The role of reciprocation in the formation of social networks

With an application to blogging

Alexia Gaudeul and Caterina Giannetti

Graduate School Human Behaviour in Social and Economic Change (GSBC) Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany

North American Summer Meeting of the Econometric Society 2011 St Louis, USA

Outline
1

Overview Main argument Research themes Blogging Dierent strands in research Modelling the activity of bloggers Activity, Readership and Reciprocation

Empirical Analysis The sample The estimation model The variables Reciprocation by others Reciprocation by oneself Robustness Interpretation Conclusion

Overview Main argument

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Overview - Main argument

1 2 3

Analysis of the dynamics of network formation among bloggers Panel of 1000+ bloggers, followed over more than a year Two main factors in audience growth:
Content produced, if possible interesting Reciprocation (Reading others so they read you)

Which is more important reveals the nature of the activity being led within a network
Media or Social networking

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Overview Research themes

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Overview - Research themes

Online social networking gives unprecedented and cheap access to micro data on how people go about Winning Friends and Inuencing People (Carnegie, 1936). Three main themes:
1 2 3

Friendship (Aristotle, ca. 350 B.C.E.; De Montaigne, 1588) Competition for attention (Simon, 1971; Falkinger, 2007) Norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960)

Insight
The norm of reciprocity means friendships are usually reciprocated, so that paying attention to and making friends with others helps gain attention for oneself

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Overview

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Dierent strands in research

Blogging - Dierent strands in research

1 2 3 4

Sociology (Technorati, 2009; Lenhart and Fox, 2006) Typology (Wei, 2009) Motivation (Huang et al., 2007) Structure (Shirky, 2003; Kumar, Novak, and Tomkins, 2010)

Contribution
We contribute to the literature by considering the development of bloggers audiences over time along with their activity

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Overview

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Modelling the activity of bloggers

Blogging - Modelling the activity of bloggers

1 2

Information gathering and transmission (Galeotti and Goyal, 2010) Content production in exchange for attention (Gaudeul, Mathieu, and Peroni, 2011; Rui and Whinston, 2010) Building social capital (Glaeser, Laibson, and Sacerdote, 2002)

Our approach
We adapt Glaeser et al. to integrate reciprocation into the dynamics of audience building in blogging networks

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Overview

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Activity, Readership and Reciprocation

Blogging - Activity, Readership and Reciprocation

Post content X

Gain readers R(X)

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Overview

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Activity, Readership and Reciprocation

Blogging - Activity, Readership and Reciprocation

Post content X

Gain readers R(X)

New Friends R(X)

Reciprocation by oneself

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Overview

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Activity, Readership and Reciprocation

Blogging - Activity, Readership and Reciprocation

Reciprocation by others
Look for friends Y

Add friends F(Y)

New Readers F(Y)

Activity Post content X Gain readers R(X) New Friends R(X)

Reciprocation by oneself

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Overview

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Activity, Readership and Reciprocation

Blogging - Activity, Readership and Reciprocation

Readers = Friends Added (Y ) + Readers Gained (X ) Friends = Friends Added (Y ) + Readers Gained (X ) so Readers = Friends + (1 ) Readers Gained (X ) Friends = Readers + (1 ) Friends Added (Y )

Estimation
We monitor readership over time, along with activity w.r.t. adding friends and contributing content, with data collected from LiveJournal, a major blog hosting site (Raynes-Goldie, 2004; Raynes-Goldie and Fono, 2006; Marwick, 2008).

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Overview The sample

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Empirical Analysis - The sample

NATIONALITY Russian English 152 46 154 59 (43) (24) 373 92 265 84 (382) (352) 1741 175 383 111 (9) (97) (434) (473)

BLOG AGE Young

Total

Mature

Old

Total

Readers Friends N Readers Friends N Readers Friends N N

(137)

(1067)

(143) (1347)

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Overview The sample

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Empirical Analysis - The sample

1 2 3 4 5

Blogs accumulate readers and friends over time Blogs reciprocate less in the aggregate over time The sample is balanced in terms of languages Russian blogs are younger and bigger. English blogs have more balanced readers/friends lists

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Overview The estimation model

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Empirical Analysis - The estimation model

We had the following equation: Readerst = Friendst + (1 ) Readers Gainedt (X ) Readers Gainedt (X ) will be a function of activity other than seeking out and adding friends At , and of ones stock of Readers Rt1 . Readers Gainedt (X ) = At Readerst1 Rearranging, one obtains: Readerst = Friendst + (1 )At + (1 (1 ))Readerst1 Similarly: Friendst = Readerst + (1 )Bt + (1 (1 ))Friendst1

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The role of reciprocation in the formation of social networks

Empirical Analysis - The estimation model

We had the following equation: Readerst = Friendst + (1 ) Readers Gainedt (X ) Readers Gainedt (X ) will be a function of activity other than seeking out and adding friends At , and of ones stock of Readers Rt1 . Readers Gainedt (X ) = At Readerst1 Rearranging, one obtains: Readerst = Friendst + (1 )At + (1 (1 ))Readerst1 Similarly: Friendst = Readerst + (1 )Bt + (1 (1 ))Friendst1

2011-06-11

Empirical Analysis The estimation model Empirical Analysis - The estimation model

GMM allows us to control for endogeneity arising from: i) individual unobserved heterogeneity (e.g. a bloggers ability in writing interesting posts) ii) idiosyncratic shock that leads to an increase in both in the numbers of readers and in the numbers of friends. Moreover, it accounts for idiosyncratic component of the error term which may be correlated with both the number of friends and the activity of the blogger (e.g. you are happy because your brother married) In order to do that we rely on internal instruments. Specically, the lags of regressors as well as characteristics of the blog (i.e. functionality)

Overview The variables

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Empirical Analysis - The variables

Stock variables are: Readers (Blogs reading the user) and Friends (Blogs read by the user) Activity variables are:
1 2 3 4 5 6

Communities joined and left Entries written by the user Comments posted by the user Extroversion: Comments posted by the user / Comments received Readers Engagement: Comments received / Entries Number of weeks since last entry made

We will also consider characteristics of the blog (Age, Language, Range of functionalities)
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Overview Reciprocation by others

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Empirical Analysis - Reciprocation by others

VARIABLES L.Readers log Friends Functionality Age blog Community joined Community left Entries Posted Extroversion Engagement Inactive Constant Observations Number of user Pooled OLS 1.004*** 17.780** 0.026 -0.003*** 0.238** 0.033 0.009** 0.011*** -0.014*** 0.011 0.004 -0.046 75,432 1,347 FE 0.986*** 16.000** 0.469*** 0.019*** 0.207* 0.039 0.010* 0.022*** -0.015*** 0.012 -0.018*** -3.038** 75,432 1,347
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SYS GMM 0.999*** 10.400*** 9.784*** 0.010* 0.680* 0.414*** -0.015 0.064*** -0.017 0.030* -0.388 -26.570*** 75,432 1,347
Alexia Gaudeul and Caterina Giannetti

The role of reciprocation in the formation of social networks

Overview Reciprocation by oneself

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Empirical Analysis - Reciprocation by oneself

VARIABLES L.Friends log Readers Functionality Age blog Community joined Community left Entries Posted Extroversion Engagement Inactive Constant Observations Number of user Pooled OLS 1.000*** 54.740*** 0.063** -0.0005 0.595* 0.058 0.004 0.003 -0.011* 0.005 -0.005 -0.100 75,432 1,347 FE 0.932*** 48.870*** 0.756*** 0.028** 0.469* 0.067 0.005 0.008** -0.013* 0.006 -0.028*** 1.307 75,432 1,347
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SYS GMM 0.952*** 15.520*** 0.770** 0.010** 0.352** -0.074 -0.0004 0.014*** -0.014*** -0.002 -0.107*** 0.545 75,432 1,347
Alexia Gaudeul and Caterina Giannetti

The role of reciprocation in the formation of social networks

Overview Robustness

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Empirical Analysis - Robustness

We check the robustness of our results
1

To weak identication (i.e. system-GMM, Bobba and Coviello, 2007) and instruments proliferation (i.e. Hansen J-statistics, Roodman, 2009) To structural specication (i.e. test the validity of subset of instruments, using dierence in Hansen J-statistics) By considering dierent sub-groups of blogs (i.e. small vs. large blogs and English vs. Russian-speaking)

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Overview Interpretation

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Empirical Analysis - Interpretation

1 2 3 4

Depreciation in readership is limited (network eects) Reciprocation is a signicant factor, but is quite low (10%) Some aspects of activity contributes to audience growth Other aspects such as joining communities indicate willingness to add friends There are little dierences between Russian and English blogs, despite sociological dierences between the two (type of uses and of users) Bigger blogs reciprocate readership more willingly.

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The role of reciprocation in the formation of social networks

Empirical Analysis - Interpretation

1 2 3

2011-06-11

Empirical Analysis Interpretation Empirical Analysis - Interpretation

Depreciation in readership is limited (network eects) Reciprocation is a signicant factor, but is quite low (10%) Some aspects of activity contributes to audience growth Other aspects such as joining communities indicate willingness to add friends There are little dierences between Russian and English blogs, despite sociological dierences between the two (type of uses and of users) Bigger blogs reciprocate readership more willingly.

Language is used as a proxy for (blogging) culture and/or type of blogs. Posting comments on other blogs increases audience, but writing entries does not do so, unless big blog. Writing entries that attract comments does increase readership though. Inactivity does not lose readers (unless Russian), and (of course?) means no friends are added.

Overview

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

Conclusion
1

Empirics: Bloggers activity on LiveJournal follow consistent patterns. Experience, audience size or location have little eect. Methodology: Data on activity in social networks should not be separated from data on the structure of the social network itself. Contribution: Better understanding of the process of social network formation + A framework for a general understanding of social media and online social networking.

Questions? Comments? Mail us at a.gaudeul@gmail.com

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Overview

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

References I
Aristotle. ca. 350 B.C.E. The Nicomachean Ethics. Oxford University Press. (1908 translation by W. D. Ross). Bobba, Matteo and Decio Coviello. 2007. Weak instruments and weak identication, in estimating the eects of education, on democracy. Economics Letters 96 (3):301306. Carnegie, Dale. 1936. How To Win Friends And Inuence People. Simon & Schuster. de Montaigne, Michel E. 1588. Essays, chap. XXVII - Of Friendship. Project Gutenberg. URL http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3600. (1877 translation by C. Cotton). Falkinger, Josef. 2007. Attention economies. Journal of Economic Theory 133 (1):266294. Galeotti, Andrea and Sanjeev Goyal. 2010. The law of the few. American Economic Review 100 (4):14681492. Gaudeul, Alexia, Laurence Mathieu, and Chiara Peroni. 2011. Blogs and the Economics of Reciprocal Attention. In Internet Econometrics, edited by Anne Dubrocard. Palgrave MacMillan. Forthcoming.
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Overview

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

References II
Glaeser, Edward L., David Laibson, and Bruce Sacerdote. 2002. An economic approach to social capital. The Economic Journal 112 (483):437458. Gouldner, Alvin W. 1960. The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement. American Sociological Review 25 (2):161178. Huang, Chun-Yao, Yong-Zheng Shen, Hong-Xiang Lin, and Shin-Shin Chang. 2007. Bloggers Motivations and Behaviors: A Model. Journal of Advertising Research 47 (4):472484. Kumar, Ravi, Jasmine Novak, and Andrew Tomkins. 2010. Structure and evolution of online social networks. In Link Mining: Models, Algorithms, and Applications, edited by Philip S. S. Yu, Jiawei Han, and Christos Faloutsos. Springer: New York, 337357. Lenhart, Amanda and Susannah Fox. 2006. Bloggers: A portrait of the Internets new storytellers. URL http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2006/Bloggers.aspx. Accessed October 18, 2010. Marwick, Alice. 2008. LiveJournal users: Passionate, prolic and private. URL http://www.livejournalinc.com/LJ_Research_Report.pdf. Accessed January 18, 2010.
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Overview

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

References III
Raynes-Goldie, Kate. 2004. Pulling sense out of todays informational chaos: LiveJournal as a site of knowledge creation and sharing. First Monday 9 (12). URL http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_12/raynes/index.html. Raynes-Goldie, Kate and David Fono. 2006. Hyperfriends and beyond: Friendship and social norms on LiveJournal. In Internet Research Annual Volume 4: Selected Papers from the Association of Internet Researchers Conference, edited by M. Consalvo and C. Haythornthwaite. Peter Lang: New York, USA. Roodman, David. 2009. A note on the theme of too many instruments. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 71 (1):135158. Rui, Huaxia and Andrew Whinston. 2010. Social media as an innovation - the case of Twitter. University of Texas at Austin. Shirky, Clay. 2003. Power laws, weblogs, and inequality. URL http://shirky.com/writings/powerlaw_weblog.html. Accessed January 18, 2010.

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Overview

Blogging

Empirical Analysis

Conclusion

References

References IV
Simon, Herbert A. 1971. Designing Organizations for an Information-Rich World. In Computers, Communication, and the Public Interest, edited by Martin Greenberger. The Johns Hopkins Press: Baltimore, MD. Technorati. 2009. State of the Blogosphere 2009. URL http://technorati.com/blogging/feature/state-of-the-blogosphere-2009. Accessed October 18, 2010. Wei, Lu. 2009. Filter blogs vs. personal journals: Understanding the knowledge production gap on the Internet. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 14 (3):532558.

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