The Impact of Visual Messaging in Social Media on Consumers

The proliferation of information in the social media era, particularly the increased circulation of visual content, has emerged as a significant concern for contemporary society. The study focuses on analysing the communication characteristics and expressions of visual information in social media platforms, and on analysing its impact on consumers. This analysis posits that visual information exerts a multifaceted influence on consumers, encompassing aspects such as attention, information memory, emotional arousal and empathy, behavioural intention and decision-making drive, brand awareness, and attitude change. Nevertheless, such a high level of visual stimulation has been shown to engender a number of undesirable consequences, including, but not limited to, cognitive bias, consumption anxiety, aesthetic fatigue and impact on self-identity. The present paper proposes a framework for the ‘reconstruction of consumer sovereignty’, which is predicated on the following three tenets: the improvement of consumers’ media literacy, the strengthening of platforms’ responsibility, and the establishment of norms for the use of visual information. The purpose of this proposed framework is to assist consumers in their right to know and their right to choose, and to enable more autonomous consumption decisions in the visual information-driven social media environment.