SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES AND CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT

The growth of the social networking phenomenon across the Internet ? led by social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn etc. ? has altered the playing field for business and consumer marketers of all sorts. It is practically impossible to think of a comprehensive marketing strategy in the absence of social networking as one of the key ingredients. In fact, social networking sites have already found a place in every marketers promotion mix today.Human beings have always sought to live in social environments. To a significant level, social networking sites have shifted social networking to Internetand the growth of this medium of networking has been explosive (Vogt &Knapman, 2008). In a short time, these sites have grown from a niche online activity into a phenomenon through which tens of millions of internet users are connected, both in their leisure time, and at work