Disentangling social media influence in crises: Testing a four-factor model of social media influence with large data

• Published in: Public relations review Vol. 44; no. 4; pp. 549 - 561
• Main Authors: Zhao, Xinyan, Zhan, Mengqi, Liu, Brooke F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Silver Spring Elsevier Inc 01.11.2018; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Communication; Computer networks; Concept formation; Crises; Crisis communication; Influence; Influencer; Mass media; Measurement; Public relations; Social media; Social media influence; Social networks; User behavior; Measurement; Social media influence; Influencer; Crisis communication
• ISSN: 0363-8111; 1873-4537
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.08.002

•Propose a new framework theorizing g different dimensions of social media influence in crises.•Test the integrative framework with large-scale Twitter data from four crises.•Results from multigroup CFA on Twitter suggest four factors of social media influence.•Each factor is associated with a distinct set of users’ communicative behaviors. Social media empower publics by providing a platform for their voices during crises. Digital-enabled platforms allow individuals to become influentials by sharing their insights and expertise with others. Confronted with the fast-paced and complex dynamics of crises, we lack a systematic conceptualization and a valid measure of social media influence in the crisis context. By integrating diverse perspectives on influence, we propose a new framework that theorizes different dimensions of social media influence based on publics’ communicative behaviors during crises. This integrated framework offers a refined conceptualization and measurement of social media influence in crises by incorporating the network perspective. We tested the framework with large-scale Twitter data from four crises. Results from multigroup CFA on Twitter influencers suggest that social media influence is composed of four factors: output, reactive outtake, proactive outtake, and network positioning. Each factor is associated with a distinct set of users’ behavioral indicators (e.g., retweet). Implications for crisis communication and public relations are discussed.