The Keys of the Birdcage

This book aims to measure the structural influence of certain key influencers on the social network Twitter on the diffusion of posts. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the influence factor. This showed which characteristics of the sample surveyed correlate with influence and thus with the diffusion of a topic. This study resulted in a measurement method that measures the influence of users and identifies key figures in various topics including traditional media and the internet. As expected the influence factor correlated strongly with reach and replies. A key identifying feature for key influencers was their status as experts on the respective topic. The scientific interest in this study lies in the empirical testing of older theories for their applicability in Web 2.0 and in economics in the measurement and identification of influential key figures which is an important marketing tool.