TY - GEN
T1 - The power of grassroots influentials
T2 - 2009 IEEE International Conference on Social Computing, SocialCom 2009
AU - Yamamoto, Hikaru
AU - Matusmura, Naohiro
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Previous research on word-of-mouth (WOM) diffusion has focused on the attributes of the sender, such as opinion leadership and innovativeness. This paper focuses on the social relationship between WOM senders and receivers and attempts to identify the optimal heterophily for WOM diffusion. The results of empirical analysis using both offline survey data and online blogosphere data provide evidence of optimal heterophily between the two; i.e., the WOM receiver wants to receive information from someone slightly more knowledgeable, not from a distant expert. The context of WOM communication is also examined in terms of the stage of hierarchical consumer behavior and sentiment. Finally, the patterns of influence are presented to depict the diffusion process. This analysis of optimal heterophily and the patterns of influence suggest that many grassroots influentials, rather than a few super influentials, play a central role in WOM diffusion.
AB - Previous research on word-of-mouth (WOM) diffusion has focused on the attributes of the sender, such as opinion leadership and innovativeness. This paper focuses on the social relationship between WOM senders and receivers and attempts to identify the optimal heterophily for WOM diffusion. The results of empirical analysis using both offline survey data and online blogosphere data provide evidence of optimal heterophily between the two; i.e., the WOM receiver wants to receive information from someone slightly more knowledgeable, not from a distant expert. The context of WOM communication is also examined in terms of the stage of hierarchical consumer behavior and sentiment. Finally, the patterns of influence are presented to depict the diffusion process. This analysis of optimal heterophily and the patterns of influence suggest that many grassroots influentials, rather than a few super influentials, play a central role in WOM diffusion.
KW - Data mining
KW - Optimal heterophily
KW - Word-of-mouth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70849125193&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=70849125193&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/CSE.2009.354
DO - 10.1109/CSE.2009.354
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:70849125193
SN - 9780769538235
T3 - Proceedings - 12th IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Engineering, CSE 2009
SP - 456
EP - 462
BT - Proceedings - 12th IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Engineering, CSE 2009 - 2009 IEEE International Conference on Social Computing, SocialCom 2009
Y2 - 29 August 2009 through 31 August 2009
ER -
