Triadic Closure, Homophily, and Reciprocation: An Empirical Investigation of Social Ties Between Content Providers

In social media, a content provider can initiate outgoing ties to other providers to promote their content, thus inviting reciprocal promotion. We investigate how the reciprocation benefit for the initiating provider is affected by homophily and triadic closure, the two major mechanisms of tie formation. Specifically, we examine how the increase in subscribers and viewership of the initiating provider’s content attributable to the responding providers’ reciprocation is moderated by common ties and content similarity between the two linked providers. Using panel data on 27,356 YouTube video providers, we specify a switching regression model to estimate the influence of content similarity and common ties on reciprocation impact while correcting for their influence on reciprocation probability. Confirming that reciprocation is generally beneficial for the initiator, we find that although content similarity and common ties increase reciprocation probability, they reduce the reciprocation benefit for the initiator in terms of subscriber growth. We also find a positive interaction effect between content similarity and common ties on reciprocation impact, reducing their individual effects. Combining their respective influence on reciprocation probability and benefit, we further examine how content similarity and common ties affect the expected benefit for the initiator and derive practical implications for content providers and social media platforms.