An Empirical Analysis of User Content Generation and Usage Behavior in Mobile Digital Media

Different kinds of user-generated content are becoming available in mobile digital and web media settings as well spurred by the rapid advances in the cellular telephony market. We use a unique dataset of individual-level mobile records to study the nature of interdependencies between users’ content generation and content usage behavior. While theories of resource constraints from economics posit the existence of a negative interdependency between content generation and usage, theories of social exchange from sociology posit the existence of a positive interdependency between these two activities. Hence, the final directional nature of this interdependency is an empirical question. We find that there exist negative inter-temporal interdependencies between the content generation and usage behavior. The effect is also asymmetric such that the negative impact of previous period’s content generation on current period’s content usage is higher than vice-versa. Managerial implications for discounting in data transmission prices are discussed

An Empirical Analysis of Consumption Patterns for Mobile Apps and Web: A Multiple Discrete-Continuous Extreme Value Approach

Using a unique panel data set detailing individual-level mobile app consumption, this study develops a utility theory-based structural model for multiple discrete/continuous choices in app use. We identify the dynamics and inter-dependencies between mobile apps and jointly quantify consumers’ app choice and satiation simultaneously. The results suggest that mobile users’ baseline utility is the highest for communication apps, while the lowest for personal financing apps. In addition, users’ satiation level is the highest for the personal financing apps and the lowest for the game apps. However, a substantial heterogeneity in baseline utility and satiation is observed across diverse users. Furthermore, both positive and negative correlations exist in the baseline utility and satiation levels of mobile web and app categories. Consequently, the proposed frameworks could open new perspectives for handling large-scale, micro-level data, serving as important resources for big data analytics in general and mobile app analytics in particular

NETWORK STABILITY AND SOCIAL CONTAGION ON THE MOBILE INTERNET

We study the dual roles of the stability of an individual’s social network and social contagion on individual behavior in the mobile Internet setting. We use a panel dataset containing all mobile records for a sample of 3G mobile subscribers. Our data includes information about their frequency of mobile Internet usage, and their communication patterns across voice calls and messages, which allow us to map any dynamics in their social network. We find three main results. First, users with high network stability have a low intrinsic tendency to engage in content usage and generation on the mobile Internet. Second, the extent of positive social contagion effect is mitigated for users with stable networks. Third, we find that network stability is a significant predictor for individual behavior even after controlling for network closure. We discuss the implications of these findings for social network theory, social contagion and managerial practice

From Opaque to Accountable Governance: Investor Activism for Transparency in Social Media Amid Disruption in Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrencies have experienced rapid growth, but the absence of regulatory supervision has given rise to concerns regarding transparency. Unlike traditional financial systems, cryptocurrencies lack a central authority, resulting in unclear governance and potential issues. This is exemplified by the problems associated with Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). The recent crisis at FTX underscores the importance of transparency. While some exchanges are beginning to list assets governed by ethical principles, the path towards establishing accountable governance remains uncertain. Our research delves into how the lack of transparency in cryptocurrency exchanges prompts investors to advocate for accountable governance. We employ an event study approach to examine the impact of the FTX bankruptcy, with a particular focus on activism on Twitter. Our findings indicate that investor demands for transparency encourage exchanges to adopt measures aimed at ensuring accountability, such as conducting Proof of Reserves audits. This shift has the potential to foster a more stable and reliable cryptocurrency ecosystem, ultimately benefiting both investors and the industry as a whole

Nature or Nurture? An Analysis of Rational Addiction to Mobile Social Applications

Through the lens of rational addiction theory (Becker and Murphy, 1988), this study investigates whether addiction to mobile social apps should be viewed as a rational behavior rather than an uncontrollable, irrational disorder. To derive the analytical model, this study extends the rational addiction framework to include a utility-level network effect as the key factor that regulates the inter-temporal consumption of mobile social apps. Further, to validate empirically the rational addiction model in this context, we gathered and analyzed longitudinal panel data on the weekly app usage of thousands of smartphone users. The findings suggest that consistent with the rational addiction theory, users of mobile social apps are rational and forward-looking. They determine their current consumption based on both past and future consumption and the utility derived from network effects. However, the extent of rational addiction to mobile social apps varies considerably across diverse demographic groups and app categories

Fighting Abuse while Promoting Free Speech: Policies to Reduce Opinion Manipulation in Online Platforms

With the rise of misinformation epidemic, this study aims to empirically investigate the consequences of an online commenting platform’s activity-capping policy on abusers’ and regular users’ activities. Utilizing a quasi-experimental setting, we find that restrictive policies not only curtail the activity of the abusers, but also promote the activity of regular users. Results show that the policy has asymmetric effect on abusers and regular users— while it effectively reduces the actions of the malicious users by 1.8%, it promotes the activities of the regular users by 2.2%. To better understand the behavioral change of the regular users, we draw from the rational economic perspective of voting decisions and provide initial evidence that such policy measures reinforce the subjective probability of being influential on the outcome. This study will provide valuable implications to managers and policy makers to estimate the consequences of and to combat against malicious behaviors in online platforms

The Economics of All-You-Can-Read Pricing: Tariff Choice, Contract Renewal, and Switching for E-Book Purchases

E-book markets are currently moving through a period of disequilibrium as new pricing structures (i.e., flat-fee subscriptions) are rapidly embraced by major vendors. On the basis of a novel dataset, we investigate how the availability of “all-you-can-read” pricing programs influences consumers’ tariff choice, contract renewal, and switching behaviors. Consistent with the rational choice framework, the findings suggest that most e-book consumers significantly gain from subscription-based tariffs. However, we also find some other intriguing results. Among the three subscription designs examined, the 1-week plan affords consumers more economic benefits than do 1-day or 1-month programs. The economic gains derived from subscription-based tariffs diminish as consumers renew their subscriptions under the same contract duration. Consumers who switch to other plans also suffer from reduced savings. Finally, iOS users are more inclined to select subscription models than are Android users because of the absence of in-app purchase functionalities for the former

A Dynamic Structural Model of User Learning in Mobile Media Content

Consumer adoption and usage of mobile communication and multimedia content services has been growing steadily over the past few years in many countries around the world. In this paper, we develop and estimate a structural model of user behavior and learning with regard to content generation and usage activities in mobile digital media environments. Users learn about two different categories of content – content from regular Internet social networking and community (SNC) sites and that from mobile portal sites. Then they can choose to engage in the creation (uploading) and consumption (downloading) of multi-media content from these two categories of websites. In our context, users have two sources of learning about content quality – (i) direct experience through their own content creation and usage behavior and (ii) indirect experience through word-of-mouth such as the content creation and usage behavior of their social network neighbors. Our model seeks to explicitly explain how direct and indirect experiences from social interactions influence the content creation and usage behavior of users over time. We estimate this model using a unique dataset of consumers' mobile media content creation and usage behavior over a 3-month time period. Our estimates suggest that when it comes to user learning from direct experience, the content that is downloaded from mobile portals has the highest average quality level. In contrast, content that is downloaded by users from SNC websites has the lowest average quality level. Besides, the order of magnitude of accuracy of signals for each content type from direct experiences is consistent with the order of the quality levels. This finding implies that in the context of mobile media users make content choices based on their perception of differences in both the average content quality levels and the extent of content quality variation. Further we find that signals about the quality of content from direct experience are more accurate than signals from indirect experiences. Potential implications for mobile phone operators and advertisers are discussed