UC Irvine

How has the advertising industry been changed by the rise and proliferation of social media? My dissertation examines the history of the advertising industry during the years of social media’s disruptive emergence in the media industry landscape, roughly between 2004-2012. Considering the body of scholarship describing the role of demographic profiles in structuring the advertising and media industries in the 80s and 90s, my research explored what new methods of consumer profiling and market evaluation might be emerging as social media marketing practices developed. From May 2012 to September 2013 I conducted fieldwork in New York City attending marketing industry conferences and meet-ups building up contacts and informants. From these sessions and subsequent interviews as well as research into company whitepapers, consulting reports, and tech and advertising industry press, this dissertation describes the convergence of new theories, practices and technologies around the production and analysis of consumer engagement with branded content on social media. New metrics and strategies of social media engagement have become new organizing principles in the advertising industry. These findings are presented at the conclusion of a history of the convergence of the marketing and social media industries