The Influence of Network Structural Properties on Information Dissemination Power in Microblogging Systems

The potential of microblogging networks to spread information, ideas, and influence via social links has been recognized. Individuals at central or critical positions in the microblogging networks are expected to play an important role in spreading information, but this belief must be tested with empirical investigations in actual information dissemination. Furthermore, it is possible that individuals with different types of structural importance influence the information dissemination in different ways. This article examines the impact of five structural properties (degree, betweenness, closeness, tie strength, and k-value) on information dissemination capabilities by tracking the dissemination of 150 messages in Sina Weibo. The results highlight the importance of betweenness centrality, which best explains the influence on information dissemination distance and coverage size. It also best predicts the information dissemination efficiency. Degree centrality is found to be a strong predictor of one’s influence among immediate followers. Tie strength negatively correlates with influence on the information dissemination distance and coverage size. These structural properties address different aspects of the information dissemination power and should be used in a complementary way when planning information dissemination strategies in microblogging systems.