FACTORS THAT AFFECT YOUTH IN KLANG VALLEY TO CONTINUE READING AND BUYING THROUGH FACEBOOK ADVERTISING

Facebook is a social networking web site that can be accessed freely by anybody. The number of Facebook users has increased recently and it is the most popular medium among social media users. The current function of Facebook is not only for social connection, but also as an important site for the advertising industry to globally advertise their business. Therefore, this research will focus on how user gratifications viz. cognitive, affective, personal integrative and social integrative, affect the acceptance level of Facebook advertising by teenagers. A model for this study was constructed based on the integration of Rogers’s Diffusion of Innovation Theory and Elihu Katz, Michael Gurevitch Jay G. Blumler (1973) Theory of Uses and Gratifications. Using purposive sampling, a survey was conducted on a sample of 200 respondents drawn from the Klang Valley area. The data was then analysed using SPSS. The results show that the intention of respondents in purchasing online product to meet the demands of their own ego satisfaction is one of the factors that can influence user cognitive gratification when they are reading advertising in Facebook. The tests carried out on user affective gratification show that the special and variety of Facebook applications used in Facebook advertising purposes influence the acceptance level towards Facebook advertising among teenagers. According to the analysis of user personal integrative gratification, acceptance level of consumers towards Facebook advertising was proven to be directly correlated with the changes in their character and cautious attitudes. Meanwhile, in terms of user social integrative gratification, the majority of the respondents in this study was found to be collectivism. Collectivism attitude was proven to influence teenagers in accepting Facebook advertising.