Effectiveness and downside risks of employing firm-controlled agents to calm down online firestorms 12 th OUIWS, Harvard Business School, 2014 by Nik Franke, Thomas Funke, Peter Keinz, and Alfred Taudes
Phenomenon and research question In this project, we explore a strategy to calm down emerging online firestorms. Online firestorms “… a sudden discharge of large quantities of [...] complaint behavior against a [...] company [...] in social media networks.“ 1 Major threat to a company’s reputation 2 Research questions: 1.) Can agents of protection effectively help to calm down online firestorms? 2.) Which factors influence their effectiveness? Nik Franke: hey guys, calm down a bit. singtel is setting up the 4G network to improve their service to all of us...so they do care for us… and by the way: i‘ve never experienced any problems …i‘d recommend their service to my friends...
Method We used case-based agent-based modeling to investigate the RQs. Step 1: Building the model Step 2: Validating the model Step 3: Running experiments time Simulation (1 st model) # of peers participating Real conflict t1 t3 Case study to gain data about a real-life online firestorm Variation of - number & roles agents - community characteristics Literature review to derive a general model on opinion diffusion 3
Preliminary findings & next steps Agents of protection can significantly affect online firestorms. No agents of protection 10 opinion leaders as agents of protection Robust patterns across all scenarios: Agents of protection -reduce intensity, speed, and duration of an online firestorm (p<.001) -increase the average attitude towards the company after an online firestorm (p<.001) t1 t3 Next steps: -Extending the model to account for effects triggered by un-covered agents of protection -Attempt to find “optimal” infiltration strategy
Thank you for your attention! Literature: 1) Pfeffer, J., T. Zorbach, and K. M. Carley. "Understanding online firestorms: Negative word-of- mouth dynamics in social media networks." Journal of Marketing Communications (2014): ) Stich, L., G. Golla, and A. Nanopoulos. "Modelling the spread of negative word-of-mouth in online social networks." Journal of Decision Systems 23.2 (2014): ) Hegselmann, R, and U. Krause. "Opinion dynamics and bounded confidence models, analysis, and simulation." Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 5.3 (2002). Miller, K.D., F. Fabian, and S. Lin. "Strategies for online communities." Strategic Management Journal 30.3 (2009):