The Intersection of Source, Message, and Recipient Characteristics on Information-Exchange Activity via Twitter
The purpose of the research is to explain how Twitter supports real-time information exchange in popular domains, and examine the influence of source, message, and recipient characteristics on information exchange. University students were surveyed using
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Abstract. The purpose of the research is to explain how Twitter supports real-time information exchange in popular domains, and examine the influence of source, message, and recipient characteristics on information exchange. University students were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. A model was developed and statistically tested to examine the influence of characteristics on information exchange via Twitter. Different characteristics were demonstrated to be significant predictors of information exchange. For source characteristics, authoritative knowledge, social connections, and attractiveness have a positive influence, while for recipient characteristics, prior knowledge, community engagement, and demographics influence information exchange. For message characteristics, information usefulness and information quality are effective. Overall, influences vary based on the domain. The results help Twitter operators and users to understand the most important source, message, and recipient characteristics for information exchange. This study informs sources about the characteristics that make tweets more informative, and more likely to be exchanged by recipients. It assists Twitter operators to understand what characteristics are important in future system designs. Keywords: Source characteristics Message characteristics Recipient characteristics Microblogging Information seeking Information sharing Information exchange
1 Introduction The recent development of social networking sites (SNSs) has transformed the World Wide Web into a social and participatory place in which users create, broadcast, modify, and share information and knowledge [1]. [2] stated that “online communities, including discussion forums, blogs, social networking sites, and microblogs, appear to be the most active places where users’ information sharing behavior takes place” (p. 604). Twitter, a social networking and microblogging service, is now used widely for broadcasting and exchanging messages, including information in various domains [3]. Twitter is a valuable source of user-generated content, with users able to send and receive messages (“tweets”) freely. Therefore, Twitter use potentially differs from other means of communication because of its timeliness and convenience within a context of reduced control and direct access to personal thoughts and opinions [4]. According to © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2016 Published by Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016. All Rights Reserved Y.K. Dwivedi et al. (Eds.): I3E 2016, LNCS 9844, pp. 332–353, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-45234-0_31
The Intersection of Source, Message, and Recipient Characteristics
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statistics from Statistic Brain Research Institute, in March 2015 Twitter had 645 million Twitter users, posting an average of 58 million tweets per day. This raises the question of what type of information is exchanged via Twitter and what are the most efficient characteristics that influence this activity. One of Twitter’s key adv
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