Understanding Fast Diffusion of Information in the Social Media Environment. A Comparison of Two Cases.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to gain understanding of what factors cause rapid issue spread in social media, to help predict issue growth. The frequency graphics of two issues, Arctic Sunrise and U.S. capitol shooting, were compared to investigate rapidity of spread on Twitter. Next, a qualitative model was applied to explain the differences found. Furthermore, a first attempt was made to investigate issue transfer between social media and news media. The findings showed that news items and tweets were interrelated, with hardly any time-lag in between, although the tweets continued longer and included more emotion. The approach seems promising but needs further testing. When in practice monitoring social media, attention should be given to issue characteristics that relate to drives to forward information. Emergencies with eye-witnesses present have considerable potential to engage users in social media interactions, while other issues require more organizational resources and engaging influentials to facilitate issue growth.