Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems (지능정보연구)

Korea Intelligent Information System Society (한국지능정보시스템학회)
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The Impact of Message Characteristics on Online Viral Diffusion in Online Social Media Services : The Case of Twitter

트위터 메세지 특성에 따른 온라인 구전효과에 대한 분석

  • Nam, Young-Woo (Korea University Business School Korea University) ;
  • Son, In-Soo (Korea University Business School Korea University) ;
  • Lee, Dong-Won (Korea University Business School Korea University)
  • Received : 2011.11.18
  • Accepted : 2011.12.19
  • Published : 2011.12.31
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Abstract

In this paper, we explore the information diffusion mechanism under social network environments by investigating the effect of message characteristics on the volume and speed of retweeting in Twitter, a popular online social media service. To this end, we select eight main keywords (i.e., '무상급식', '반값등록금', '나가수', '평창', '김연아', '박태환', '아이폰', '갤럭시') that have been popular on online social media in recent days. Each keyword represents various social aspects of Korea that recently grab people's attention such as political issues, entertainment, sports celebrities, and the latest digital products, and eventually holds distinctive message characteristics. Analyzing the frequency and velocity of retweeting for each keyword, we find that more than half of the sample messages posted on Twitter contain personal opinions for the certain keyword, but we also find that the tweets which include objective messages with hyperlink are the fastest ones when being retweeted by other followers. In overall, when being retweeted, the group of messages related to the certain keyword present distinctive diffusion patterns and speed according to message characteristics. From academic perspective, the findings in the study broaden our theoretical knowledge of information diffusion mechanism over online social media. For practitioners, the results also provide managerial implications regarding how to strategically utilize online social media for marketing communications with customers.

본 연구에서는 최근 온라인 소셜미디어 서비스로 각광받고 있는 트위터 상에 게재되는 메세지의 특성이 메세지의 재전달에 미치는 영향을 전달 빈도와 전달 속도 관점에서 분석함으로써 소셜네트워트 환경하에서의 정보확산 체계를 탐구하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 최근 소셜미디어 상에서 많이 언급되고 있는 정치, 연예, 스포츠, 유명인, 최신 디지털 제품과 같은 사회적 관심사를 나타내는 여덟 가지 주요 키워드(예: 무상급식, 반값등록금, 나가수, 평창, 김연아, 박태환, 아이폰, 갤럭시)을 선정하였다. 또한 트위터 메세지의 특성을 정의하기 위한 기준은 기존 문헌연구를 통해 개인의견, 하이퍼링크 포함 메세지, 하이퍼링크 및 개인의견 포함 메세지, 단순 재인용 등의 네가지 유형을 적용하였으며 이들 주요 키워드와 메세지 유형별로 트위터 트위터 메세지의 재전달 빈도와 재전달 속도를 측정하였다. 2011년 6월부터 2011년 7월까지 수집된 81,472개의 1회 이상 재전달된 트위터 메세지에 대한 분석을 통해, 재전달 트위터 메시지의 50퍼센트 이상이 특정 키워드에 대한 개인의견을 표현한 메시지임을 알 수 있었다. 아울러 표본 트위터 메세지 중 하이퍼 링크를 포함한 메세지가 가장 빠른 메세지 재전달 시간을 보이는 것을 알수 있었다. 이러한 분석결과를 바탕으로 메시지의 고유 특성이 온라인 소셜 미디어 상의 정보확산 패턴에 중요한 영향요소로 작용하고 있음을 확인 할 수 있었다. 또한 트위터와 같은 온라인 소셜 미디어는 더 이상 단순한 의사소통 도구가 아닌 다양한 사회현상에 대한 사용자의 개인적 의견을 피력하고 상호간의 심도있는 논의가 가능한 현대사회의 중요한 커뮤니케이션 플랫폼으로 발전하고 있으며 정보기술이 이러한 의사소통 혁신에 중요한 요소로 작용하고 있다는 것을 이해 할 수 있었다. 본 연구의 결과는 온라인 소셜 미디어상의 정보확산에 대한 기존의 학문적 지식을 증대키고 실무적으로 기업이 고객과 소통하는 데 있어 온라인 소셜 미디어를 어떻게 전략적으로 활용할 수 있는가에 대한 실질적인 방향을 제시할 것이라 기대된다.

Keywords

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