How to Measure Persuasive Potential on Twitter: A Methodological Proposal

Abstract

The demonstrated usefulness of Twitter for a collective pact encouraged by new social prescribers and opinion leaders has sparked an abundance of studies on the influence that exists in social networks. Influence usually is measured according to the number of followers an account has and its importance in its egocentric network of followers and followed. However, these studies are not accompanied or preceded by others intended to evaluate the persuasive effort an account makes to become influential. With persuasion regarded as a perlocutionary act used tactically to influence, the authors consider it appropriate to contribute to the study of political persuasión with an analysis of the persuasive efforts of leaders and managers in Twitter’s social networks. An examination of the contents of messages political party leaders issue within their egocentric social networks was the method selected to identify the persuasive potential of communication on Twitter. The article describes this method. The objective is to measure persuasive effort quantitatively, based on the behavior implied by messages on Twitter. Using the mechanisms for interaction in the Twitter system, the authors have developed the notion of a global index of persuasive potential (GIPP), the variables of which are found in the number and communicative weight of the various types of messages emitted, the frequency of emission and the amplification found in the network of followers.

DOI: 10.5294/pacla.2016.19.3.7