Music is Social: From Online Social Features to Online Social Connectedness

Despite the widespread adoption of social networks, the value of implementing similar opportunities for social interaction into online content consumption websites has received limited attention. The research that has been done suggests that there is significant potential in implementing social features on these sites, since increased interaction can lead to higher engagement with the site, and to an increase in users’ willingness to pay for the site. Considering that music is an inherently social good, and that consumers desire the opportunity to involve social aspects into their consumption of music, this study develops a framework of social features and the social interactions they enable and examines the relationship between the features and online social connectedness. Results suggest that this distinction of social features from other features is valuable, and the type of features that is most likely to lead to feelings of connectedness is highlighted. Implications for site developers and researchers are also discussed.