Correlates of Enhancing Retweets Among Users: The Case of Nissan

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to determine which elements of Twitter stimulate the dissemination of messages in the microblogging community. We collected a database of 1,112 Spanish-speaking users for this study who had mentioned the keyword "Nissan" in their tweets, and performed a multiple regression analysis. We have found that certain characteristics of tweets (longer tweets that express feelings through mentions and lexical diversity) obtain higher dissemination rates compared to those that do not. Hashtags and links seem to distract users from processing the information and do not act as heuristic cues. Users want to find heuristic cues that help them process information easily in social media. However, the use of links or hashtags in tweets does not help with dissemination, as these elements distract users and decrease the limited writing space available. This paper offers insightful options for brands, marketers and professionals on how to maximize the impact of social media at no additional cost.