500,000, 50,000 or 50 Fans on Facebook – Is It of any Avail?

The purpose of this study is to empirically test the assumption that a retailer´s corporate communication via Facebook effects attitudes of consumers toward the retailer, his prices and assortment as well as repurchase intention and spending. A quasi-experimental study is employed using a repeated-measures ANOVA design, wherein ninety-three students are investigated over a period of four weeks. The results show no significant effect of the corporate communication actions on the measured attitudes, repurchase intention and spending. The outcome of the study questions the proposed value of fans on corporate pages in social network sites.