Turkish students’ perceived relevance of Facebook as a marketing tool

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore Turkish students’ perceived relevance of Facebook, the value of Facebook advertisements and the ethics of Facebook targeting users with advertisements. Design/methodology/approach: Latent class cluster analysis is estimated to determine whether segments exist and whether covariates differ among segments. Findings: Segments differ on Facebook relevance and advertisement targeting ethics and usefulness and the covariates gender, hours spent on Facebook during the week and personality. The segment that finds Facebook most relevant and uses it the most disapproves of Facebook’s targeted advertisements. Facebook is an organization that relies heavily on advertising dollars for survival. This fact should be emphasized; otherwise, Facebook may not be able to sustain itself. Originality/value: The paper provides an understanding of Facebook from a marketing perspective for a country at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.