Social media can make the identity of a brand's supporters transparent to prospective consumers in ways that have no offline analog. Before the advent of social networking, consumers could only guess at the identities of other brand supporters on the basis of advertising or the identity of spokespeople. In contrast, in the social media world, consumers viewing a brand page are likely to see pictorial information about other people who have voluntarily affiliated with the brand.



(Naylor, Lamberton & West, 2012)