Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Beyond A 'Like': Building Parasocial Relationships With Baby Boomers On Facebook, Yunying (Susan) Zhong, Valeriya Shapoval, James Busser

Rosen Research Review

Baby boomers are a crucial cohort for hospitality marketing as they have more money to spend and more time on their hands than younger cohorts. However, reaching them on social media is harder. There is one social media platform popular with baby boomers: Facebook. Dr. YunYing Zhong and Dr. Valeriya Shapoval at UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management, together with their collaborator, have combined their different areas of expertise to analyze the effectiveness of social media marketing directed at baby boomers from an unusual angle: the illusionary and imaginary relationships we build with fictional characters.