From Social Media to Metaverse: Evaluation of Meta Avatars Store in The Context of Avatars, Self-Presentation and Luxury Brand

Abstract

Meta Corporation announced in June 2022 that it was launching the Meta Avatars Store for users who want to adorn their avatars with luxury brands such as Balenciaga, Prada, and Thom Browne, as well as a selection of free outfits available. In this context, the store's function is to allow users to shop for their avatars in social media and Metaverse environments. In this context, the research focuses on discussing the relationship between avatars, selfpresentation, and luxury brands through the example of the Meta Avatars Store. The purpose of the research, which examines the Meta Avatars Store with the case study method, is to examine the relationship between self-presentation and the elements highlighted to direct the users to luxury consumption in the promotional activities of this virtual store. According to the research findings, it is seen that making purchases for their avatars is meaningful to find their "authentic self” and “the best version of themselves” and being “unique” to make the relationships of the users more meaningful with their friends, family, or business partners.

Keywords

• Social Media
• Metaverse
• Avatar
• Self-Presentation
• Luxury Brand

Sosyal Medyadan Metaverse’e: Avatarlar, Benlik Sunumu ve Lüks Marka Bağlamında Meta Avatar Mağazası Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme

Öz

Meta Şirketi, Haziran 2022’de avatarlarını Balenciaga, Prada ve Thom Browne lüks markalarıyla ve mevcut ücretsiz kıyafet seçenekleriyle süslemek isteyen kullanıcılar için Meta Avatar Mağazası’nı başlattığını duyurmuştur. Bu bağlamda mağaza, kullanıcıların avatarları için sosyal medya ve metaverse ortamlarında alışveriş yapabilmelerine olanak sağlama işlevine sahiptir. Bu çerçevede araştırma, avatarlar, benlik sunumu ve lüks markalar arasındaki ilişkiyi Meta Avatar Mağazası örneği üzerinden tartışmaya odaklanmaktadır. Meta Avatar Mağazası’nı durum çalışması yöntemiyle inceleyen araştırmanın amacı, sanal mağazanın tanıtım faaliyetlerinde kullanıcıları lüks tüketime yönlendirmek üzere öne çıkarılan unsurlar ile kullanıcıların benlik sunumları arasındaki ilişkiyi irdelemektir. Araştırma bulgularına göre, kullanıcıların arkadaşları, aileleri ya da iş ortakları ile olan ilişkilerinde “otantik benlik” oluşturmak, “kendilerinin en iyi versiyonları”nı sunmak ve “benzersiz” olmak gibi motivasyonlar kapsamında avatarları için alışveriş yapmalarının anlamlı kılındığı görülmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Sosyal Medya
• Metaverse
• Avatar
• Benlik Sunumu
• Lüks Marka

Kaynakça

1. Aaker, D. A., & Keller, K. L. (1990). Consumer Evaluations of Brand Extensions. Journal of Marketing, 54(1), 27-41. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242990054001.
2. Abanozoğlu, B., & Değerli, N. G. (2022). Metaverse Evreninde Lüks Moda Markalarından Uygulama Örnekleri. İstanbul Aydın Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergi- si, 14(4), 464-482.
3. Aksu, S., & Ercan, M. (2014, 27-29 Kasım). Lüks Marka İletişiminde Sosyal Medyaya Uyum Sağlamak: Gucci ve Vakko’nun Facebook ve Twitter Kullanımları Üzerine Bir İnceleme, [Conference presentation]. Türkiye İnternet Konferansı, İzmir.
4. Atkinson, S. D. & Kang, J. (2021). New Luxury: Defining and Evaluating Emerging Luxury Trends Through the Lenses of Consumption and Personal Values. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 31(3), 377-393.
5. Averbek, G. S., & Türkyılmaz, C. A. (2022). Sanal Evrende Markaların Geleceği: Yeni İnternet Dünyası Metaverse ve Marka Uygulamaları. In M. Baş & İ. Erdoğan Tarakçı (Eds.), Sosyal Bilimlerde Multidisipliner Çalışmalar Teori, Uygulama ve Analizler, pp. 99-131. İstanbul: Efe Akademi Yayınları.
6. Bala, M. & Verma D. (2018). A Critical Review of Digital Marketing. International Journal of Management, IT & Engineering, 8(10), 321–339.
7. Batat, W. (2019). The New Luxury Experience. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Bauman, Z. (2006), Akışkan Korku (C. Atay Trans.). İstanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları. (Original work published 2006).
8. Bélisle, J. F., & Bodur, H. O. (2010). Avatars as information: Perception of Consumers Based on Their Avatars in Virtual Worlds. Psychology & Marketing, 27(8), 741-765.

9. Belk, R. (2014). Digital Consumption and The Extended Self. Journal of Marketing Management, 30(11-12), 1101-1118.
10. Berry, C. J. (2022), The Idea of Luxury. Glasgow: Cambridge University Press. 
 Blevis, E., Makice, K., Odom, W., Roedl, D., Beck, C., Blevis, S., & Ashok, A. (2007, August). Luxury & New Luxury, Quality & Equality. In Proceedings of the 2007 Con- ference on Designing Pleasurable products and interfaces (pp. 296-311) [Conference presentation], Helsinki.
11. Bousba, Y., & Arya, V. (2022). Let’s Connect in Metaverse. Brand’s New Destination To Increase Consumers’affective Brand Engagement & Their Satisfaction and Advocacy. Journal of Content, Community & Communication, 15(8), 276- 293. DOI: 10.31620/JCCC.06.22/19.
12. Boullier, D. (2019). Sociologie du numérique-2e éd. Armand Colin.
13. Brienza, M. V. (2022). “Technological Evolution in the Luxury and Fashion Industry: Focus on The Metaverse and NFT” (Published Master Dissertation). Luiss Guido Carli University, Rome, Italy. Http://Tesi.Luiss.İt/33424/1/240541_Brienza_Maria%20vıttorıa.Pdf.
14. Büyükbaykal, A. C. I., & Sönmezer, Z. (2022). Metaverse ile Toplumsal Yaşam Arasındaki İlişki. Uluslararası Kültürel ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi (Uksad), 8(1), 139- 148. https://doi.org/10.46442/intjcss.1099798.
15. Castronova, E. (2004). The Right to Play. New York Law School Law Review, 49(1), 185-210.
16. Chung, D., Shearman, S. M., & Lee, S. H. (2003). Why Young People Purchase Avatar-Related Products in Cyberspace? An Analysis of the Variables Influencing the Purchase of Avatar-Related Products. In 53rd Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association [Conference presentation] San Diego, CA.
17. De Sousa, C. C. (2013). “Meta_Body: A Project on Shared Avatar Creation. In CONFIA 2nd
18. International Conference on Illustration & Animation Porto” https://re- positorio.ipv.pt/bitstream/10400.19/7146/1/1-s2.0-S2212017314000164 -main.pdf.
19. Eva Chen [@evachen212]. (2022, June 17). “Welcome to the Metaverse @balangiaga @ prada @thombrowne [@Reels]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/ tv/Ce6yFgbptyM/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D.
20. Featherstone, M. (2013), Postmodernizm ve Tüketim Kültürü (M. Küçük Trans.), İstanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları. (Original work published 2007, 2nd Ed.).
21. Featherstone, M., & Burrows, R. (1995). Cultures of Technological Embodiment: An Intro- duction. Body & Society, 1(3-4), 1-19.
22. Featherstone, M. & Burrows, R. (1995). Cyberspace/cyberbodies/cyberpunk: Cultures of technological embodiment. Cyberspace/Cyberbodies/Cyberpunk, 1-288.
23. Geczy, A., & Karaminas, V. (2019). Fashion Installation: body, space, and performance. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
24. Ghosh, A., & Varshney, S. (2013). Luxury Goods Consumption: A Conceptual Framework Based on Literature Review. South Asian Journal of Management, 20(2), 146-159.
25. Ghosh, A., Chakraborty, D., & Law, A. (2018). Artificial Intelligence in Internet of Thin- gs. CAAI Transactions on Intelligence Technology, 3(4), 208-218.
26. Goffman, E. (2016), Gündelik Yaşamda Benliğin Sunumu, (B. Cezar, Ed.) İstanbul: Metis Yayınları. (Original work published 1959).
27. Gökçek, T., & Davey, L. (2009). Durum Çalışması Değerlendirmelerinin Uygulaması. İlköğretim Online, 8(2), 1-3.
28. Güçdemir, Y. (2017. Sosyal Medya; Halkla İlişkiler, Reklam ve Pazarlama. İstanbul: Derin Yayınları.
29. Güngör, N. (2020), İletişim Kuram-Yaklaşımlar. Ankara: Siyasal Kitapevi.
30. Hancock, R.D. & Algozzine, B. (2006). Doing Case Study Research. New York: Teachers College Press.
31. Heine, K., & Berghaus, B. (2014). Luxury Goes Digital: How to Tackle the Digital Luxury Brand–Consumer Touchpoints. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 5(3), 223-234
32. Hollensen, S., Kotler, P. & Opresnik, M. O. (2017). Social Media Marketing: A Practitioner Guide. Hamburg: Opresnik Management Consulting.
33. Hollensen, S., Kotler, P., & Opresnik, M. O. (2022). “Metaverse–The New Marketing Universe”. Journal of Business Strategy. https://www.emerald.com/in- sight/content/doi/10.1108/JBS-01-2022-0014/full/pdf?title=Metaverse-the-new-marketing-universe.
34. Holzwarth, M., Janiszewski, C., & Neumann, M. M. (2006). The Influence of Avatars on Online Consumer Shopping Behavior. Journal of Marketing, 70(4), 19-36.
35. Hsu, H. (2021). Book Review [Review of the book Digital and Social Media Marketing: Emerging Applications and Theoretical Development by Rana, N. P., Sahu, E. S. G., Singh, H. K. N., Gutierrez, B. D. A., Dwivedi, Y. K.]. Information Technology & Tourism, 24, 161-163.
36. International, Series in Marketing.
37. Jeon, Y. A. (2022, March). “Reading Social Media Marketing Messages as Simulated Self Within a Metaverse: An Analysis of Gaze and Social Media Engagement Behaviors within a Metaverse Platform”. In 2022 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops. https://ieeexp- lore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9757543.
38. Joy, A., Zhu, Y., Peña, C., & Brouard, M. (2022). Digital Future of Luxury Brands: Metaverse, Digital Fashion, and Non-Fungible Tokens. Strategic Change, 31(3), 337- 343. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2502.
39. Kahraman, M. E. (2022). Blok Zincir, Deepfake, Avatar, Kripto Para, NFT ve Metaverse ile Yaygınlaşan Sanal Yaşam. Uluslararası Kültürel ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Der- gisi (UKSAD), 8(1), 149-162. https://doi.org/10.46442/intjcss.1106228.
40. Kapferer, J. N., & Bastien, V. (2012). The Luxury Strategy: Break the Rules of Marketing to Build Luxury Brands. London: Kogan Page Publishers.
41. Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2009). The Fairyland of Second Life: Virtual Social Worlds and How To Use Them. Business Horizons, 52(6), 563-572. https://doi.or- g/10.1016/j.bushor.2009.07.002.
42. Kavut, S. (2018). “Goffman’ın Benlik Sunumu Kuramı Bağlamında Sosyal Medyada Kimlik İnşası: Instagram Üzerine Bir Araştırma.” Nosyon: Uluslararası Toplum ve Kültür Çalışmaları Dergisi, (1), 1-12.
43. Kim, J. (2021). Advertising in the Metaverse: Research Agenda, Journal of Interactive Ad- vertising, 21:3, 141-144, DOI: 10.1080/15252019.2021.2001273.
44. Kirjavainen, E. (2022). The Future of Luxury Fashion Brands Through Nfts (Published Mas- ter Dissertation). Aalto University, Espoo, Finland. https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/ bitstream/handle/123456789/114089/master_Kirjavainen_Emma_2022. pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
45. Kotler, P. (2000), Marketing Management: Millennium Edition, London: Prentice Hall Leary, Mark R. ve June P. Tangney (2003). “The Self as an Organizing Construct in the Behavioral and Social Sciences.” Handbook of Self and Identity. In Mark R. Leary ve June P. Tangney (Eds.). New York: Guildford. 3-14.
46. Lee, J., & Kwon, K. H. (2022). “Novel Pathway regarding Good Cosmetics Brands by NFT in the Metaverse World.” Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology (Accepted Article). Wiley Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jocd.15277.
47. Lee, L. H., Braud, T., Zhou, P., Wang, L., Xu, D., Lin, Z., Kumar, A., Bermejo, C. & Hui, P. (2021). All One Needs To Know About Metaverse: A Complete Survey on Technological Singularity, Virtual Ecosystem, and Research Agenda. Arxiv Preprint, 14(8), 66. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2110.05352.
48. Maden, D. (2014). Lüks Marka Yönetimi: Lüks Tüketim Motivasyonuna Yönelik Bir Analiz (Published Doctoral Dissertation). Ege Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, İzmir.
49. Mayfield, A. (2008). What is social media:https://indianstrategicknowledgeonline.com/web/mayfield_strat_for_soc_media.pdf. Merola, N., & Pe, J. (2009). The Effects of Avatar Appearance In Virtual Worlds. Journal For Virtual Worlds Research, 2(5). https://doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v2i5.843.
50. Meta (2022), https://about.fb.com/news/2022/06/introducing-the-meta-avatars-store/.
51. Mystakidis, S. (2022). Metaverse. Encyclopedia, 2(1), 486-497.
Nowak, K. L. & Fox, J. (2018). Avatars and Computer-Mediated Communication: A Review of the Definitions, Uses, and Effects of Digital Representations. Review of Communication Research, 6, 30-53. https://doi.org/10.12840/ issn.2255- 4165.2018.06.01.015.
52. Raggiotto, F., Moretti, A., & Mason, M. C. (2015). The Illusion of Luxury an Investigatıon of The Role of Atmosphere in a Masstige (Democratıc Luxury) Context. İtaly: Universita Degli Studi Di Udine.
53. Robins, K. (1999). İmaj: Görmenin Kültür Poetikası. (N. Türkoğlu Trans.). İstanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları. (Original work published 1996).
54. Saker, M., & Frith, J. (2022). Contiguous Identities: The Virtual Self In the Supposed Meta- verse. First Monday, 27(3). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v27i3.12471.
55. Sykownik, P., Maloney, D., Freeman, G., & Masuch, M. (2022, 30 April-5 May). Somet- hing Personal from the Metaverse: Goals, Topics, and Contextual Fac- tors of Self-Disclosure Commercial Social VR. CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-17), New Orleans, LA. https://doi. org/10.1145/3491102.3502008.
56. Telli, S. G., Aydın, S. & Şen, D. G. Bandwagon, Veblen ve Snob Etkisinin Çevrimiçi Lüks Ürün Satın Alma ve Satma Niyetine Etkisi Üzerine Bir Araştırma. Çukurova Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 30(3), 111-125.
57. Tosun, N. Z. (2020), Marka Yönetimi (4. Baskı), İstanbul: Beta Yayınları.
58. Türk Dil Kurumu (TDK), https://www.tdk.gov.tr/.
59. Türk, G. D., & Darı, A. B. (2022). Metaverse’de Bireyin Toplumsallaşma Süreci. Stratejik ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 6(1), 277-297. https://doi.org/10.30692/ sisad.1074030.
60. Türk, G. D., Bayrakçı, S., & Akçay, E. (2022). Metaverse ve Benlik Sunumu. Turkish Online Journal of Design Art and Communication, 12(2), 316-333. DOI NO: 10.7456/11202100/008.
61. Wang, J., Yao, K., Liang, J., Tan, L., & Gao, Z. (2022). “From Selfie To Avatar: How Social Media Affects Self-Image Cognition And Optimization?” https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4121319.
62. Warde, A. (1991). Gentrification as Consumption: Issues of Class and Gender. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 9(2), 223-232. Electronic Resources
63. Weinberg, T. (2009). The New Community Rules: Marketing on The Social Web. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly.
64. Yazici, B. (2018). Yeni Lüks Kavramı Bağlamında Y Kuşağı ile Evrilen Tüketim ve Y Kuşağının Lüks Kavramına Bakışı. Kocaeli Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, (36), 95- 112.