The impact of the mere presence of social media share icons on product interest and valuation

Online retailers commonly display social media share icons on product pages, offering consumers the ability to instantly announce their interest or purchase of a product to their social media network via Facebook, Twitter, or otherwise. We hypothesize and show that the mere presence of these icons can impact consumers' perceptions of and interest towards products displayed online. In support, across three experiments we find that the mere presence of social media share icons increases public self-consciousness, which, in turn, influences product perception. Specifically, the presence of such icons improves consumer interest and valuation of products they want others to see them own and use, but harms response to products consumers would not want others to see them own and use.