Viral Marketing and Social Networks

Preface

In an article with the title “The death of advertising,” Rust and Oliver (1994) predicted that by 2010, new media would represent the dominant paradigm in marketing. They noted that the Internet would allow for an instant, direct, and interactive relationship between producers and consumers, while advertising would make the transition from involuntary to voluntary. In the new media, consumers are in control and make the choice about media selection and information tools and platforms to be used for commercial information (Keller 2009).

Although traditional marketing and advertising are still very much alive, research and statistics show that traditional media such as TV, radio, and print are losing ground in front of the new technologies, ...