Abstract
Social media communication is characterized by reduced anonymity and off-to-online social interactions. These characteristics require scholars to revisit social influence mechanisms online. The current study builds on social influence literature to explore social network and gender effects on online behavior. Findings from a quasi-experiment suggest that both network-related variables and gender are significantly associated with online behavior. Perceived social environment, measured by personal network exposure rate, is more significant than objective reality, measured by frequency of received social messages, in determining behavior. We discuss the implications of social contagion effects on web-based strategic communication-including advertising, political campaigns, and social mobilization. Data limitations and the difficulty of measuring social network influence via social media are also discussed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1345-1360 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | American Behavioral Scientist |
Volume | 58 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2014 |
Keywords
- interpersonal influence
- online social networks
- personal network exposure
- social contagion
- social influence
- social networking sites
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Cultural Studies
- Education
- Sociology and Political Science
- General Social Sciences