Does who we are affect what we say and when? Investigating the impact of activity and connectivity on microbloggers' response to new products

This paper examines whether microbloggers' past activity and connectivity influences the timing and valence of posted responses to new products. It shows that the timing of a post depends on the past microblogging activity of the poster and the number of posters he or she follows. Textual analysis also shows that the valence of a post is sensitive to the activity of posters, the number of posters followed, the timing of the posts, and the nature of the evaluations of the new product (cognitive vs. affective). These findings provide insights into the relationships among the nature of microbloggers' responses to new products, their previous posting activity, and their online network characteristics. Collectively, the findings of this research suggest that microbloggers' responses to new products should be interpreted after adjusting for posters' non-product-related characteristics.