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Message diffusion through social network service: The case of rumor and non-rumor related tweets during Boston bombing 2013

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Abstract

Social Network Services (SNS) such as Twitter play a significant role in reporting media, particularly during the extreme events. We examined the impact of tweet features on the diffusion of two types of messages during 2013 Boston marathon tragedy—rumor related and non-rumor related (both in the context of the Boston tragedy). Negative binomial analysis revealed that tweet features such as reaction time, number of followers, and usage of hashtag have an impact on tweet message diffusion during the tragedy. The number of followers showed a positive relationship with message diffusion. However, the relationship between tweet reaction time and message diffusion was negative. Finally, tweet messages that did not include hashtags diffused more than messages that contained hashtags. This paper contributes by adapting the innovation diffusion model to explore tweet message diffusion in Twitter space during extreme events.

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Acknowledgments

This research is funded by National Science Foundation under grants 1353119 and 1353195. The usual disclaimer applies. We would like to thank Anu Mary Eapen, Basma Abdul Rehman, Sabharish Sainath, Megan Saldanha, and Swati Upadhya for their research support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management Science and Systems, School of Management, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Jaeung Lee & H. R. Rao

  2. Department of Information Systems Decision Sciences, Muma College of Business, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Manish Agrawal

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  1. Jaeung Lee
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  2. Manish Agrawal
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  3. H. R. Rao
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Correspondence to Jaeung Lee.

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Lee, J., Agrawal, M. & Rao, H.R. Message diffusion through social network service: The case of rumor and non-rumor related tweets during Boston bombing 2013. Inf Syst Front 17, 997–1005 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-015-9568-z

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