B2C Disengagement on social media

Abstract

Social media has become a present part of modern life, connecting billions of people worldwide. Moreover, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn have become crucial for businesses to reach and engage with consumers, offering costeffective promotions, brand building, and real-time interactions (Appel et al., 2020; Felix et al., 2017). Consequently, as the number of social media users continues to grow - firms are also given an excellent opportunity to grow their business. However, acquiring and retaining followers can be challenging. Thus, understanding the reasons for consumer disengagement is crucial for optimizing social media strategies and maintaining engagement (Instagram, n.d.). Based on a framework provided by Zhang et al. (2022), this thesis provides a comprehensive framework of drivers and underlying factors of unfollowing behavior on Instagram in a Scandinavian culture context. The study aims to investigate the motivations and experiences of both past and present followers and examine the potential impact of brand loyalty on this relationship. This is done by approaching a mixed method research design, where six qualitative in-depth interviews were implemented to understand the subject matter by exploring human behavior and experiences, followed by a quantitative survey with a larger sample for generalization.