An exploratory investigation of the virtual community MySpace.com : What are consumers saying about fashion?

Purpose – Virtual communities are increasing in popularity and changing the way apparel fashion information is learned and shared by consumers. According to Agins, consumers, as opposed to élite designers, are now dictating fashion trends and pinpointing the ideal places of distribution. The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the fashion‐related discussion which is taking place on perhaps the best known of these communities, MySpace.com. The three research questions driving this study include: “What are consumers saying about fashion within this particular virtual community?”; “What commonalities exist among the plethora of fashion‐related information available in this context?”; and “What kinds of insights can marketers draw from the categories of fashion‐related information being presented in MySpace.com?” Design/methodology/approach – Content analysis was selected as the method for investigation. Within the forum Fashion and Style, the subgroup FashionLOVERS was selected for investigation because it represented a general discussion of fashion. The first 200 forum topical areas with five or more posts were selected for analysis. A total of 6,623 individual posts were examined and each of the three authors independently reviewed the posts noting the general topical categories of content. Interrater reliability for the coders was computed. Findings – Eight recurring categories of fashion related information were identified in the study. The four most popular discussion categories were personal style, brands and designers, tips and advice, and retailers. The prevalence of these four topics suggests that consumer driven marketing is a growing and influential component of fashion marketing. Research limitations/implications – This study makes an important contribution to the study of virtual communities. Results provide insight into the complex, multi‐layered, interactive fashion‐related communication that occurs within virtual communities. Practical implications – Fashion marketers and retailers are encountering an untapped resource with these virtual communities. Findings highlight the power of consumers in virtual communities and suggest a need for fashion marketers and retailers to closely monitor communication within virtual communities. Originality/value – This research is particularly valuable because it provides insight into the popular virtual community, MySpace.com. Detailed investigation into types of fashion information that are shared with community members is presented and discussed.