Content or context: Which matters more in information processing on microblogging sites

Authors:
Lun Zhang;Tai-Quan Peng;Ya-Peng Zhang;Xiao-Hong Wang;Jonathan J. H. Zhu
Affiliations:
Dept. of Journalism & Science Communication, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 Yuquan Avenue, Shijingshan District, Beijing, China;Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore;Baidu.com, Baidu Campus, No. 10, Shangdi 10th Street, Haidian District, Beijing 100085, China;JD.com, China National Convention Center, Beijing 100105, China;Web Mining Lab, Dept. of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Venue:
Computers in Human Behavior
Year:
2014

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Abstract

With a framework based on the heuristic-systematic model of information processing, this study examined the effects of both content and contextual factors on the popularity of microblogging posts. The popularity of posts was operationalized as the re-tweeting times and number of comments received by posts, which are users' behavioral outcomes after processing information. The data of the study were 10,000 posts randomly drawn from a popular microblogging site in China. Content factors were found to outperform contextual ones in accounting for the variance in post popularity, which suggests that systematic strategy dominates users' information processing in comparison with heuristic strategy. Our findings implied that re-tweeting and commenting are distinct types of microblogging behaviors. Re-tweeting aims to disseminate information in which the source credibility (e.g., users' authoritativeness) and posts' informativeness play important roles, whereas commenting emphasizes social interaction and conversation in which users' experience and posts' topics are more important.