The study showed that we see more advertising on social networks than we think – but we do not always notice it. Scientists from the University of Twente studied how people interact with posts, and found out: advertising, disguised as ordinary friends of friends, often goes unnoticed.
In the experiment, 152 people leafed through the modeled ribbons from 29 posts – 8 advertising and 21 ordinary. With the help of tracking, scientists measured what and how long the participants look at. It turned out that people more often pay attention to the buttons of action and visual details of the brand, and not to the official notes of “advertising”.
If the participants understood that they had an advertising post, they immediately lost interest. But a disguised advertisement with the usual tone and design received almost as much attention as ordinary posts. Many participants were surprised how many advertising they missed, and some did not mind this.
According to the researchers, this shows that a simple note “advertising” is insufficient so that users understand when they are trying to convince them to buy something.
