Brand communities of Facebook : how do they create value?

Businesses are witnessing an explosion of internet-based messages and information transmitted through various social networking sites (SNSs). Although there is a great deal of interest on consumption behaviors within SNSs but the shared consumption practices which reveals the collective value creation has not been properly explored within this context before. A netnographic approach (Kozinets 2002) guided the data collection. Facebook is chosen because of its vast popularity and multicultural aspect. This study identified twenty one distinct value creating behaviors (VCBs) within Facebook and explored six new VCBs that were not identified within the context of consumer behavior and SNSs.