Department of Geoinformatics-Z_GIS, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
Center for Geographic Analysis, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2023 Mar 30;18(3):e0283372. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283372. eCollection 2023.
This paper seeks to unveil how (geospatial) connection strategies associated with business innovation, differ between geolocated social media and hyperlink company networks. Thereby, we provide a first step towards understanding connection strategies of innovative companies on social media platforms. For this purpose, we build a hyperlink and Twitter follower network for 11,892 companies in the information technology (IT) sector and compare them along four dimensions. First, underlying network structures were assessed. Second, we asserted information flow patterns between companies with the help of centrality measures. Third, geographic and cognitive proximities of companies were compared. Fourth, the influence of company characteristics was examined through linear and logistic regression models. This comparison revealed, that on a general level the basic connection patterns of the hyperlink and Twitter network differ. Nevertheless, the geospatial dimension (geographic proximity) and the knowledge base of a company (cognitive proximity) appear to have a similar influence on the decision to connect with other companies on Twitter and via hyperlinks. Further, the results suggest that innovative companies most likely align their connection strategies across hyperlink and Twitter networks. Thus, business innovation might effect connection strategies across online company networks in a comparable manner.
本文旨在揭示与业务创新相关的（地理空间）连接策略如何在地理位置社交媒体和超链接公司网络之间存在差异。通过这种方式，我们为理解创新公司在社交媒体平台上的连接策略迈出了第一步。为此，我们为信息技术（IT）领域的 11892 家公司构建了一个超链接和 Twitter 关注者网络，并从四个维度对其进行了比较。首先，评估了基础网络结构。其次，借助中心性度量来确定公司之间的信息流模式。第三，比较了公司的地理和认知接近度。第四，通过线性和逻辑回归模型检验了公司特征的影响。这项比较表明，一般来说，超链接和 Twitter 网络的基本连接模式存在差异。然而，地理空间维度（地理接近度）和公司的知识库（认知接近度）似乎对通过超链接和 Twitter 与其他公司建立联系的决策具有相似的影响。此外，研究结果表明，创新型公司很可能会在超链接和 Twitter 网络上协调其连接策略。因此，业务创新可能会以类似的方式影响在线公司网络中的连接策略。
