The product report of RED from Cai (2016) indicated that most of the users are in a young age. To see the different presentation types that lead to different results in terms of fund investment that fits the basic condition of the Cognitive Fit Theory, the study aimed to find whether there are more people making investments who use RED compared with other platforms. The research question is as below:
(1) As for the users who read fund related posts on RED, are they making any investment right now, compared with other social media platforms users?
Besides, the study also hopes to figure out the knowledge or experiences of investment that the RED users have when they make fund investment taking reference from RED posts. Since the sources from newspapers that are regarded as hard to interpret (Martorana, 2019), investment beginners are less likely to be attracted by these sources. In contrast, they prefer content that is much easier to be accepted and understandable. Supported by the Cognitive Fit Theory, posts on RED are much easier to understand than other platforms, with different presentation types on the same types of information. The upcoming research question was designed to see the knowledge level of fund investment of RED users compared to other platform users.
(3) What is the difference between RED users and other platform users in terms of investment experiences? How much do they know about the fund investment?
As the report from MobTech (2021) did not provide specific data from RED users by concluding that fund investment related posts on RED/Bilili nowadays are not reliable as the influencers who teach fund investment online are not professional, the study also aim to test this conclusion and collect opinions from RED users on the reliability of RED influencers’ posts. Besides, the Halo Effect Theory also applied to analyze RED users’ opinion towards the reliability of the influencers’ posts on fund investment. Supposingly, as the Halo Effect explained, these users are very likely to believe that the posts are reliable as the influencers introduced themselves with a professional like background.
(5) What’s more, how reliable do they think these (information posted by influencers) are on social media? Any differences between RED users and other platforms users?
Supported by the Cognitive Fit Theory, the younger investors prefer to accept ‘easy-to-read’ and very simple information related to fund investment, in which RED provides one of the most suitable presentation types to this group of investors. These investment beginners who use RED for reference are assumed to read less traditional news sources such as financial TV program, newspapers that are regarded as hard to interpret (Martorana, 2019). The second research question hopes to test this research question compared to other social media platform users.
(2) Supported by the Cognitive Fit Theory, the younger investors prefer to accept ‘easy-to-read’ and very simple information related to fund investment, in which RED provides one of the most suitable presentation types to this group of investors. These investment beginners who use RED for reference are assumed to read less traditional news sources such as financial TV program, newspapers that are regarded as hard to interpret (Martorana, 2019). The second research question hopes to test this research question compared to other social media platform users.
Following the previous research question, investors’ risk-taking level is also a basic information to be tested. According to Wu (2021), following the investment decision posted by the social media influencers on RED is a risky investment behavior, as most of these influencers are not qualified. According to the Halo Effect Theory, it is possible that these investors tend to trust more on these nice-looking and qualified influencers on their sharing of fund investment. To see whether they are truly risk-taking to make investment decisions or they are just simply following some of the fund choices shared by these RED posts, the research question below was made:
(4) How much risk that the RED users could take in terms of investment compared with other social media platforms users? Are they expecting a huge amount of return?
created with
Website Builder Software .