John, LeslieEmrich, OliverGupta, SunilNorton, Michael2017-04-042017John, Leslie K., Oliver Emrich, Sunil Gupta, and Michael I. Norton. "Does 'Liking' Lead to Loving? The Impact of Joining a Brand's Social Network on Marketing Outcomes." Journal of Marketing Research (JMR) 54, no. 1 (February 2017): 144–155.0022-2437http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:32062564Does “liking” a brand on Facebook cause a person to view it more favorably? Or is “liking” simply a symptom of being fond of a brand? We disentangle these possibilities and find evidence for the latter: brand attitudes and purchasing are predicted by consumers’ preexisting fondness for brands and are the same regardless of when and whether consumers “like” brands. In addition, we explore possible second-order effects, examining whether “liking” brands might cause consumers’ friends to view that brand more favorably. When consumers see that a friend has “liked” a brand, they are less likely to buy the brand relative to a more meaningful social endorsement: learning that a friend likes a brand, in the offline sense. Taken together, five experiments and two meta-analyses (N > 14,000) suggest that turning “liking” into improved brand attitudes and increased purchasing by either consumers or their friends may require more than just the click of a button.en-USbrands and brandingsocial and collaborative networksJournal Article2017-04-0410.1509/jmr.14.0237