Two Formulas for Success in Social Media: Social Learning and Network Effects

Liangfei Qiu, University of Texas at Austin
Qian TANG, Singapore Management University
Andrew B. Whinston, University of Texas at Austin

Abstract

This paper examines social learning and network effects that are particularly important for online videos, considering the limited marketing campaigns of user-generated content. Rather than combining both social learning and network effects under the umbrella of social contagion or peer influence, we develop a theoretical model and empirically identify social learning and network effects separately. Using a unique data set from YouTube, we find that both mechanisms have statistically and economically significant effects on video views, and which mechanism dominates depends on the specific video type.