Abstract:

We study several longstanding questions in media communications research, in the context of the microblogging service Twitter, regarding the production, flow, and consumption of information. To do so, we exploit a recently introduced feature of Twitter known as “lists” to distinguish between elite users—by which we mean celebrities, bloggers, and representatives of media outlets and other formal organizations—and ordinary users. Based on this classification, we find a striking concentration of attention on Twitter, in that roughly 50% of URLs consumed are generated by just 20K elite users, where the media produces the most information, but celebrities are the most followed. We also find significant homophily within categories: celebrities listen to celebrities, while bloggers listen to bloggers etc; however, bloggers in general rebroadcast more information than the other categories. Next we re-examine the classical “two-step flow” theory of communications, finding considerable support for it on Twitter. Third, we find that URLs broadcast by different categories of users or containing different types of content exhibit systematically different lifespans. And finally, we examine the attention paid by the different user categories to different news topics.

Clarification: Recent media reports have misinterpreted the result reported above that 'roughly 50% of tweets consumed are generated by just 20K elite users.' The result does not imply that 50% of tweets are broadcast by 20,000 users. In fact, the 20,000 “elite” users in question broadcast only a very small percentage of all tweets. However, many of these “elite” users have huge a large numbers of followers, thus their tweets constitute a much larger percentage of what other users receive.