Social media web analytics
Video Lecture Summary
Week 1
Social media landscape
- Massive growth
Social media changes purchase behaviour
Main takeaways:
1) All demographics use social media to research products
2) People use social media to discover new products (via adds and recommendations)
3) People would increase the chance of purchase if there was a buy button on social
media
User Generated Content: Content that is generated or created by an internet user who is a
consumer of this information or content.
Social Media: The online platforms that host this content
This makes the scope of social media much bigger
Why is social media successful?
1. Digital Social Networks = Structured information
2. Machine Intelligence = Recommendations of friends and content over the network
3. Smartphones = "Always on" Feeds our social brain
Rise of social media is not all positive
Mental health effects
Echo chambers due to self selection into content and recommender systems
o Political Polarisation = you see what you want to see because of your
recommendations, happens a lot on new sites. (tailored)
Privacy concerns
Why do people post on social media?
- Intrinsic Utility: inherent satisfaction (internal)
o Prediction: exogenous increase # of followers more posts
o Why? Broadcasting to more people
- Image-related Utility: motivated by perceptions of others (external)
, o Prediction: exogenous increase # of followers no change or decrease in posting
behaviour
o Why? Having followers is 'enough', post content to attract new followers
A high number of followers
= image related utility effect (decrease in posting rate when new followers)
A low number of followers
= intrinsic utility effect (increase in posting rate when new followers)
Two stage process:
Few followers - intrinsic utility dominates
More followers - image related utility dominates
Brand influencers not always going to be users with large follower count; because image
concerns will start to kick in (decrease positing rate)
That’s why nano and micro influencers generate a lot of value
Lurker: a user of social media site who does not actively participate/contribute.
So far: research focus on contributing to social media platforms, not on lurkers.
What percentage of social media are lurkers, is not sure. But we must consider that lurking
matters. Lurkers still engage and may make decisions based on what they see online. And
these decisions may matter.
Distinction between
- passive lurkers: absorb content and don't spread information
- active lurkers (diffusers): transmit information to others
Active Lurkers
Generate value from:
Value from diffusion
- Share information with others
- Others directly engage and also share to another group of people
Value from own decisions
- Their purchase, clicks, brand recall, etc
Video Lecture Summary
Week 1
Social media landscape
- Massive growth
Social media changes purchase behaviour
Main takeaways:
1) All demographics use social media to research products
2) People use social media to discover new products (via adds and recommendations)
3) People would increase the chance of purchase if there was a buy button on social
media
User Generated Content: Content that is generated or created by an internet user who is a
consumer of this information or content.
Social Media: The online platforms that host this content
This makes the scope of social media much bigger
Why is social media successful?
1. Digital Social Networks = Structured information
2. Machine Intelligence = Recommendations of friends and content over the network
3. Smartphones = "Always on" Feeds our social brain
Rise of social media is not all positive
Mental health effects
Echo chambers due to self selection into content and recommender systems
o Political Polarisation = you see what you want to see because of your
recommendations, happens a lot on new sites. (tailored)
Privacy concerns
Why do people post on social media?
- Intrinsic Utility: inherent satisfaction (internal)
o Prediction: exogenous increase # of followers more posts
o Why? Broadcasting to more people
- Image-related Utility: motivated by perceptions of others (external)
, o Prediction: exogenous increase # of followers no change or decrease in posting
behaviour
o Why? Having followers is 'enough', post content to attract new followers
A high number of followers
= image related utility effect (decrease in posting rate when new followers)
A low number of followers
= intrinsic utility effect (increase in posting rate when new followers)
Two stage process:
Few followers - intrinsic utility dominates
More followers - image related utility dominates
Brand influencers not always going to be users with large follower count; because image
concerns will start to kick in (decrease positing rate)
That’s why nano and micro influencers generate a lot of value
Lurker: a user of social media site who does not actively participate/contribute.
So far: research focus on contributing to social media platforms, not on lurkers.
What percentage of social media are lurkers, is not sure. But we must consider that lurking
matters. Lurkers still engage and may make decisions based on what they see online. And
these decisions may matter.
Distinction between
- passive lurkers: absorb content and don't spread information
- active lurkers (diffusers): transmit information to others
Active Lurkers
Generate value from:
Value from diffusion
- Share information with others
- Others directly engage and also share to another group of people
Value from own decisions
- Their purchase, clicks, brand recall, etc
