Chapter 3: Network structure and group influences in social
media
Chapter overview
Chapter 3 provides students with an understanding of social communities, opinion leaders in these
communities (called influencers) and the structure and flow of information within these
communities. Because social media is built on social communities, this chapter provides basic
information that relates to all of the zones of social media marketing covered later in the text.
Key points of interest for activities and discussions include the development and role of
influencers, memes and their development and spread and network structure including strong and
weak ties.
Running Case: 221BC’s Social Influence Options
Critical Reflection: Challenges Facing Influencer Marketing
Teaching tips and resources
There are several possible activities that relate well to the content in Chapter 3.
On the Six Degrees of Separation:
Learning objectives
When students finish reading this chapter, they should be able to answer these questions:
1. How are social networks structured?
2. What is flow and how do ideas travel in a community?
3. What are the characteristics of online communities? Why are social objects and
memes valuable?
4. What role do influencers play and what are their sources of power and social capital?
Why is influencer marketing an important part of social media marketing?
Chapter outline
I. Community Structure
Social media is first and foremost about community: the collective participation of
members who together create value.
• Online communities are a cyber-place where people connect online with kindred
spirits, engage in supportive and sociable relationships with them, and imbue their
activity online with meaning, belonging and identity.
A. Networks: The Underlying Structure of Communities
1. Social network sites (SNS) are defined as ‘networked communication
platforms in which participants (1) have uniquely identifiable profiles that
consist of user-supplied content, content provided by other users and/or
system-provided data; (2) can publicly articulate connections that can be
viewed and traversed by others; and (3) can consume, produce and/or
interact with streams of user-generated content provided by their
connections on the site’, serve as the most prevalent form of host in social
media.
2. A social network is a set of socially relevant nodes connected by one or
more relations.
• Figure 3.1 illustrates a LinkedIn network map.
II. Flow: How Ideas Travel Online
A. Flows are exchanges of resources, information, or influence among members of the
network.
1. In social media these flows of communication go in many directions at any point in
time and often on multiple platforms—a condition called media multiplexity
(Haythornthwaite, 2005).
2. Flows are not simply two-way or three-way, they may involve an entire
community, a list or group within a network, or several individuals independently.
1. These people communicate the information vigorously to one another and also
participate in a two-way dialogue with the opinion leader as part of an influence
network.
2. These conversations create cascades of information
D. The Viral Spread of Social Content
1. When viral content evolves within a social community, it becomes a meme.
2. A meme is a snippet of cultural information that spreads person-to-person and is
adapted until eventually it enters the general consciousness.
E. Word-of-Mouth Communication
1. When the information spread via flow is product information shared node-to-node,
person-to-person, it is called word-of-mouth (WOM) communication.
estimate of the value of the advertising in the form of the fees they paid to place the
III. The Characteristics of Online Communities
A. Presence
1. Presence refers to the effect that people experience when they interact with a
computer-mediated or computer-generated environment.
B. Purposive Value and Social Objects
1. Social object theory suggests that social networks will be more effective
if there is a way to activate relationships among people and objects.
2. Object sociality is the extent to which users can share an object in social
media, clearly relates to an audience’s unique interests.
C. Standards of Behaviour
1. Norms are mental representations of appropriate behaviour in a
community
D. Groups and Subcultures
1. Within a social community, groups and subcultures can thrive. The result is
flourishing crowdcultures around almost any topic.
2. Crowdsourcing is when tasks are completed collaboratively by a large
group of people such that the resulting value far exceeds that which could
have been contributed by any single participant.
3. Participation can be thought of as intentional social action in the context of
a group.
E. Participation
1. Your level of participation is based on a mix of four elements: of the people with
whom you are connected, the content (called artefacts) you produce on the site,
the feedback you receive from others, and the distribution of the artefacts and
feedback throughout the network.
F. Social Capital
1. When people form community relationships, these affiliations allow them to
accumulate resources that they can ‘trade’ for other things. We call these
resources social capital because their value lies in providing access to
others. The resources may be actual or virtual, and they may be held by a
group or an individual.
2. Reputational capital is based on the shared beliefs, relationships and
actions of those in the community such that norms, behaviours and values
held and shared by individuals ultimately support a community reputation.
G. Strong and Weak Ties
1. Emotional support is one form of social capital called bonding social
capital.
2. Core ties are those people with whom we have very close relationships.
7. Latent ties are pre-existing connections that we’ve discarded.
IV. The Rise of Influencers
A. Opinion leaders (known as influencers or power users in some
communities) are those others view as knowledgeable sources of information.
1. The Bases of Social Power
• Reward power: one’s ability to provide others with what they desire.
• Coercive power: the ability to punish others.
2. Homophily refers to the degree to which a pair of individuals is similar in terms
of education, social status and beliefs.
3. The law of the few proposes that three types of people have influence:
Mavens are people who are knowledgeable about many things.
Connectors are people who know many people and communicate with them.
Salesmen are people who influence others with their natural persuasive power.
4. Figure 3.3 describes a few of the archetypes that characterise social media
influencers and examples of the types of brands that work with each
archetype.
B. Influencer Marketing
Chapter summary
1. How are social networks structured?
Online communities are built on foundations of networks. These networks are made up of
nodes connected by ties. The nodes experience interactions and flows of resources,
2. What are the characteristics of online communities?
Communities are often built around social objects—objects of mutual interest among
community members. Social communities thrive on conversations. They instil a sense of
presence for those who participate. Community members share a collective interest, and
governance is based on democracy. Community members follow standards of behaviour
3. How do ideas travel in a community?
Information travels in the community via flows between nodes in the network. WOF
communication about brands, known as influence impressions, travel this way. It is a
natural pattern for some members to be more active and to acquire positions of authority
4. What role do influencers play and what are their sources of power and social
capital? What types of ties do we have to others in our communities?
Opinion leaders possess sources of social power such as expert power, reward power and
authority power. Social capital refers to the valuable resources people (individually or in
