip: Icon for the received tips.⑤ Sent tip: Icon for sent tips.⑥ Detailed information: Information on tips

exchange is displayed; the price of thereceived/sent tips, the IDs of the users whosent/received tips, and the date.

⑦ Drop down: When the user taps the drop downicon of the inverted triangle, he or she can checkthe message regarding the exchanged tips (Fig. 5-(4)).

⑧ Message: A message is displayed for theexchanged tips.

The tips history screen for the tips exchange was designed based on the image of the mobile phone’s list of received calls. We focused on enabling the user to check what he or she received/sent at a glance. It will also leads to the ease of use.

VI. SUMMARY AND FUTURE TASKS

In this paper, we proposed a word-of-mouth SNS application with video method aiming to increase the reliability and accuracy of word-of-mouth. It was the attempt to solve problems that could occur with character information by making most of the video method, and we also have set providing useful information and activating consumer behavior as a goal. Based on the examples of recent popular applications, we studied improvement points for more reliability and accuracy of the word-of-mouth reviews. In the future, we will perform the full-scale implementation of the application and the subject experiment for further improvement of usability as a practical application. We will also examine the effectiveness of the proposed method through questionnaire for the users.

Fig. 5. Transition diagram when confirming a tip



REFERENCES [1] GarbageNews

http://www.garbagenews.net/archives/2170355.html[2] Rikunavi NEXT journal

https://next.rikunabi.com/journal/entry/20161101_S8[3] @cosme store

http://cosmestore.net/[4] Ministry of Public Management

http://www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/whitepaper/ja/h28/html/nc132240.html

[5] OPThttp://www.opt.ne.jp/column/journal/detail/id=3717

[6] COSMOPOLITANhttp://www.cosmopolitan- jp.com/entertainment/internet/reports/a6155/psychology-social-media- likes-mental-health-issues/

[7] Nomura Research Institutehttps://www.nri.com/jp/event/mediaforum/2015/forum229.html

[8] “Definition factor of word-of-mouth and promotion effect”, JapanMarketing Academy

[9] Arisa Fujinoki, Takayuki Fujimoto, “Development of StrawberryPicking Apps for Foreign tourists” , ICSEng 2017 (2017/08/22-24).

[10] Arisa Fujinoki, Takayuki Fujimoto, “SNS application using short video”,The 14th IEEE TOWERS (2017/11/04)

[11] Arisa Fujinoki, Takayuki Fujimoto, “A proposal of word-of-mouth SNSapplication using 3-seconds video”, 10th IBSSH (2017/12/15-16)

[12] Arisa Fujinoki, Takayuki Fujimoto, “Prototype of word-of-mouth videoSNS to support reliable and accurate information



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Designing social network application specialized for word ... · influence of word-of-mouth marketing. Also, a time limit of 3 seconds is set for word-of-mouth videos. A time as short