Network Mapping of Internal Messenger’s Brand Associations(Case Study: Soroush Messenger)

With the pervasiveness of smartphones and the spread of the internet by mobil operators, the use of messengers in Iran has grown dramatically. However, in the absence of proper messenger inside the country, people have been encouraged to use foreign messengers. Some foreign messengers have been able to face good luck due to their proper speed, ease of use, and free access. After a while, several internal messengers attempted to attract more users by providing the proper messengers. In this research, it is attempted to express the viewpoint of the participants towards this messenger by using the brand concept map technique and drawing Soroush brand concept map so that the managers of internal messenger and related policy makers can better understand the users' attitude. This research is an applied one in term of purpose and it is descriptive-survey oriented. In this study, 100 people were selected in Tehran city, among which, half of them had experienced Soroush and the other half had no history of using this messenger. The brand concept map method was done in three stages. In the first stage, important associations of Soroush brand were extracted; in the second stage the participants linked the selected associations in the previous stage to each other and to the brand, and in the third stage, the Soroush messenger brand consensus map was drawn using the individual maps collected in the previous step. The results of the study showed that the number of associations expressed by individuals with and without experience of using Soroush messenger is thirteen, among which only two associations shared by both groups including "Iranian" and "Free Internet" proposed as favorable associations. Among the unfavorable associations, "low speed", "information insecurity","coercion" and "low users" are common in both groups.