We study the impact of social influence on the performance of ads on social networks. Using data for
several ads on Facebook for two different firms, we measure the impact of past connections on the click
rate and endorsement rate of ads. We find that increase in the connections does not lead to an increase in
the click performance and may even decrease the click performance. We also find that increase in
connections can increase the endorsement rate of ads provided that ads have been clicked. However,
when the number of connections is very large the connection performance may also reduce.
Our results inform advertisers on how the social influence impacts the performance of their ads and how
should they advertise on social platforms such as Facebook. Our results also provide insight into
consumer behavior in social networks. Specifically we show that consumers are less likely to be
influenced by social connections to click ads. However, if they do click ads they are more likely to
endorse ads if more of their connections do.