Opinion Leaders and TwitterTwo-Step Flow in the Social

Media Sphere

Opinion Leaders Online Key Influencers

Message Force Multipliers

Third-Party Credibility

Professional Definitions of Influencers

The “ability to cause measurable actions and outcomes.”

Motivate offline action through online efforts

I’m Famous Online Regular Users: Mommy Bloggers

Experts: Tech Gurus

Celebrities: MC Hammer

Twitter 1382% Growth in 2009

Unique users 35-49

70% for professional

Twitter: Deceptively Simple Magic bullet

Low effort or expertise/High ROI

Anyone can be a Twitter star! (SOS)

Unlike Facebook, users are unknown to each other

Scholarly Research Allows “arbitrary subsets of users to communicate with each other on a

social basis.”

Conversationality

Propagation of ideas

Community: Strength of ties between individual users

The Million Follower Fallacy Popularity or Influence?

Followers

Retweets

Replies

Finding Influencers: The Perfect Formula? Forced follow

Algorithms Longevity, Trending Topics,

Hashtag Conversations

Links, sentiment

Algorithms and Services Identify

Verify

Rank

Categorize

Metrics and measurement

Usefulness of social media in discovering and tracking data

Klout Scores

Network Value

Engaged Users

Amplification Probability

Assumptions Two-Step Flow

Importance of interpersonal influence in acquiring information.

Opinion leaders are accessible to ordinary users

Applying theory to new media

Katz: Three Attributes of an Influential The Personification of Certain Values

“Who one is”

Competence

“What one knows”

Strategic Social Location

“Whom one knows”

Primary Questions

Can previous methods of examining opinion leaders, grounded in two-step-flow, be used to analyze online opinion leaders?

Expertise, information and popularity being equal, what are the attributes of those consistently identified as online opinion leaders?

Do online opinion leaders have attributes similar to those identified in offline opinion leaders? Excluding: Celebs, organizations, media

Strength of Personality Scale Universality, nuanced

Strength of Personality Scale “I usually count on being successful in everything I do”

“I enjoy convincing others of my opinions”

“I am rarely unsure about how I should behave”

“I often give others advice and suggestions”

“I am good at getting what I want”

“I am often a step ahead of others”

“I like to assume responsibility”

“I like to take the lead when a group does things together”

“I often notice that I serve as a model for others”

“I own many things that others envy me for”

Analysis of Opinion Leaders Success

Responsibility

[Achievement]

Confidence

Persuasive

Leadership

Model for others

[Envy]

Early Adopter

Advice-Giving

Accessible

Opinion Leaders Suggested by popular websites and

bloggers

High Klout Scores (50-100): High Level of Engagement

Similar in expertise and popularity

Relatively unknown offline prior to engaging in social media

Findings Prominent themes

All had at least one attribute, but most had one dominant attribute

Responsibility Kept up with tasks assigned to them

Work related or personal obligations

Competence

“Last of my interviews done. Time for a quick workout.”

Success Accolades, professional opportunities

“Exciting! I've been asked to be the emcee for the third annual 2010 SXSW Accelerator!”

Self-Promotional

Influential because they tell us so?

Advice-Giving Given directly or in mentions, replies to specific users.

“Eventually karma catches up. Being helpful seems to be a far better way to get ahead.”

Quotes: Transfer of Influence

“I think I've discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it. [Charles M. Schulz]”

Model for Others Geo-location based check-ins

“I just unlocked the ‘Swarm’ badge on @foursquare!”

Accessibility Sent replies, acknowledged or thanked individual followers directly.

Reciprocity

Two-way communication BOTS: Expectation of engagement on a personal level

Dialogic Theory: Building relationships Mutuality, empathy, propinquity, risk, commitment

Professional Public Relations Implications Engage opinion leaders

Humanize the organization and engage publics

Twitter best practices and rationale

Online persona: Ethics

Research Implications Criticisms of two-step flow

Application and reevaluating theory in social media

Influencers or opinion leaders: What is media in social media?

Further Study Categories of expertise

Social news and news aggregators

Strength of ties