Research on microblogging original posts release behavior based on panel data of mobile applications

As a combination of traditional word-of-mouth (WOM) and electronic WOM, microblogging obsesses both the real-timeness of the former and the capability of the latter to reach large audiences. However, the data used in previous studies of MWOM might easily cause biased results due to low microblogging activity level and few original posts in China's microblogging community. In this study, we proposed a few hypotheses on factors that could influence the posting behavior of original microblogs. These hypotheses are checked against the panel data collected from China's mobile applications e-commerce websites and related microblogs on Sina Microblog. Our study shows that both the sales volume of a mobile application and the influence of related existing original microblog posts have positive impacts on the number of original posts. It is also shown that the original microblog posting behavior is an example of the herd instinct.