This study examines the evolution of social networking sites (SNSs) from a networked audience duplication perspective. Guided by social network theory, the theory of double jeopardy, and niche theory, this study proposes an integrated framework to explain the evolution of SNS choices of the US audience between 2016 and 2019. Shared traffic data were retrieved from comScore’s Media Metrix Multi-Platform database. The empirical results of the separable temporal exponential random graph model (STERGM) confirm that preferential attachment, audience size, and niche width significantly drive the likelihood of tie formation and dissolution in the evolving audience duplication network. These effects hold true even when other endogenous structural features and exogenous nodal attributes are taken into account. Theoretical implications for the networked media landscape are discussed.

这项研究从网络受众重复的角度研究了社交网站（SNS）的发展。这项研究以社交网络理论，双重危险理论和利基理论为指导，提出了一个综合框架来解释2016年至2019年美国观众选择SNS的演变。共享流量数据来自comScore的Media Metrix Multi-Platform数据库。可分离的时间指数随机图模型（STERGM）的经验结果证实，偏好依恋，受众人数和壁n宽度显着推动了不断发展的受众复制网络中领带形成和消散的可能性。即使考虑其他内源性结构特征和外源性节点属性，这些效果也适用。