Network Structures For A Better Twitter Community

2014 Social Media & Society International Conference (September 27-28, Toronto)

Hua (Helen) Wang, Ph.D.Weiai (Wayne) Xu, M.A. Gregory D. Saxton, Ph.D.

University at Buffalo, SUNY

Social Media for Health Promotion and Social Change

• Rapid adoption by organizations

• Benefits• Information dissemination at no/low cost• Increased accessibility and reach• Opportunities for social interactions and support

• Challenges• Information quality control• User engagement and retention• Building a strong and sustainable community

social engagement

Is key to

goal achievement

an account

doesn’t guarantee

(Korda & Itani, 2013; Moorhead et al., 2013)2

• A Hulu Exclusive Serieshttp://www.eastloshigh.com

• Promoting sexual health 3

The Value of Understanding Network Structures

[Divided]Polarized Crowds

[Unified]Tight Crowd

[Fragmented]Brand Clusters

[Clustered]Community Clusters

[In-Hub & Spoke]Broadcast Network

[Out-Hub & Spoke]Support Network

(Gruzd & Haythornthwaite, 2013; Smith et al., 2014; Welser et al., 2007) 4

Hashtag network

(1004 edges)

Mention network(774 edges)

RT network (356 edges)

631

179

136

65

54 58

405

ELH

Twitter

networks

5

Hashtag network

(1004 edges)@EastLosHighShow

& 2,136 followers

May 1, 2013 ~ January 31, 2014

#ELH#ELHaddict(s)#EastLosHigh

Tweets, RTs, mentions (replies)

@EastLosHighShow

Follower A

Follower BELH

Twitter

networks

6

1,724 or 80.7% were isolates:This means they are following ELH but didn’t tweet, RT, or mention ELH

Peeling the “Onion”

7

Peeling the “Onion”

85 (4.0%) had 0 out-degree:This means they were RT/mentioned, but not vice versa

8

Peeling the “Onion”

316 (14.8%) had 1 to 11 out-degrees:This means they did tweet, RT, or mention ELH sporadically

Top ELH fans on Twitter:• @hecdavidelh• @shoshanamb• @valerie_mia• @vayaconfashion• @lena_thang• @cicily3192• @mercy2much4you• @shadeacrobat• @nitzy15• @myjunior760 9

Peeling the “Onion”

Only 9 (0.4%) had out-degrees and in-degrees above 11:This means they are the core ELH discussion group on Twitter

Twitter user Out-degree In-degree@eastloshighshow 147 227@gabriel_iswitit 62 112@tracy_perez 32 29@aliciasixtos 28 53@hecdavidjr 20 44@inoemigonzalez 18 22@themsdaniv 15 22@janinelarina 14 26@iamjorgediaz 11 32

10

ELH Twitter List (N=125)

14

19

92

Cast members

Advisors

Youth media/In-fluencers

• All cast members are following and actively interacting with ELH.

• Only 7 (37%) advisors are following ELH; 1 used ELH hashtags, 1 mentioned ELH, and 1 retweeted ELH.

• Only 12 (13%) influencers are following ELH; 4 used ELH hashtags, 4 mentioned ELH, and 3 retweeted ELH.

11

ELH Twitter List (N=125)

14

19

92

Cast members

Advisors

Youth media/In-fluencers

Examples of listed influential advisors who are not following ELH back:

• @PPact (104,000 followers)• @getschooled (46100 followers)• @WahtToExpect (25,000 followers)• @BedSider (20,300 followers)• @loveisrespect (14,900 followers)• @NDVH (12,200 followers)

12

ELH Twitter List (N=125)

14

19

92

Cast members

Advisors

Youth media/In-fluencers

Examples of listed influential youth media/influencers who are not following ELH back:

• @Latina (80,004 followers)• @ChelseaKrost (54,300 followers)• @dreamhampton (53,900 followers)• @urbanjibaro (26,848 followers)• @DJEddieOne (27,238 followers)• @yalsa (23,646 followers)• @julito77 (12,963 followers)• @Maria_Hinojosa (11,689 followers)

13

Strategies for Building a Better Twitter Community

1. ELH maintains the enthusiastic hub of core members but also mindfully engages the fans to join their conversations. Particularly, the top fans can be promoted to become the show’s ambassadors.

2. ELH immediately activates the salient latent ties and encourage their listed advisors and connected media organizations (especially those with high number of followers) to follow back and help promote the show.

3. ELH converts the isolated followers from passive lurkers to active participants in discussions about the show, the cast, and the social and health issues, perhaps with some meaningful incentives.

14

Acknowledgement

University at Buffalo, SUNY

• Dr. Hua (Helen) Wang

• Dr. Gregory D. Saxton

• Weiai (Wayne) Xu

• Georges Khalil

• Kristin Maki

• Dana Himoff

• Susan Kum

• Mike Reinti

The University of Taxes at El Paso

• Dr. Arvind Singhal

• Carliene Quist

• Anu Sachdev

• Gabe Lira

• Claudia Boyd

• Dr. Lucia Dura

References

• Gruzd, A., & Haythornthwaite, C. (2013). Enabling community through social media. Journal of Internet Medical Research, 15(10), e248. doi:10.2196/jmir.2796

• Korda, H., & Itani, Z. (2013). Harnessing social media for health promotion and behavior change. Health Promotion Practice, 14, 15-23. DOI: 10.1177/1524839911405850

• Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, D. J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons, 52, 357-365. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2009.03.002

• Moorhead, S. A., Hazlett, D. E., Harrison, L., Carroll, J. K., Irwin, A., & Hoving, C. (2013). A new dimension of health care: Systematic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health communication. Journal of Internet Medical Research, 15(4), e85. doi: 10.2196/jmir.1933

• Smith, M., Rainie, L., Shneiderman, B., & Himelboim, I. (2014, February 20). Mapping Twitter Topic Networks: From Polarized Crowds to Community Clusters, Pew Internet & American Life Project.

• Welser, H. T., Gleave, E., Fisher, D. & Smith, M. (2007). Visualizing the Signatures of Social Roles in Online Discussion Groups. The Journal of Social Structure. 8(2).

Thank you!

Helen Wang: hwang23@buffalo.eduWayne Xu: weiaixu@buffalo.edu

Gregory Saxton: gdsaxton@buffalo.edu

Comments?

Questions?