Large Number Of Followers Research Articles

Kekuatan Instagram dengan Electronic-Word-of-Mouth (Ewom) dan Influencer dalam Komunikasi Pemasaran


 
 
 Social media has the power to change the patterns of people interacting and communicating. The growth use of Social Networking Sites/SNS has also led to changes in the communications industry, one of this is the integration of communication and marketing. This study aims to understand how the power of Instagram with eWOM and influencers that focus on the beauty and lifestyle in the digital era when conducting communication and marketing activities for one of the beauty products brands. The method in this study uses a “qualitative approach”, while data collection uses the “Indepth Interview” technique. Interview process using the Zoom application on two informants who were actively using Instagram, had used social media for eWOM, had a minimum number of followers was 1000, and focused to the development of beauty trends in Indonesia. The results of this study indicate that currently the brand not only focus on eWOM and influencers with a large number of followers, but also focus to the scope and closeness of influencers with their followers. The eWOM activities carried out by influencers with reviews based on experience. The variety of eWOM is divided into two, sponsored and not sponsored.
 
 

“FALSE SHEIKH” CRITIQUE IN DAGESTAN IN THE END OF THE 19TH – EARLY 20TH CENTURIES (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE WORK OF HASAN-HILMI AL-KAKHI “DURRA AL-BAYDA’ FI RADDI-L-BADA’ WA-L-AHWA”)

Based on a brief source analysis of an Arabic-language work of a prominent Dagestan Sufi sheikh Hasan-Hilmi al-Kakhi “Durra al-bayda’ fi raddi-l-bada’ wa-l-ahwa” (A shining pearl for the refutation of innovations and whims), the article reveals the essence of an inter-Sufi dispute between the followers of different Sufi brotherhoods, which took place in Dagestan at the end of the 19th – early 20th centuries. This dispute was expressed in mutual criticism and accusations of some Sufi figures of being “false sheikhs”. The polemics were mainly initiated by the representatives of the Mahmudiyya branch of the Naqshbandi brotherhood; their opponents were the representatives of the Khalidiyya branch, which at that time amounted to the largest number of followers. One of the most active participants in the inter-Sufi polemics was the Naqshbandi sheikh Hasan-Hilmi al-Kakhi. In his work “Durra al-bayda’ fi raddi-l-bada’ wa-l-ahwa” al-Kakhi strongly criticizes some Dagestani Sufis, who, in his opinion, illegally engage in mentoring activity without the appropriate investiture, and thereby discredit the Sufi teaching. In the same work, al-Kakhi first attempted to classify the “Dagestani false sheikhs.” He devoted several more of his later works to this issue, in which he generalized and supplemented his ideas, while his positions on some issues and the rhetoric itself changed greatly. Al-Kakhi’s criticism provoked a backlash from his opponents. This problem was also reflected in the Arabic-language polemical works of other Dagestan Sufi contemporaries. The study of this issue is an important part in revealing the history of the spread and development of Sufism in Dagestan.

Fact-checking on Twitter: An analysis of the hashtag #StopBulos

The fact-checking is an important tool to improve the quality of the information that circulates in virtual networks. Although there are different fact-checking verification agencies, we also found some more informal strategies such as the use of the hashtag #Stopbulos. Thus, this research aims to characterize the #StopBulos hashtag on Twitter as a way to verify information and control the spread of fake news. The results showed that there was diversity among users and the themes of the tweets that included this hashtag, while the main function was to deny fake news. However, it was found that those who achieved greater dissemination were the users with the largest number of followers and institutional character. The implications of using the #StopBulos hashtag as a tool to identify false information on social networks are discussed. Keywords: fake news, post-truth, post-news, social media, network societies

Analysis of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Social Media in Public Relations Practices to Convey Covid-19 Information in Gorontalo Province

Public Relations has an important role in educating and providing understanding to the public in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic as it is now. In this case, Public Relations acts as an intermediary between the government and the community by conveying policies related to the government's efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This study aims to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of PR strategies in delivering information on COVID-19 using social media, such as: websites, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative with a case study approach. Then the withdrawal of research informants using purposive sampling technique, informants consist of people who are directly involved with the delivery of information on covid-19 by Public Relations, with qualitative data collection consisting of depth interviews, participant observation, and documentation. The results of the study show that there are several advantages, namely (1) wide reach and large number of followers, (2) fast information updates, and (3) presenting informative and educative content. The shortcoming in question is that the management of social media is not yet maximal, which is less interactive in responding to public comments through comments on social media. The limitation of this study is that researchers only focus on the PR strategy in delivering information about COVID-19 in Gorontalo Province through social media only and not at the level of other conventional media, namely through websites, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. The value and originality of this research is the delivery of information and efforts to prevent the spread of covid-19 which is conveyed through social media PR. The contribution of this research to future PR practices is a deeper implementation of the concept of digital PR, especially during a pandemic like now where everything is done online.

Descriptive Analysis of the Use of Twitter by Cinemaximum Movie Theaters During the Covid-19 Global Pandemic

This study looked into how movie theaters used social media during the pandemic, through the example of Cinemaximum movie theaters and Twitter. The reason for selecting Cinemaximum is that it is Turkey’s largest cinema chain and its movie theaters have the largest number of followers on social media. The study used the descriptive analysis and the content analysis method to examine 1006 tweets shared by Cinemaximum on Twitter between January 1 and December 15, 2020. At the end of the study it was seen that the Cinemaximum Twitter account was used actively in line with the company’s needs during the global pandemic. Differences were seen between shares posted prior to 16 March and those posted after this date. The topic codes identified in the Tweets were classified under 16 different categories. It was seen that the topics covered most in Tweets posted when movie theaters were open were “Films” (movie showtimes and information about the movie to be shown); when movie theaters were closed, “Entertainment” (competitions, games, questions, riddles, messages promoting participation (tagging your friend, etc.), humor, interesting information); and in July, when preparations were being made to reopen movie theaters, “Preparations for reopening the theaters.” When viewed in general, it can be said that the Tweets shared when movie theaters were open and in July when preparations to reopen them were underway were written primarily for marketing purposes, with a focus on advertising and promotion, and that those written when movie theaters were closed were focused on public relations. 

A methodological approach to the analysis of PISA microblogs: social media during the release of the PISA 2015 results

ABSTRACT This paper analyses Twitter microblogs over a 3-day period, during the release of the results of PISA 2015 on 6 December 2016 by the OECD. We document a methodological approach to investigating the social mediatisation of policy and its inclusive potential for enabling the participation of multiple voices. We draw on two data sets from the 3-day period: first, a large data corpus (n = 17,260) of all microblogs about PISA, and second, a smaller cluster of selected participant groups, notably academic, OECD, and teacher union actors (n = 65). Our analytic tools provide a methodological heuristic for scoping social media networks. Our research is guided by questions about ‘Who participates?’ in PISA debates and ‘What is being said?’ and considers the volume, engagement, and content of the microblogs. Of the three participant groups, the academic actors authored the largest volume of microblogs across the corpus and cluster. The content of microblogs from the OECD cluster mainly provided information about and promotion of PISA, while the academic cluster emphasised commentary and critique, with all actors using an analytic tone. The OECD had the largest number of followers and the highest rate of social recommendations and engagement with their microblogs.

Social Media Engagement as a Metric for Ranking US Olympic Athletes as Brand Endorsers

Athletes often use social media to help build their personal brand, communicate with stakeholders, and promote endorsements. Research suggests that athletes who elicit greater engagement on social media are more valuable to endorse brands than those who simply have a large number of followers. From a regulatory perspective, it is important for athlete endorsers to disclose the commercial nature of sponsored posts. Therefore, based on social influence theory (SIT), the purpose of this study was to examine Olympic athletes’ follower engagement on social media with a focus on brand mentions and disclosures of the relationships. Utilizing a content analysis of 190 US Olympic athletes’ tweets during the 2018 PyeongChang Games, findings revealed statistically significant differences in follower engagement based on the athlete’s gender. Non-brand-related posts received statistically significant greater engagement than brand-related posts, and only 12.90% of the posts that mentioned a brand disclosed a brand relationship. Implications and future research also are discussed.

Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Program Social Media Presence During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background:In light of away rotation and in-person interview cancellations for the 2020 to 2021 application cycle, social media has become a popular tool for orthopaedic surgery residency programs to highlight their strengths, curricula, and social life to prospective applicants. The authors sought to explore the proliferation and utilization of 3 popular social media platforms by both orthopaedic surgery departments and residencies.Methods:Orthopaedic surgery departmental and residency program social media accounts and their creation dates across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were identified using a standardized search methodology. Residency Instagram accounts were further evaluated for the number of posts, followers, likes, and comments. Both departments and residency programs were cohorted by affiliation with a US News &World Report (USNWR) top 50 American hospital for orthopaedics or by status as a Doximity top 20 program based on reputation.Results:Across a total of 192 residency programs included for analysis, Instagram was the most popular social media platform (61.5%), followed by Twitter (19.8%) and Facebook (10.4%). Conversely, orthopaedic departments more frequently used Facebook (33.9%) and Twitter (28.1%) over Instagram (17.2%). Of the 118 residency Instagram accounts, 102 (86.4%) were created after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Larger residency programs (≥6 spots/year) and those programs in the Doximity top 20 or affiliated with USNWR top 50 orthopaedic hospitals had a greater number of followers as well as likes and comments per post (p < 0.05 for all).Conclusions:Given the recruitment challenges faced by residency programs because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Instagram has rapidly become a prominent platform for attracting orthopaedic surgery applicants. These accounts have a large number of followers, particularly for residency programs with higher Doximity reputation rankings.

Nahdlatul Ulama: Telaah Histori Perkembangan dan Gerakan Dakwahnya di Indonesia

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) is a traditional ulama organization that has a large number of followers, the largest non-governmental organizations still survive and have roots in the lower classes. This paper aims to describe the history of the development and the da'wah movement of this large organization. The reading presentation in this paper is the author's adoption of various literatures, which the author extracts so that it becomes an interesting article for all readers. From this search and study of literature sources, it is hoped that a complete understanding of NU will emerge, which in recent times has often been described in various dynamics.

Communication Strategies in the 2020 Local Election Stages Socialization During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Indonesia has decided to hold simultaneous local elections on December 9, 2020, even though the country and the rest of the world still face the COVID-19 pandemic. The local election stages have begun in June 2020 by forming a unit to update data of voters and socialize how to hold the elections during the pandemic. This paper aims to build communication strategies in socializing how to hold the elections during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results were obtained using the survey method involving 440 respondents in Denpasar in September 2020. The communication strategy is a combination of offline and online mediums. Despite a policy to stay at home, data shows that residents of Denpasar still needed offline mediums such as billboards and banners. In addition, they also searched for information about the election through printed advertisements and television advertisements. To ensure the smooth socialization of election process, the General Election Commission (KPU) in Denpasar uses accounts in social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook in collaboration with parties that have a large number of followers or mass media that have accounts in social media with a large number of followers. However, almost all respondents do not follow the official account of KPU Denpasar. Uniquely, in Denpasar, some potential voters still rely on community leaders and figures in searching for information about the local election. To that end, to build communication strategies, these community leaders and figures should be involved. Data also show that online meeting like zoom, google meet, or Webex meeting is not sufficient.

Initial response to COVID-19: a mixed-methods analysis of media and school communications to identify pedagogical implications for remote teaching

PurposeImmediately following the declaration of the national emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA, the purpose of this study was to examine one month of social media, news media, school district websites’ continuity plans and educational affiliate organizations, to unveil K-12 stakeholders’ initial response to K-12 remote teaching.Design/methodology/approachFramed by connectivism theory, the authors used a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design to conduct a systematic content analysis of 43,870 tweets, news media, school district websites’ continuity plans and educational affiliate organizations.FindingsInitial responses focused on community lockdown procedures, sustaining education, adapting to a remote lifestyle and political tension. The authors revisited included tweets one week later to measure their connectedness, which revealed that educational organizations, which have the largest number of followers, also have the greatest outreach and visibility.Practical implicationsBased on the collective decision-making of education stakeholders, the authors provide three remote teaching recommendations and pedagogical implications for sustainable remote teaching practices.Originality/valueThe authors construct a blueprint from some of the largest school districts, and consequently the COVID-19 hotspots, to broadly examine emergency preparedness and remote instruction plans.

Innovation ecosystem: cooperation of the agricultural market entities in the light of empirical research conducted on the basis of Group Azoty Pulawy innovation consortium

Traditionally, the innovation process has been of a closed nature because research or development projects are generated inside the company and brought to the market by a company. However, Chesbrough (2003) formulated the open innovation paradigm, assuming that companies can and should use external and internal ideas as well as external and internal market paths in search of new opportunities for their development. Openness to innovation requires cooperation with other market players, therefore some kind of partnership is necessary to co-create value with various stakeholders. The partners share their knowledge and experience as well as the benefits of jointly conducted innovative projects. Managing this type of partnership is now considered one of the key competences of the organization. However, the issue of managing the innovation ecosystem as the most mature form of open innovation has been relatively poorly researched. We do not know much about what organizational and legal solutions are adopted by companies in partnerships for the development of innovation, what a model of cooperation could look like or how to manage such a partnership. How far should we formalize these processes? While searching for answers to these questions, the author decided to conduct empirical research in 2019 among the consortium members of Group Azoty Puławy (nitrogen fertilizers production), based on an in-depth, partially structured interview, supported by an analysis of several selected innovation ecosystems of global chemical groups (BASF, MONSANTO, SOLVAY and YARA). Group Azoty Puławy is part of Group Azoty, the second largest producer of mineral fertilizers in Europe. In 2019, Group Azoty Puławy generated revenues of EUR 845.4 million and profit of EUR 70.7 million. The results for the first nine months of 2020 were EUR 533.7 million and EUR 37.2 million, respectively (Group Azoty Puławy interim reports 2020; 2021). The subject of the research was a consortium established in 2011 by Group Azoty Puławy in order to implement joint innovation projects. In the period between 2011 and 2016, consortium members submitted 22 initiatives, 6 of which were completed by 2016. After five years of operation, the consortium consisted of 12 members, including 5 representatives of scientific institutions, 3 producers of agricultural products and 4 organizations representing agricultural entrepreneurs. The purpose of the research was to assess the degree of openness of project participants to cooperation during the construction phase and the management phase of the consortium. The research of innovation consortium of the Group Azoty Puławy shows the following: During the construction phase, the members of the consortium were open to the accession of new partners, however selectively, i.e. according to the leader’s instructions. The selection of partners was complementary and concerned entities serving the same market segment as leaders. During the management phase of the consortium, the solution that gave the leader the greatest power had the largest number of followers. Most of the respondents were in favour of a formalized cooperation strategy, i.e. the one based on standardizing relations between partners. The respondents were open to both formal (specific, contractual) and informal (relational) mechanisms in building and managing a partnership.

Análise webmétrica do compartilhamento de informação e conhecimento gastronômico via YouTube®

Objetivo: Apresentar o potencial de geração e compartilhamento de informação e conhecimento na plataforma digital YouTube®. Método: Por meio de uma análise webmétrica foram estudados os dez canais culinários brasileiros com maior número de seguidores, visando quantificar seus vídeos produzidos, número de seguidores, curtidas dos vídeos principais, número de visualizações do canal e do vídeo favorito, além do número de comentários. Resultado: Observou-se que as teorias básicas do conhecimento podem ser visualizadas nestes canais e que a plataforma possui um grande potencial no que se refere à geração e disseminação de informação. Os dez canais culinários analisados, disponíveis por meio da Web 2.0, possuem a habilidade de apresentar os conhecimentos tácitos e explícitos dos Youtuber’s aos seus seguidores visando o compartilhamento da informação e do conhecimento. Conclusões: Pode-se compreender que a plataforma digital YouTube® pode ser um ótimo meio pelo qual o compartilhamento de informação e conhecimento ocorrem no que tange à Gestão do Conhecimento. A visualização prática do resultados aqui encontrados oportunizam a possibilidade da inferência no que se refere à importância da dinamicidade da produção e compartilhamento da informação na atualidade; cada vez mais as pessoas e organizações devem se adaptar a estes contextos, tendo em vista a geração do conhecimento em si mesmas visando a assimilação de conhecimento para a criação de vantagem competitiva individual e organizacional.

DISCURSO DE ÓDIO EM MÍDIAS SOCIAIS COMO ESTRATÉGIA DE PERSUASÃO POPULAR

RESUMO Este artigo busca compreender o momento atual, dando um passo atrás, para mostrar que em uma situação anterior à campanha eleitoral de 2018, já havia indícios do populismo digital (CESARINO, 2018): o aparato digital e a mobilização (produção e compartilhamentos de hashtags no Twitter), bem como a tática política de estabelecer um eixo sintagmático amigo-inimigo. Mais especificamente, o intuito aqui é analisar discussões políticas, dentro do quadro linchamento virtual (MACEDO, 2018), de duas maneiras: (i) por suas conexões, utilizando modelos de redes aplicados às redes sociais online, conforme descritos nos trabalhos de Recuero (2005, 2014) e Lima-Lopes (2017, 2018) e; (ii) pelo discurso contido nas postagens, segundo o Sistema de Avaliatividade (MARTIN e WHITE, 2005) e suas aplicações em Língua Portuguesa (VIAN JR et. al, 2010). Foi considerada para esta pesquisa a utilização no Twitter da hashtag #Dia28EuVouTrabalhar, criada e disseminada com o intuito de contrariar a Greve Geral marcada para o dia 28 de abril de 2017, cujo objetivo era protestar contra as reformas trabalhista e da previdência. A raspagem de dados e os grafos de conexão foram feitos com o auxílio dos softwares NodeXL e Gephi, respectivamente. Ao final, observou-se que os principais influenciadores na rede tinham grande importância na disseminação do discurso de ódio, pois o grande número de seguidores possibilitou o espalhamento em larga escala. Vale ressaltar que o nó central da rede estudada era um deputado estadual do Rio de Janeiro e filho de um político com pretensão à presidência da República. A principal avaliação expressa nas postagens, em relação aos sentimentos, foi a insatisfação com o partido político que se manteve na presidência do Brasil por catorze anos e que fora interrompido por um impeachment, no ano anterior a esta greve. Já em relação ao Julgamento, as postagens revelaram uma descrença quanto à ética e confiabilidade tanto em relação aos grevistas quanto aos organizadores. Com isso, pode-se observar que a repetição e padronização de discursos estigmatizados, bem como sua pulverização em mídia social, foram - e ainda são - utilizadas como instrumento para conseguir o apoio popular.

Revitalizing the Role and Function of the Mosque as a Center for Da'wah Activities and Community Development

Prophet Muhammad SAW was the first to build a mosque and he has given a very strategic role to the mosque and functioned optimally as a center for da'wah and fostering activities of the people. The Prophet Muhammad SAW was the bearer of the Divine message which was the most successful in conveying Islamic teachings and the most successful in fostering the Ummah. In less than 23 years, Rasulullah SAW succeeded in conveying the teachings of Islam perfectly and gained a very large number of followers and at the same time managed to foster the ummah into a civil society with high civilization and noble character. From one of the first mosques built by Rasulullah SAW in Quba, there are now millions of mosques throughout the world. But the role and function of mosques in general have experienced a lot of degradation, less functioning as a center of worship and Islamic culture, as practiced by Rasulullah SAW, more mosques only function as places of worship, instead there are mosques which are only used as places for Friday prayers, whereas prayer the other five times are not held in the mosque in congregation, because Muslims are not disciplined in keeping their prayers in congregation. This article would like to convey some thoughts, ideas, and ideas for the revitalization of the mosque as a center for preaching and fostering activities of the people.

PENERAPAN MODEL PEMBELAJARAN YESUS DALAM MATIUS 7:24-29 TERHADAP HASIL BELAJAR SISWA DI SMPN 12 KOTA KUPANG

This research examines the learning model used by Jesus when preaching or teaching specifically found in Matthew 7: 24-29. There are several methods that Jesus uses in this section, namely: the lecture method, the method of storytelling and the method of parable. These methods were quite successful in Jesus' teaching as evidenced by the large number of followers who were amazed at him. In this study, we want to find out how the influence of the application of the method Jesus used on student learning outcomes. The method used in this study is a quantitative method with survey techniques. The research population was all of the ninth grade students in SMP Negeri 12 Kota Kupang with a total sample of 30 students. Data analysis was performed using statistical techniques with data analysis processes namely Descriptive Analysis, Test Requirements Analysis and Hypothesis Test. The results showed that the application of the Learning Method used by Jesus in Matthew 7: 24-29 had an effect on student learning outcomes at SMP Negeri 12 Kota Kupang by 40%.

Characterization of Birdwatching Demand Using a Logit Approach: Comparative Analysis of Source Markets (National vs Foreign).

Simple SummaryNature tourism, which includes birdwatching, has experienced a significant boom in recent years, becoming a highly attractive tourist typology. The economic benefit it generates for the destinations in which it develops is accompanied by a greater awareness in society about the importance of conserving its natural resources, which is materialized in a greater channeling of investments aimed at ensuring the correct conservation of natural heritage. Therefore, birdwatching has become a highly sustainable tourist product, with which a beneficial interaction between humans and the environment is achieved. In order to achieve these objectives, it is necessary to know exhaustively what the target market is like, that is, the profile of the birdwatcher; what are their sociodemographic characteristics, how do they behave at their destination, or what characteristics influence a greater probability of doing this practice. The purpose of this work is to identify the main characteristics of the demand in a territory that, due to its excellent endowment of natural resources, can become a priority destination for this type of tourism, the Extremadura region (Spain).Birdwatching is a tourism activity that relates closely to protected natural spaces and that helps contribute to the balance between economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainability. In some European countries (the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland), this recreational activity has a large number of followers, making it a new segment of tourist demand with great possibilities for growth. The objective of this study is to identify the main characteristics of the demand for birdwatching in one of the European territories having a high resource supply, as is the case with Extremadura (Spain). To do this, a logit modelization has been proposed in order to estimate the probability of going birdwatching in the region, based on a random sample of over 3000 tourists that visited the region in 2017. This characterization of birdwatching demand was carried out using variables such as gender, age, type of travel, type of lodging, and assessment of tourism services. Given that the national and the foreign demand of this tourism modality may present distinct behaviors, and therefore, specific characterizations, a structural change test (Chow test) was also conducted in order to determine to what extent these two segments of demand, based on the source markets, have (or do not have) distinguishing features.

Jejak Historis Al-Irsyad Al-Islamiyah dan Kiprahnya dalam Pengembangan Pendidikan Islam

Abstract: Indonesia is a country with the largest Muslim population in the world. As the majority religion, of course Islam becomes a religion that has a wealth of internal dynamics, both in the context of Islam itself and in the context of Indonesia. This paper discussed that Islam in Indonesia has long-standing organizations. The existence of Islamic organizations even existed though Indonesia had not yet been independent. In this research, the writers conducted a typology of Islamic organizations standing before and after independence including their respective movement orientation. Of the many Islamic organizations considered quite old, the al-Irsyad is one of the Islamic organizations contributing to its historical footprint. Various figures of independence, national figures and even among the scholars were born from the womb of this organization. With a relatively large number of followers, this mass organization oversees educational institutions ranging from elementary to upper secondary levels, which have to this day still existed and continued to reproduce the nation's cadres.Keywords: Al-Irsyad Al-Islamiyah, Islamic Education

To Tweet or Not to Tweet? A Look at Radiology Societies’ Use of Twitter

Twitter is the most used social media platform by medical professionals and has become an effective way to disseminate ideas and information. To evaluate Twitter usage by some of the larger diagnostic radiology (DR) and interventional radiology (IR) societies. Data were collected from the publicly available Twitter analytics platform, Twitonomy™. Data collected included the number of followers, Twitter output, user engagement and changes of these parameters between January 2017 and January 2019. DR societies have the largest number of followers. The IR group increased its number of followers by 5139 (55%) compared with 10013 (18%) by the DR group during the period studied. In both years, the IR group posted more tweets/day compared with the DR group (6.6 vs. 4.7). Although user engagement increased for both IR and DR societies, the IR subgroup had a highly engaged user audience with a similar number of 'likes' to the DR group despite their larger Twitter following (DR 65500 vs. IR 14411 in 2019). The IR societies studied experienced comparable Twitter engagement to the larger DR societies. The societies with the smallest number of followers (BSIR and CIRSE) enjoyed the largest relative increase in followers over the study period. IR societies should be encouraged by these results to continue to publicize their work on social media and increase awareness of the specialty.

Crowd or Hubs: information diffusion patterns in online social networks in disasters

The objective of this paper is to investigate the role of different types of users in the diffusion of situational information through online social networks in disasters. In particular, this paper investigates the influence of two types of users: crowd (regular users) and hubs (users with a large number of followers) on the speed and magnitude of information propagation. Effective and efficient disaster response requires rapid dissemination of situational information to improve situation awareness, save lives, and quickly repair damages. The use of social media, such as Twitter, has gained popularity for spreading the situational information in disasters. Little is known, however, regarding the underlying diffusion mechanisms influencing the speed and magnitude of spreading disaster-related information on social media. To address this gap, using tweets related to Hurricane Harvey, this study examined the role of hubs and crowd and the influence of different features such as theme, hashtag, media, users’ location, and the intervention timing of online users on the speed and magnitude of information spread. The results compare the differences in the speed and magnitude of information spread between two diffusion patterns: crowd diffusion (less than 2% retweets from hubs) and mixed diffusion (more than 2% retweets from hubs). The findings suggest that both diffusion patterns can achieve high speed and high magnitude in terms of information diffusion for trending tweets with different features. For mixed diffusion, the speed and magnitude of the tweets are governed by the activities of hubs. The results also show that early intervention of hubs increases the speed of information propagation. Also, in the crowd diffusion, information spread is influenced by both crowd and hubs whose retweets cause tipping points in the information diffusion process at different points of time. The findings imply intervention strategies to better disseminate situational information in disasters.