Embedding advertisements (ads) in short-form video (SFV) sequences to convert scarce attention resources into purchasing behavior has become a new business model to reach customers and promote products ^[1]. Unlike traditional e-commerce, SFV e-commerce no longer needs to accumulate audience resources for a long time, but through the industry chain and traffic redirecting to achieve rapid traffic monetization ^[2]. Meanwhile, “silver consumers” (consumers over the age of 50) make up a growing portion of society’s demographics, and the group’s extensive use of SFV apps has stimulated demand for differentiated consumption within the platform. While digital technology is driving the SFV and consumer industries into a new stage of development, it also brings new challenges for silver consumers, such as the digital divide, digital payments, and network security issues [3,4]^[3][4]. These challenges mean that despite all potential advantages of digital technology, the elderly are less likely to have access to and to exploit the potential of internet usage and short-form video platforms in general ^[5].

With the aging of the population and the popularization of digital technology, the proportion of the silver group with money and leisure to use SFV e-commerce will increase accordingly. SFV companies should pay more attention to the size and potential of the silver market, and help silver groups to cross the digital divide and remove barriers to the use of SFV e-commerce platforms. In terms of research on silver consumers and digital technology, there is thus a need for more research investigating how digital platforms can assist silver consumers (e.g., increase ability and reduce vulnerability) to respond to marketing changes brought about by SFV technologies. However, few studies [6,7,8,9]^[6][7][8][9] on SFV e-commerce have focused on the decision-making mechanism and behavioral characteristics of silver consumers. Previous purchase intention models [6,7,8,9]^[6][7][8][9] in social e-commerce are not directly applicable to silver consumers, as there are significant differences in marketing perceptions and information behaviors between the elderly and young and middle-aged groups ^[10].

Due to the lack of objective conditions and subjective integration, the silver group are becoming awkward characters at the margins of the digital age. From the perspective of objective interests, the e-commerce market usually focuses on young and middle-aged people who are skilled in the use of digital technology, but neglects to tilt its attention toward the elderly ^[11]. In terms of individual characteristics, the silver group lacks the necessary digital and media literacy, and their ability and willingness to use digital media are lower. Because of aging, the silver group faces specific limitations in processing and understanding information, which puts them at a disadvantage in commercial transactions. The ability to comprehend and process marketing information declines with aging, largely because of the taxing mental effort required for the elderly to engage in cognitive processes of product interpretation ^[12]. Silver consumers are more likely to form purchase judgments by processing small amounts of subjective and emotional information rather than objective information that may be processed through a central (cognitive) pathway. In conclusion, the online consumption behavior of silver consumers shows uniqueness, and they may need stronger group emotional support and seek the security and trust of the purchasing environment to compensate for the lack of cognitive ability.

2. SFV-Driven E-Commerce

SFV-driven e-commerce refers to a business model that carries out e-commerce activities through content creation and online marketing on SFV platforms. In recent years, SFV apps represented by TikTok and Douyin have swept the world, and the “SFV plus e-commerce” model has gradually been recognized by developers and consumers. Compared with traditional e-commerce, the display mode combining SFV, live streaming, and mall in SFV platform can deliver real-time multidimensional information. In this case, consumers can understand the product attributes through a variety of ways, and will be stimulated by richer content and decision-making guidance. In addition, the interactivity of SFV e-commerce is no longer limited to reviews and customer service, as multimodal video communication empowers consumers with immersive experiences [14]^[13]. Real-time bullet chatting and virtualized interactive props in live streaming can enhance social interaction, thus alleviating the barriers to live streaming for silver consumers and enhancing their product perception. According to the modality effect [15]^[14], video explanations are easier to understand and have a lower learning load than purely graphic learning. At the level of human–computer interaction, SFV e-commerce also has the advantage of ease of use [16]^[15], and the perceived trust of online shoppers relies to some extent on perceived ease of use. In addition to content and interaction perspectives, personalized recommendation technologies of SFV platforms play an obvious role in driving user stickiness and consumption behaviors [17]^[16]. Recommender systems not only provide users with opportunities to take actions, but also endow platforms with core competencies driven by both content and technology. At present, the social, advertising and e-commerce components of many SFV platforms are centering their business layout around the attention resources brought about by accurate personalized recommendations. The SFV platform is a typical composite system of social and technical systems, requiring both social capitals to support community operations and information technology for system design and content services. The social and technical systems in the platform are interdependent and influence each other. Given that the sociotechnical approach is a general framework for analyzing the usefulness of a system from the perspective of social and technical factors, researchers categorize the key characteristics of SFV e-commerce platforms into social and technical aspects based on sociotechnical systems theory and previous literature. The social aspect refers to the role of the platform in maintaining social interactions and facilitating community exchanges, including information diversity and social interaction. The technical aspect focuses on human–computer interaction and predicting user preferences through artificial intelligence, including ease of use and recommendation affordance. Current research on SFV e-commerce focuses on the factors that positively influence users’ willingness to buy in SFV scenarios, including the addiction mechanism of APP use ^[6], content quality, relationship quality ^[7], entertainment ^[8], interaction based on live streaming technology, and intelligent recommender systems ^[9]. These factors help uspeople understand how SFV advertising affects consumer engagement behavior and explain why SFV e-commerce has become a new marketing channel on a global scale.

3. The ERG Needs of Silver Consumers

In online networking, providing silver groups with tailored messages, feedback, and goals that meet their specific needs is critical to triggering behavior change. Therefore, researchers analyze the needs of silver consumers based on the ERG theory [13]^[17] from three aspects: existence needs, relatedness needs, and growth needs, which can trigger potential purchase intention. The ERG theory, which is primarily used to analyze the drivers of human behavior, integrates the needs of individuals into three levels: existence (e.g., functional needs), relatedness (e.g., belonging, togetherness), and growth (e.g., self-actualization, self-esteem). First, in short video platforms, the existence needs of silver consumers are no longer only related to material desires, but also how to form trust in the platforms through familiarity with software use and information acquisition. Once an individual is unable to build platform trust, he or she will not continue to “exist” on the platform, i.e., will give up using the platform. Silver consumers pay more attention to safety and trust in online shopping, and have higher requirements for after-sales service. In eHealth service scenarios, perceived trust was found to be a major factor in service adoption among the silver group ^[18]. In a study of travel app adoption, it was found that the silver group’s technology trust is formed based on user experience, and that technology trust has a significant effect on the silver group’s adoption willingness ^[19]. Second, the relatedness needs of silver consumers in the SFV platform are reflected in their desire for social belonging. Elderly people often lack family companionship, and thus have a stronger need to seek emotional support from a community ^[20]. Some silver groups turn to consumer communities to form their own social relationships, thus enhancing their sense of social belonging [21,22]^[21][22]. Social isolation and emotional loneliness drive the silver group to seek social experiences, and interactions with salespeople can increase silver consumers’ willingness to buy ^[23]. In addition, there is a group purchasing effect among silver consumers, who are willing to exchange product information and tend to consult their peers before purchasing. When the herd behavior theory is used to study online shopping decisions, the group effect was found to have an important influence on the purchasing behavior of silver consumers ^[24]. Third, silver consumers’ growth needs in SFV platforms are more about discovering interesting content and increasing opportunities for more action, which need to be supported by recommender systems. The growth and development needs of the platform users belong to a self-productive effect such as the ability to seek knowledge, to build psychological connection, to develop personality. Silver consumers have relatively conservative behavioral patterns on e-commerce platforms, preferring a simple purchase process and relying more on advertisements and recommendations when obtaining information about products and services. Research on the psychological sense of brand community suggests that advertising may be effective in creating a psychological connection with silver consumers and promoting brand consumption ^[25]. As the core guarantee that supports the content-technology dual-channel operation of the SFV platform, the recommender system is the implicit driver that prompts users to have a creative or productive impact on themselves and the interactive environments. User perceptions of algorithmic availability help to enhance the user growth experience and promote co-evolution of users and algorithms (i.e., a positive feedback loop between continued use and algorithmic efficiency) ^[26]. Therefore, the long-term growth needs of silver consumers on SFV platforms can be reflected as the relevance of recommended information, i.e., product relevance. Higher product relevance helps silver consumers efficiently and quickly acquire product information, build a preference for personalized products, and thus generate a more favorable advertising attitude.

4. The Sociotechnical Characteristics of SFV Platforms

4.1. Information Diversity

Information diversity includes informativeness and variety. Informativeness is the amount of information embedded in seller-created and buyer-created content ^[27]. Diversity refers to the diversity of information dissemination media (e.g., short videos, live streaming, video comments, live pop-ups) and the diversity of information content. Information diversity has been shown to have a direct or moderating effect on e-commerce product sales ^[28]. According to emotional contagion theory ^[29], the diverse and interesting informational content of short videos is more likely to evoke emotional arousal in consumers. Emotion, as one of the most significant reasons for stimulating consumer behavior, can enhance consumers’ social presence and willingness to purchase ^[30]. In social mediums, by sharing highly personal content that revolves around their lifestyle and interests, users can forge deeper psychological bonds with their partners, which in turn enhances a sense of social belonging ^[31]. The diversity of information forms and content forms can increase users’ involvement in the information of products. Involvement theory refers to the different degrees of attention to things after being stimulated, including situation involvement, enduring involvement, and response involvement ^[32]. Depending on how the individual behaves when dealing with the involved object, the involvement zone can be categorized into product involvement, advertising involvement, purchase decision involvement, and consumption involvement [33,34]^[33][34]. Silver consumers are more rational than other groups when shopping and have higher demands for information diversity. Traditional e-commerce platforms are more single in information presentation than SFV platforms, which cannot consider above four kinds of involvement, so silver consumers are relatively more involved in SFV platforms.

4.2. Social Interaction

In social commerce, new technological features such as user stickiness, personalization, and virtual socialization can facilitate collaboration between users and businesses, and between users and users [35,36]^[35][36]. Some platforms support efficient social interaction or information exchange through video presentations, 3D displays, hyperlinks, etc. [37,38]^[37][38]. The social interaction of SFVs is reflected in two aspects, one is the interaction between users and anchors or other users on the platform. According to the interaction ritual chains theory, joint participation in an emotionally driven symbolic event can result in the creation or enhancement of collective identity and emotional energy ^[39], which further enhances willingness, trust, and loyalty for continued interaction ^[40]. Another aspect of the social interaction of SFVs is that users utilize the platform as a medium to interact with their friends and relatives. SFV communities can alleviate the weakening of the social network of silver groups in real life, and reduce the sense of loneliness and satisfy the need for sociality, thus enhancing social participation and sense of social belonging ^[41]. In addition, previous research on the impact of advert effectiveness has shown that social interaction is an important factor in enhancing the effectiveness of platform adverts. The more interactive an online advert is, the more likely it is to elicit user feedback and positive perceptions, thus increasing perceived trust ^[42].

4.3. Ease of Use

The convenience of information will promote customer consumption ^[43]. Perceived ease of use and channel ease of use are prerequisites for generating consumption behavior and key factors influencing consumption decisions ^[44]. In general, product information is the easiest and earliest product-related content for consumers to access. The more readily available the product information, the easier it is for the consumer to accept the product. When information is difficult to obtain, consumers are less informed about products and perceived risk grows, leading to less consumption. In SFV e-commerce, a simple swipe up provides access to a wealth of information. The availability of product information, as explained by a sales anchor, may enhance perceived trust ^[35]. In addition, early research has shown that perceived ease of use affects not only the initial adoption of information systems by users, but also the willingness to continue to use ^[45]. However, whether this sustainable impact is significant among silver consumers needs to be further explored, because software operation involvement does not mean that silver consumers with lower information processing skills can generate subsequent product involvement, advertising involvement, purchase decision involvement, and consumption involvement. Silver consumers generally have fear of unfamiliar and novel things and fear of loss, which represses a large part of consumption demand. The breakthrough of psychological barriers for silver consumers and the establishment of product trust may be more influenced by video emotion, content interest, and social interaction.

4.4. Recommendation Affordance

“Affordance” is first proposed by the field of ecopsychology and refers to the “harmonization of the environment with the animal.” Norman ^[46] introduces affordance into design science to explore the relationship between human perception and technology or objects, and then the affordance theory is widely studied in human–computer interaction. Schrock ^[47] argues that affordance is the interplay between objective attributes of technology and subjective perceptions of utility, and interprets information behavior in social media through the lens of affordance. Recommendation affordance refers to the possibility of SFV platforms to provide users with personalized information and services through user behavior and intelligent recommendation algorithms ^[48]. Recommendation algorithms promote product relevance, and recommendation affordance influences the user’s perception of product relevance by shaping and forming the interaction environment ^[49]. Meanwhile, the recommender system, through the optimization strategy and the distribution of high-quality content, enables high-quality products to reap more exposure, which to a certain extent can positively affect the perceived trust of silver consumers ^[26].

5. Purchasing Intentions of Silver Consumers

5.1. The Influence of Social Belonging

Social belonging is defined as “the sense that one is a part of a readily available, mutually supportive network of relationship” and consists of four components: membership, mutual influence, need fulfillment, and shared emotions ^[50]. When silver consumers actively participate in social groups, it not only gains self-esteem and happiness, but also a sense of belonging. The fan economy states that fans create an emotional connection through discussion and sharing, which in turn influences the choice of products ^[51]. Similarly, social belonging can stimulate empathy and sympathy in the minds of silver consumers, which is a deep-seated psychology that is likely to have a direct impact on purchasing decisions. In SFV virtual communities, silver consumers can seek more emotional support, group identity, and social belonging. These emotional supports can increase consumers’ brand recognition ^[52] and promote continuous consumption and word-of-mouth communication ^[53].

5.2. The Influence of Perceived Trust

Trust is a key factor in enabling online transactions. The quality of information and security measures on platforms can affect consumers’ perceived trust, which can potentially influence purchases ^[54]. Perceived trust can be analyzed from two perspectives: the platform and the seller. Perceived trust in the platform refers to the consumers’ perception of the institutional structure of the platform, while perceived trust in the seller is the feeling of the seller’s product presentation ^[55]. Basically, silver consumers have a higher need for trust in the platform and the interaction object, because of their psychological characteristics and factors such as barriers to Internet use. In e-health scenarios, perceived trust plays a key role in service acceptance among the elderly, and users’ technological anxiety will reinforce the role of affective trust ^[56].

5.3. The Influence of Product Relevance

According to the self-reference effect ^[57], individuals are more likely to be persuaded by self-relevant information. For example, relevance is an important indicator for evaluating the effectiveness of adverts ^[58], and higher relevance significantly reduces consumers’ advert avoidance behavior ^[59]. Personal relevance is a perceived connection between an individual’s needs, goals, values, and product information ^[60]. In this psychological evaluation process, consumers assess the extent to which a product message is self-relevant or the extent to which it satisfies their needs, goals, and values. When many international brands enter a local market, they often pick a local spokesperson to promote the relevance of the product to local potential consumers.