Are social medias hosting unequal companies-clients relationships? An analysis coming from photography sector in France

Marketing communications structure is moving from a one-way process to a two way process, these interactive characteristics are changing marketers and consumers roles and status on the internet. Does companies react in the... [ view full abstract ]

Marketing communications structure is moving from a one-way process to a two way process, these interactive characteristics are changing marketers and consumers roles and status on the internet. Does companies react in the same manner concerning user generated content produced by their clients on the internet? Have all consumers acquired the same level of power through companies by using internet technologies? No definitive answers have been advanced to these questions. The current work analyzes the gap between institutional discourses of companies engagement to respond to all consumers concerns on the internet and the differential practices regarding to consumers status. This research will have three main objectives : 1) highlight the gap between companies institutional discourses on social medias engagement and practice. 2) show the differences in terms of company-consumers relationship based on consumers status and skills 3) address conclusions about unequal acquisitions of power between the different clients. A netnography combined with secondary data has been realised in the French photography sector. Major results shows : 1) companies differences in relationships with their clients regarding to their status and skills 2) divergence in consumer empowerment due to personal variables.