Information flow and WOM in social media and online communities

Pages902-904
Published date13 November 2017
Date13 November 2017
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-09-2017-0255
AuthorCarla Ruiz-Mafe,Cleopatra Veloutsou
Subject MatterLibrary & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Bibliometrics,Databases,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet,Records management & preservation,Document management
Guest editorial
Information flow and WOM in social media and online communities
Recent developments have changed forever the way that consumers interact with brands
that they are interested in and have influenced the available avenues they can use to
collectively express their strong feelings and to exchange information about brands.
The development of complex online settings which allow individual to interact allowed
them to have access to people who are not geographically close but have similar mind-sets
in relation to various issues and often form online communities where they exchange
feelings and ideas about their object of passion. The online communities often have as a
focal point a consumption activity or a brand and this development has changed the
manner that consumers act before, during and after their consumption experiences.
Companies have to cope with the new reality and appreciate that they cannot be
successful unless they find new ways to approach their consumers. Therefore, it is not
surprising that in the last 15 years, there is increasing academic interest on online
consumption and brand communities with multiple streams of research that springs from
the area. Some of the existing research communities on the topic fo cus on brand-rela ted
and consumption-related outcomes because of the participation in online communities,
topics that are of particular interest for companies. Other research focusses on the
behaviour of individuals in online communities, their interactions and the use of the online
environment they are operating in, themes that imply that new ways of consumer
expression and interaction are emerging and strengthening.
This special issue of the Online Information Review focusses on consumer behaviour in
online communities and in particular in consumer interactions within brand and
consumption communities. Given the importance of the topic, it is not surprising that the
call for papers of this special issue attracted 42 very international submissions.
The selection of papers is very international, since the total 14 papers were accepted from
this call were authored by 43 academics working in 13 countries and four continents. Ten of
these papers are presented in this special issue and the other four will feature in a special
section which is a forthcoming regular issue. The ten carefully selected contributions of this
issue were made by 34 academics working in ten countries and four continents and push the
boundaries in all facets of information flow and behaviour in online brand communities.
The papers cover a number of interesting areas related to the interaction between the
individuals and the technology during the involvement of individuals with the communities.
As a result, this issue informs the landscape of recent research progress and novel
applications, techniques, case studies and strategies in analysing online information posted
on various social media platforms.
The first paper, titled Dont be so emotional! How tone of voice and service type affect
the relationship between message valence and consumer responses to word of mouth in
social media (sWOM)by Freya De Keyzer; Nathalie Dens and Patrick De Pelsmacker, tests
two previously unstudied moderating variables: the tone of voice of the sWOM and service
type that the sWOM is about, that affect the relationship between message valence and
consumer responses to sWOM messages. The findings of this study reveal that message
valence exerts a greater impact on consumer responses with factual sWOM messages
compared to emotional ones. Furthermore, the impact of message valence is stronger for
hedonic services compared to utilitarian services.
Wu He, Xin Tian, Ran Tao, Weldong Zhang, Gongjun Yan and Vasudeva Akula present
the case study Application of social media analytics: a case of analyzing online hotel reviews.
Online Information Review
Vol. 41 No. 7, 2017
pp. 902-904
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-09-2017-0255
902
OIR
41,7

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