How Can Twitter Users Leverage the Follower Feature to Yield Faster Access to Information?

What is it about?

This study explores how users can leverage the follower features provided by Twitter to yield faster access to information circulating on the microblog. The study further discusses the potential benefits but also negative side effects of faster access to such information.

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Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Microblogs like Twitter have established themselves as main sources of rumors and information. We show that simply following many users can already lead to faster information access. We also show that following many users who do not follow each other equally leads to faster access to information. Drawing on structural hole theory, we also argue that the second approach may be better in overcoming information bubbles, thus leading to a higher non-redundancy of received information. Conveniently, Twitter displays in the profile of other users whether they are already followed by any other user who a focal user follows. We further argue that fast access to Twitter information and rumors can have drawbacks. Contrasting classical news outlets, fast information access may increase the risk of receiving yet unmoderated and thus potentially mentally harmful content. Moreover, following too many users can promote information overload and mental strain.

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