Facebook and Consumer Research: A Review, AI-Driven Thematic Visualisation, and Research Agenda

Abstract

This paper explores the evolution of academic consumer research on Facebook by consolidating the existing body of literature. The study consists of 336 papers on the topic of Facebook and consumers, published in top journals between 2008 and 2023, sourced via Scopus. The data collection followed the PRISMA framework, and bibliometric analysis was conducted using descriptive and performance analyses with the aid of data tabulation software. Additionally, natural language processing (NLP) and thematic analysis of the data were conducted via text mining, topic modelling and data visualisation with Leximancer—an artificial intelligence (AI)-based programme. The results revealed that, over the 15-year time period, and most prominently in the last 5 years, there has been a noticeable shift in consumer research on Facebook in line with the evolution of the social media platform itself. The paper identifies evident gaps in the literature via thematic analysis of future research suggestions and managerial implications emergent from the data. It proposes specific future research directions for academic researchers to explore. Practitioners are provided insights corresponding to consumer-centric and effective social media marketing strategies.