An Analysis of Verifications in Microblogging Social Networks -- Sina Weibo

Abstract

Sina Weibo (Weibo) is a fast growing microblogging social network with total user size closer to Twitter. Weibo adopts a mechanism to verify users, so that the public can identify true accounts of celebrities and official channels of certain organizations. The verification mechanism builds trust and authenticity to the source, and hence, stimulates people to actively participate on the platform. However, how the verifications affect the user behaviors in microblogging social networks have never been fully investigated. This paper analyzes the Weibo social network with verifications, by comparing the user microblogging behaviors between verified users and unverified users and studying the social network evovlements of these two group of users. In addition, a method is proposed to approximately reconstruct the network evolvement, and lower bound quasi-densification exponents for the social networks are found. Empirical evidence demonstrates that verifications play a significant role in motivating users to have more interactions in a social network.

Microblog Analysis as a Program of Work

“…It was used to cover a variety of services such as Twitter, Tumblr, FriendFeed, Cif2.net, Plurk, Jaiku, identi.ca, PingGadget and Pownce [Barnes & Bohringer, 2011;Honeycutt & Herring, 2009;Huang et al, 2010;Java et al, 2007;Kaplan & Haenlein, 2011;Lai & Rand, 2013;Naaman et al, 2010;Oulasvirta et al, 2010;Zappavigna, 2011;2012]. More recently the term has come to also cover the status update features of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Diaspora*, JudgIt, Yahoo Pulse, Google Buzz, Google+ and XING [Archambault & Grudin, 2012;Chen & She, 2012;Gilbert et al, 2013;Larodec et al, 2014]. The specific worked through case here is that of Twitter.…”

What are Chinese talking about in hot weibos?

“…Chen et al [22] investigate SinaWeibo by comparing the microblogging behaviors between verified users and unverified ones, and study the social network evolutions of these two types of users [22]. Chen et al [22] find that SinaWeibo has a low reciprocity ratio, and users on Sina Weibo are more likely to follow people at higher or the same social levels [23]. Guan et al [24] target 21 hot events that were intensely discussed on Sina Weibo during 2011, and find that male users contribute more than females to posting hot event related weibos while gender has little impact on reposting behaviors [24].…”

A Comprehensive Study on Data Extraction in SINA WEIBO

“…The trustworthiness and authenticity of the contents posted by verified accounts is guaranteed. Consequently, authenticity stimulates more users to participate actively in Sina Weibo [14].…”