Abstract

Few studies have explored the distinct role played by social media in information diffusion. This study investigates the structure, interaction patterns, opinion leaders and communities’ distribution of actors involved in cross-national halal food Twitter networks. A social network analysis (SNA) is employed using a data scraping software to collect around 12,000 halal food tweets. A relatively low density and heterogeneous hub-and-spoke network emerged, with only few influencers/social mediators within small communities controlling the diffusion of information through the network. This result lends strong support to the “Matthew Effect”, which is a variation of the “rich get richer” model. Robustness checks confirmed the existence of small world preferential attachment network linking digital halal food consumers. Our findings hold important implications for different stakeholders as they underscore the relational nature of halal food networks and the importance of the strategic management of social media at the international marketing level as a critical communication tool.

摘要

很少有研究探讨社交媒体在信息传播中的独特作用。本研究调查了参与跨国清真食品 Twitter 网络的参与者的结构、互动模式、意见领袖和社区分布。使用数据抓取软件进行社交网络分析 (SNA) 来收集大约 12,000 条清真食品推文。出现了一个相对低密度和异构的轴辐式网络，小社区内只有少数影响者/社交中介控制信息通过网络的传播。这一结果有力地支持了“马太效应”，它是“富者愈富”模型的变体。稳健性检查确认存在连接数字清真食品消费者的小世界优惠附件网络。