Extensive spread of situational information is important for communities in response to crises/disasters. Among various mechanisms affecting the spread of information on social media, influential users play a critical role in enhancing information spread. This study examines the attributes and activities of local influential users as well as their interactions with ordinary users on Twitter during 2017’s Hurricane Harvey. The results show that the influence across local influential users has a scale-free power law distribution and also indicates a major limitation in spreading information caused by insufficient interaction among influential users themselves. The findings suggest that influential users should play a boundary-spanning and brokerage role in addition to their information hub role in order to be more effective in enhancing the spread of situational information.

中文翻译：

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本地有影响力的用户在情境危机信息传播中的作用

情境信息的广泛传播对于社区应对危机/灾难非常重要。在影响信息在社交媒体上传播的各种机制中，有影响力的用户在增强信息传播方面起着至关重要的作用。这项研究调查了本地有影响力用户的属性和活动，以及他们在2017年哈维飓风期间在Twitter上与普通用户的互动。结果表明，对本地有影响力的用户的影响具有无标度的幂律分布，并且还表明了由有影响力的用户自身之间的不充分交互导致的信息传播方面的主要限制。