The Role of Followers and Followees in the Adoption of Innovations

Abstract

An online social network is a key platform through which innovation diffuses. To learn about innovativeness, we simultaneously investigate two Twitter networks, the relationships network, following-follower relationships, and the activity network, the flow of tweets. Specifically, the innovativeness relations to the networks' indegree and outdegree, the volume of platform use, and the profile's age. The more active and central the user, the earlier the adoption. Innovativeness increases with the number of followers only when at least several of them adopt the innovation. Surprisingly, having more followees is linked to later engagement with the innovation. This association is mediated by the number of adopters' followees. Those who created a Twitter profile later are also more likely to adopt innovations later. This study is novel in distinguishing between the two networks and analyzing their interactions. Its contribution lies in identifying the innovativeness of users in an online social network platform diffusion.