Researcher studies 'power' of Twitter

Researcher studies 'power' of Twitter

Have you tweeted lately?

From CNN to Ashton Kutcher, it seems like everyone is tweeting these days. Companies are now embracing the logo of an animated blue bird holding a sign that says, “follow me” and using it in their advertisements.

The micro-communication service that gives users an opportunity to express their thoughts in 140 characters, known as “tweets,” has been the recent hit in the social media world. With about six million active users “tweeting” on a daily basis and predictions of having over 20 million users by the end of the year, Twitter has become the next big thing on the Web.

In fact, as one Penn State researcher recently found out, tweeting is more than just expressing oneself.

Jim Jansen, associate professor of information sciences and technology in College of Information Sciences and Technology, teamed up with IST doctoral student Mimi Zhang, undergraduate student Kate Sobel and Twitter chief scientist Abdur Chowdhury to investigate the effect of micro-communicating as electronic word-of-mouth mediums, using Twitter as the platform. The research was published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Sciences and Technology.

Half a million tweets were examined in the study. The team looked for tweets mentioning a brand and why the brand was mentioned (to inform others, expressing a view on the brand, etc.) and found that people were using tweets to connect with the products.

“People are using tweets to express their reaction, both positive and negative, as they engage with these products and services,” said Jansen. “Tweets are about as close as one can get to the customer point of purchase for products and services.”

Jansen said there’s a trend when it comes to micro-communication and what it’s used for.

“Businesses use micro-communication for brand awareness, brand knowledge and customer relationship,” he said. “Personal use is all over the board.”

He said that even though Twitter is still in its early stages of adoption, he sees it being around for a while, mainly because of the fact that people and businesses are starting to make profits from it, using it as a creative way to market their products. He also said the concept of micro blogging as a whole can be just as impacting as other social media channels.

“It may be right up there with e-mail in terms of its communication impact,” he said.

Results from the study found that users employ Twitter to inquire about product information. About 20 percent of the tweets contained product information in the form of asking and providing, thus giving companies a “rich source” of information concerning issues and questions that customers have regarding the its products.

Jansen’s prediction was not far off from the results, though some results did surprise him.

“A lot of the brand comments were positive,” he said. “There are some good products out there, or at least products that people are happy with.”

The research is one of the first academic studies in the area of micro-communication within the business sector. Jansen is using the research as a backbone to build on -- the team is now conducting a focused study specifically on how companies manage and utilize their Twitter accounts. Jansen is looking forward to doing more research in micro-communication, as it fits with his research interests.

“I’ve been really into the keyword advertising area and Web searching,” said Jansen. “One aspect of micro-communication is the use of and sharing of information. This opens up a new area that has not been explored before.”