The Role of Message Content and Source User Identity in Information Diffusion on Online Social Networks

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of message content and source user identity on information diffusion in Twitter networks. For the empirical study, we collected 11,346 tweets pertaining to the three major mobile telecom carriers in Korea for three months, from September to December 2011. These tweets generated 59,111 retweets (RTs) and were retweeted at least once. Our analysis indicates that information diffusion in Twitter in terms of RT volume is affected primarily by the type of message content, such as the inclusion of corporate social responsibility activities. However, the effect of message content on information diffusion is heterogeneous to the identity of the information source. We argue that user identity affects recipients’ perception of the credibility of focal information. Our study offers insights into the information diffusion mechanism in online social networks and provides managerial implications on the strategic utilization of online social networks for marketing communications with customers.