Identifying Structural Heterogeneities between Online Social Networks for Effective Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Social networks are extremely important for word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing. However, marketers often ignore network structures when developing WOM marketing strategies. Specifically, there is clearly a lack of research on looking into overall structures and structural heterogeneities of social networks. This research investigates structural heterogeneities between online social networks in different product categories. We collected data from four online networks in different product categories from the most popular social networking site in Taiwan. Social network analysis was performed to understand the network structures. The findings demonstrate the structural heterogeneities between these networks and we also provide managerial implications for practitioners.