--- title: People Don't Buy Things Because They Like You On Facebook description: Social media doesn't drive sales, research says canonical: https://time.com/2917391/social-media-doesnt-make-people-buy/ author: Michael Lemonick article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-24T16:33:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:32.321Z article:section: Health og:title: Like My Facebook Page, Buy My Product? Well, No og:description: Social media doesn't drive purchases, study says og:url: https://time.com/2917391/social-media-doesnt-make-people-buy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f6712386d0b9122/698696a955a859a706a81456/144147600.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4200 og:image:height: 2363 og:image:alt: A view of Facebook's "Like" button May 1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Like My Facebook Page, Buy My Product? Well, No twitter:description: Social media doesn't drive purchases, study says twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f6712386d0b9122/698696a955a859a706a81456/144147600.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Like My Facebook Page, Buy My Product? Well, No > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Michael Lemonick](https://time.com/author/michael-d-lemonick/) ## Michael Lemonick Jun 24, 2014 4:33 PM UTC  A view of Facebook's "Like" button May 10, 2012 in Washington, DC. Social-networking giant Facebook will go public on the NASDAQ May 18 with its initial public offering, trading under the symbol FB, in an effort to raise $10.6 billion. (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GettyImages) A view of Facebook's "Like" button May 10, 2012 in Washington, DC. Social-networking giant Facebook will go public on the NASDAQ May 18 with its initial public offering, trading under the symbol FB, in an effort to raise $10.6 billion. (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GettyImages) Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images by [Michael Lemonick](https://time.com/author/michael-d-lemonick/) ## Michael Lemonick Jun 24, 2014 4:33 PM UTC People go on Facebook and Twitter mostly to learn about companies or products. True or false? Answer: Are you kidding me? I don’t do it. You don’t do it. Nobody you know does it. We use social media to brag about our accomplishments, post vacation photos, see what our friends and family (and maybe a few celebrities) are doing and talking about. This seems almost too obvious to mention—but companies are desperate to reach consumers, and with hundreds off millions of them visiting social media sites every day, marketers feel like they simply have to be there too, so they are—to the tune of more than $5 billion last year in the U.S. alone, according to social media consultants BIA/Kelsey. By 2018, that figure could rise to $15 billion. Evidently, they’re wasting their money. A [new report ](http://products.gallup.com/171722/state-american-consumer.aspx)from the Gallup Organization titled _State of the American Consumer_ has now quantified the obvious: 62% of consumers say that social media have “no influence at all” on purchasing decisions, while only 5% say the sites have “a great deal of influence.” That’s not to say that social media isn’t a great place to get advice about stuff to buy—it’s just that we tend to look or advice from people we know and trust. And those people aren’t usually named “L’Oreal” or “Coca-Cola.” Like much of the research that gets published, the results of this survey seem pretty obvious. Still, a study like might be useful for advertisers and marketers who aren’t always at the forefront of understanding how society is changing (think of Don Draper confronting the ’60s on _Mad Men_). What they should do, writes Gallup’s Ed O’Boyle in a [blog post ](http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/06/few-consumers-actually-heed-social-media/#disqus%5Fthread)for the _Harvard Business Review_, is to come across as more authentic, be more interactive, and make their content more compelling. “Gallup research has consistently shown,” he writes, “that customers base purchasing decisions on their emotional connections with a brand. Social media are great for making those connections—but only when a brand shifts its focus from communication to conversation.” Good advice. 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