THE IMPACT OF VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES ON ENHANCING HEDONISTIC CONSUMER ATTITUDES

Paper presents conceptual issues connected with virtual communities impact on hedonistic consumer attitudes on the base of scholarly literature and secondary sources such as research reports. There are examples of such impact provided with mention of different kind of communities and possible differences between X, Y and C generations. Virtual communities, particularly social networking sites (in paper mainly Facebook.com and Pinterest.com were considered), and blogs (for this case particularly fashion and other life-style ones), are natural places for young consumers to view, communicate, share and create own content. Ease to use, 24/7 access and overwhelming presence of social media favors their usage by young consumers to spread not only information, pictures and videos, but – what is important from social and marketing points of view – also values and attitudes. Hedonic values and hedonistic attitudes are important part of life-style of such consumers, and social media usage allows them to fulfill hedonic needs, so virtual communities are responsible for spreading and enhancing hedonistic attitudes among consumers, attitudes which presently cannot be classified as simply consumption related, but still focused on consumer pleasure gained from e.g. design, style, and own engagement in DIY activities.