Chapter 4

Network Structure and Group

Influence in Social Media
 Learning Objectives
 Why are relationships critical to social media and the basis
for leveraging the network effect in social media
marketing?
 How are social networks structured?
 What are the characteristics of online communities?
 How do ideas travel in a community? What role do
opinion leaders play in influencing social networks?
 What role does social capital play in the value of social
media communities? What types of ties do we have with
others?
Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015
 Online Communities
 Online communities are groups of people who come
together for a specific purpose, who are guided by
community policies, and who are supported by Internet
access that enables virtual communication.
o Qzone
o Google +
o Tencent Weibo
o WhatsApp
o YouKu
Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015
 Social Networks

A social network is a set of socially relevant

nodes connected by one or more relations.

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

Networks: The Underlying
Structure of Communities

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

It’s a Small World After All
 Six degrees of separation is an observation
that everyone is connected to everyone else by
no more than six ties.

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Network Terminology
 Social graph
 Nodes
 Node-to-node relationships
 Artifacts
 Flows
 Media multiplicity

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

Characteristics of Online
Communities
Social
objects

Participation Conversation

Standards of Presence
behavior

Democracy

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Social Object Theory
 This theory suggests that
social networks will be more
powerful communities if
there is a way to activate
relationship among people
and objects
 On Dogster, dogs are the
social objects.
 What are the social objects
of your favorite networks?

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

Figure 4.2 How Ideas Travel
Bloggers who exert a larger “sphere of influence”
have a broad ripple effect
1 1000+ links
Bloggers at the lower ranking
levels alos influence, but their
ripples are smaller. Bloggers with
smaller “influence ripples” tend to
be higher in volume

2 500+ links

3 200+ links

4 -100+ links
Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015
Influence Networks Help
Things Spread

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 How Ideas Travel in a
Community
 Network structure and composition play a role in the community’s
ability to support its members.
 There is evidence of community culture in the memes that evolve
within the community.
o A meme is a snippet of cultural information that spreads person
to person until eventually it enters the general consciousness.

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015
Types of People Who Spread
Viral Content
• are people who are knowledgeable
Mavens about many things

• are people who know many people

Connectors and communicate with them

• are people who influence others

Salesmen with their natural persuasive power
Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015
 Group Influence
 Opinion leader – a person who is frequently
able to influence others’ attitudes or
behaviors.

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Social Power
 Reward power: ability to provide others with what they desire.
 Coercive power: the ability to punish others.
 Legitimate power: authority based on rights. associated with a
person’s appointed position.
 Referent power: authority through the motivation to identify
with or please a person.
 Expert power: recognition of one’s knowledge, skills, and
ability.
 Information power: one’s control over the flow of and access
to information.
Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015
 Social Capital
 Social capital is accumulated resources whose
value flows to people as a result of their access to
others.
 Reputational capital is based on the shared beliefs,
relationships, and actions of those in the
community such that norms, behaviors, and values
held and shared by individuals ultimately support
a community reputation.

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Social Capital Types

Bonding

Bridging

Maintained
Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015
 Klout: A Measure of
Social Capital
 What is your Klout score?
 Assess the Klout score of marketing leaders you
admire.

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Strong and Weak Ties
 Emotional support is one form of social capital.
o Core ties – those people with whom we have very
close relationships.
o Significant ties – those individuals with somewhat
close connections, but less so than core ties.
o Weak ties – those individuals with whom your
relationship is based on superficial experiences or
very few connections.

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

A “Dark Side” Discussion:
#YesAllWomen
 Often times we hear of the viral spread of
entertainment content, but #yesallwomen
describes how news content and advocacy
content can also go viral.
 What do you think contributed to the spread of
#Yesallwomen?

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Recap and Questions
 Why are relationships critical to social media and the basis for
leveraging the network effect in social media marketing?
 How are social networks structured?
 What are the characteristics of online communities?
 How do ideas travel in a community? What role do opinion
leaders play in influencing social networks?
 What role does social capital play in the value of social media
communities? What types of ties do we have with others?

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015