Social media influences towards consumer eating behaviour: a systematic review / Farah Khayrina Kamarudzaman, Fathi Shahira Shamsul ‘Anuar, Izhar Hafifi Zainal Abidin and Samsul Bahri Usman

Social media has become part of our norms, and almost everyone has at least one social media account. As a result, it became an avenue for companies, including food and beverage enterprises, to advertise their products as there were more viewers. Apart from marketing their products, messages spread through social media may also influence users' thinking and behaviour. This review investigates the role of social media in influencing consumer eating behaviour. Articles were searched through PubMed, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and Emerald Insight using the search terms: social media, eating behaviours, consumer decision-making, and food advertisements. Eligible articles were selected for findings based on inclusion criteria. Of the 51 records, 16 studies met the inclusion criteria. The studies revealed two major findings: age has its connection with social influence, and youngsters, especially adolescents' eating behaviour, are heavily influenced by social media, especially in terms of unhealthy food promotions through out all social media platforms. Restrictions on advertising unhealthy food content on social media should be legislated to prevent users from consuming more unhealthy food content. However, more study is needed to discover how social media affects consumer eating habits and the marketing strategies used by food and beverage firms to influence users since the techniques get more sophisticated every time.
Keywords: Social media, Eating behaviour, Food advertisements, Consumer decision making