Article
Predicting Opinion Leaders in Twitter Activism Networks The Case of the Wisconsin Recall Election
American Behavioral Scientist
(2014)
Abstract
This study employs content and network analysis techniques to explore the predictors of opinion leadership in a political activism network on Twitter. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using user-generated content to measure user characteristics. The characteristics were analyzed to predict users’ performance in the network. According to the results, Twitter users with higher connectivity and issue involvement are better at influencing information flow on Twitter. User connectivity was measured by betweenness centrality, and issue involvement was measured by a user’s geographic proximity to a given event and the contribution of engaging tweets. In addition, the results show that tweets by organizations had greater influence than those by individual users.
Keywords
- opinion leadership,
- network analysis,
- Twitter,
- social media,
- digital activism
Disciplines
Publication Date
2014
DOI
10.1177/0002764214527091
Citation Information
Weiai Xu, Yoonmo Sang, Stacy Blasiola and Hanwoo Park. "Predicting Opinion Leaders in Twitter Activism Networks The Case of the Wisconsin Recall Election" American Behavioral Scientist Vol. 58 Iss. 10 (2014) p. 1278 - 1293 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/yoonmo-sang/16/