IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0121105.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Identifying the Role of Common Interests in Online User Trust Formation

Author

Listed:
  • Lei Ji
  • Jian-Guo Liu
  • Lei Hou
  • Qiang Guo

Abstract

Despite enormous recent efforts in detecting the mechanism of the social relation formation in online social systems, the underlying rules between the common interests and social relations are still under dispute. Do online users befriend others who have similar tastes, or do their tastes become more similar after they become friends? In this paper, we investigate the correlation between online user trust formation and their common interests, measured by the overlap rate ρ and taste similarity θ respectively. The trust relation creation time is set as the zero timestamp. The statistical results before and after the trust formation for an online network, namely Epinions, show that, the overlap rate ρ increases greatly before the trust formation, while it would increase smoothly after the creation of the trust relation. Comparing with the empirical results, two null models are presented by shuffling the temporal behaviors of online users, which suggests that the accumulation of the common interests can result in the trust formation. Furthermore, we investigate the taste similarity θ of the common interests, which can reflect the users’ preference on their common interests. The empirical results show that the taste similarity θ is rapidly increased around the day when users trust the others. That is, the similar tastes on the common interests among users lead to the trust formation. Finally, we report that the user degree can also influence the effect of the taste similarity θ on user trust formation. This work may shed some light for deeply understanding the evolution mechanism of the online social systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Lei Ji & Jian-Guo Liu & Lei Hou & Qiang Guo, 2015. "Identifying the Role of Common Interests in Online User Trust Formation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-15, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0121105
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121105
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0121105
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0121105&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0121105?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2010. "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 59-68, January.
    2. Kietzmann, Jan H. & Hermkens, Kristopher & McCarthy, Ian P. & Silvestre, Bruno S., 2011. "Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 241-251, May.
    3. Ni, Jing & Zhang, Yi-Lu & Hu, Zhao-Long & Song, Wen-Jun & Hou, Lei & Guo, Qiang & Liu, Jian-Guo, 2014. "Ceiling effect of online user interests for the movies," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 402(C), pages 134-140.
    4. Da-Cheng Nie & Zi-Ke Zhang & Jun-Lin Zhou & Yan Fu & Kui Zhang, 2014. "Information Filtering on Coupled Social Networks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-15, July.
    5. Huang, G.C. & Soto, D. & Fujimoto, K. & Valente, T.W., 2014. "The interplay of friendship networks and social networking sites: Longitudinal analysis of selection and influence effects on adolescent smoking and alcohol use," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(8), pages 51-59.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Ren-De & Liu, Jian-Guo & Guo, Qiang & Zhang, Yi-Cheng, 2018. "Social signature identification of dynamical social networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 508(C), pages 213-222.
    2. Hongchen Wu & Xinjun Wang, 2016. "ISBP: Understanding the Security Rule of Users' Information-Sharing Behaviors in Partnership," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-21, March.
    3. Hou, Lei & Liu, Kecheng & Liu, Jianguo & Zhang, Runtong, 2017. "Solving the stability–accuracy–diversity dilemma of recommender systems," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 468(C), pages 415-424.
    4. Li, Sheng-Nan & Guo, Qiang & Yang, Kai & Liu, Jian-Guo & Zhang, Yi-Cheng, 2018. "Uncovering the popularity mechanisms for Facebook applications," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 494(C), pages 422-429.
    5. Wang, Jia-Hua & Guo, Qiang & Yang, Kai & Zhang, Yi-Lu & Han, Jingti & Liu, Jian-Guo, 2016. "Popularity and user diversity of online objects," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 461(C), pages 480-486.
    6. Guo, Xin-Yu & Guo, Qiang & Li, Ren-De & Liu, Jian-Guo, 2018. "Long-term memory of rating behaviors for the online trust formation," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 508(C), pages 254-264.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Smith, Andrew N. & Fischer, Eileen & Yongjian, Chen, 2012. "How Does Brand-related User-generated Content Differ across YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter?," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 102-113.
    2. Monica Patrut, 2015. "Candidates In The Presidential Elections In Romania (2014): The Use Of Social Media In Political Marketing," Studies and Scientific Researches. Economics Edition, "Vasile Alecsandri" University of Bacau, Faculty of Economic Sciences, issue 21.
    3. Marcel Rosenberger & Christiane Lehrer & Reinhard Jung, 0. "Integrating data from user activities of social networks into public administrations," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-14.
    4. Vasile-Daniel Păvăloaia & Elena-Mădălina Teodor & Doina Fotache & Magdalena Danileţ, 2019. "Opinion Mining on Social Media Data: Sentiment Analysis of User Preferences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-21, August.
    5. Sarbu Miruna, 2017. "Does Social Media Increase Labour Productivity?," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 237(2), pages 81-113, April.
    6. Shiwei Shen & Marios Sotiriadis & Qing Zhou, 2020. "Could Smart Tourists Be Sustainable and Responsible as Well? The Contribution of Social Networking Sites to Improving Their Sustainable and Responsible Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.
    7. Perez-Vega, Rodrigo & Hopkinson, Paul & Singhal, Aishwarya & Mariani, Marcello M., 2022. "From CRM to social CRM: A bibliometric review and research agenda for consumer research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 1-16.
    8. Murad Ali & Raja Ahmad Iskandar Bin Raja Yaacob & Mohd Nuri-Al-Amin B. Endut, 2017. "The Influence of Individual Characteristics towards the Use of Social Media as a Learning Tool: An Empirical Analysis," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 7(1), pages 251-256.
    9. Tafesse, Wondwesen & Wood, Bronwyn P., 2021. "Followers' engagement with instagram influencers: The role of influencers’ content and engagement strategy," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    10. Reilly, Anne H. & Hynan, Katherine A., 2014. "Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 57(6), pages 747-758.
    11. Tuleu Daniela, 2015. "Antecedents Of Customer Relationship Management Capabilities," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 1285-1294, July.
    12. TANASE, George Cosmin, 2017. "Managing the Brand and Communication in Social Media," Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Romanian Distribution Committee, vol. 8(2), pages 20-22, June.
    13. Giannis Milolidakis & Demosthenes Akoumianakis & Chris Kimble, 2013. "Digital traces for business intelligence: A case study of mobile telecoms service brands in Greece," Post-Print halshs-00954440, HAL.
    14. Lashgari, Maryam, 2014. "Social Media Technology Deployment in B2B: A Case Study," INDEK Working Paper Series 2014/9, Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Industrial Economics and Management.
    15. Saridakis, George & Benson, Vladlena & Ezingeard, Jean-Noel & Tennakoon, Hemamali, 2016. "Individual information security, user behaviour and cyber victimisation: An empirical study of social networking users," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 320-330.
    16. Wilert Puriwat & Suchart Tripopsakul, 2021. "Explaining Social Media Adoption for a Business Purpose: An Application of the UTAUT Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-13, February.
    17. Xu, Jia & Wei, Jiuchang & Zhao, Dingtao, 2016. "Influence of social media on operational efficiency of national scenic spots in china based on three-stage DEA model," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 374-388.
    18. Lee, Jei Young, 2019. "A decentralized token economy: How blockchain and cryptocurrency can revolutionize business," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 62(6), pages 773-784.
    19. Bastos, Wilson, 2020. "“Speaking of Purchases”: How Conversational Potential Determines Consumers' Willingness to Exert Effort for Experiential Versus Material Purchases," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-16.
    20. Wu He & Feng-Kwei Wang & Yong Chen & Shenghua Zha, 0. "An exploratory investigation of social media adoption by small businesses," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-12.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0121105. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.