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The impact of content sentiment and emotionality on content virality

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  • Heimbach, Irina
  • Hinz, Oliver

Abstract

Analyzing t\he most e-mailed New York Times (NYT) articles, Berger and Milkman (2012) (BM) found that content virality is positively associated with its positivity and emotionality (particularly with the emotions anger, awe, and anxiety) and negatively related to sadness. Using a sample of German articles, we replicated their study for the most e-mailed article list of Germany's leading news magazine and extended the analysis to (1) three additional communication channels and (2) the non-linear relationship between positivity and virality. Although we could not replicate all the effects uncovered by BM, our findings are consistent with their results across all communication channels. Further, we suggest that the relationship between positivity and virality follows an inverted U-shape pattern and is thus non-linear.

Suggested Citation

  • Heimbach, Irina & Hinz, Oliver, 2016. "The impact of content sentiment and emotionality on content virality," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 695-701.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ijrema:v:33:y:2016:i:3:p:695-701
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2016.02.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Nguyen, Hang T. & Chaudhuri, Malika, 2019. "Making new products go viral and succeed," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 39-62.
    2. Irina Heimbach & Oliver Hinz, 2018. "The Impact of Sharing Mechanism Design on Content Sharing in Online Social Networks," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 592-611, September.
    3. Jansen, Nora & Hinz, Oliver & Deusser, Clemens & Strufe, Thorsten, 2021. "Is the Buzz on? – A Buzz Detection System for Viral Posts in Social Media," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-17.
    4. Seigner, Benedikt David Christian & Milanov, Hana & Lundmark, Erik & Shepherd, Dean A., 2023. "Tweeting like Elon? Provocative language, new-venture status, and audience engagement on social media," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2).
    5. Grewal, Dhruv & Herhausen, Dennis & Ludwig, Stephan & Villarroel Ordenes, Francisco, 2022. "The Future of Digital Communication Research: Considering Dynamics and Multimodality," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 224-240.
    6. Oliveira, João S. & Ifie, Kemefasu & Sykora, Martin & Tsougkou, Eleni & Castro, Vitor & Elayan, Suzanne, 2022. "The effect of emotional positivity of brand-generated social media messages on consumer attention and information sharing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 49-61.
    7. He, Yi & You, Ya & Chen, Qimei, 2020. "Our conditional love for the underdog: The effect of brand positioning and the lay theory of achievement on WOM," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 210-222.
    8. Hernández-Ortega, Blanca, 2020. "When the performance comes into play: The influence of positive online consumer reviews on individuals' post-consumption responses," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 422-435.
    9. Wen, Xiaohan (Hannah) & Kim, Shinhye & Bowen, Melanie, 2023. "Doing good by sharing messages: An investigation of “You Share, We Donate” campaigns and how they can attain viral success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).

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